Bob Bromley

Mr. Speaker, when the GNWT assumed responsibility for the management of this herd, they inherited from aboriginal residents a healthy population of caribou. Yet, over the last 20 years we have seen this catastrophic decline and its management practices and efforts have failed. The Yellowknives Dene have indicated that if the situation requires, they would reduce their harvest to one caribou per person, say per hunter, per year. So they are ready and willing to engage and apply their authority to conserve caribou. Did the government try to bring them into the determination of hunting...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am convinced that the Minister has faced this decision, the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, for a hunting ban of caribou on careful and thorough consideration of the information available on the caribou. However, my understanding is that there was only one meeting with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, a meeting on the 1st of December, in which the Yellowknives Dene expressed disagreement with the ban. I am also aware that, in contrast, there were repeated meetings with the Tlicho and, of course, the Wekeezhii Renewable Resource Board through the same...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to the vital issue of protecting our caribou populations. Mr. Speaker, a large amount of consistent and detailed evidence has shown alarming declines in the Bathurst herd caribou population. The remains of the herd are on their wintering grounds, the winter road is about to open and a crucial period in the life of the herd has begun. According to the evidence, continued declines at current rates could result in the collapse of the herd within four or five years. We now know the Beverly herd has suffered this fate. It can happen, and we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that had there been meaningful engagement, the Yellowknives Dene have the authority and would have been a meaningful partner in implementing the action required. My final question is: what plans does the government have for coming out of this ban with a new and even revolutionary approach to ensuring future cooperation that is effective and prevents such new confrontations? Mahsi.

I appreciate that response. Given that Yellowknife, Ndilo and Dettah are right in the middle of this quite large geographic area that is now closed to hunting, what opportunities do the Yellowknives and other people have to harvest caribou or other alternatives so that they can replace the caribou meat that they’re missing? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, and it’s on caribou. I want to follow up and get some more details on what’s transpired to date. But I’d like to start by asking how could this have happened. Obviously, dropping from 400,000-plus down to 32,000 is a tremendous decline, and I understand that happened over a period of time, that we clearly have responsibility here for that management. How could this have happened and are we capturing that to ensure that we learn and do better from now on? Thank you.

It is not too early at all to see the implementation of the Heritage Fund. The public and Members are calling for full value from resource revenues and saving some of these funds to build a future. Resources and revenues leave the NWT faster each year. Mines pay down their development costs in no time, yielding huge profits. A revised resource revenue tax is a simple, quick answer to our years of complaint over lost revenues.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, the Joint Review Panel’s report on the Mackenzie Gas Project highlights issues of government capacity and oversight. The panel said all of its...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, greetings to you and all my colleagues, as once again we gather in the House to do important business. Today I begin by reviewing my perspectives and some priorities for this session.

Caribou play a central role in the life of most Northerners, and we are facing some dire situations resulting from a failure to manage this resource properly. We must stop herd declines and build cooperative conservation while political issues get resolved through separate discussions.

As economic recovery has begun in the North, I see the need for renewed focus on economic...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question really is recognizing the important intents and emotional issues that are being raised about aboriginal rights in response to the hunting ban. How will the Minister ensure that the conservation of the caribou is front and centre through all of this, recognizing that those are important issues as well? Thank you.

I think it’s clearly important that we do that. I didn’t really hear harvest mentioned as a factor, but many of us that were hunting in the ‘90s clearly remember the big two-ton trucks of caribou, 150 animals in a truck, heading down the highway, and expressed a lot of concern without any action being taken. I hope that’s included in the thinking on what caused this.

But moving on, what support was received during consultations prior to establishing the hunting ban through consultation with aboriginal governments and co-management boards? Thank you.