David Ramsay

When we first brought the Aboriginal Tourism Champions together, one of the first meetings was called Sharing Our Culture. What the Member is talking about is very important. It’s a discussion that I will commit to having with the Minister of ECE. I believe the museum is doing some work in that regard and we’ll certainly report back to the Member on what I find out from ECE. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department continues to support the advancement of arts and crafts across the Northwest Territories. We have a new program called the High Procurement Program where we can get out and get tanned hides and ensure that they get in the hands of artists and craft makers around the Northwest Territories. This is something that we feel is going to be very successful for artists and artisans across the territory to enable them to get to work with hides and fur products from across the Northwest Territories and incorporate those into their artwork. Thank you.

Thank you. It’s important that the Government of the Northwest Territories has the ability to direct where we want to go with the industry here in the Northwest Territories. On the policy side of things, it’s going to be our government that directs the policy direction. It’s going to be in the best interests of the Northwest Territories when our government is in control of the regulation on oil and gas activity here in the Northwest Territories.

The last time I checked, we do not have oil sands located in the Northwest Territories. I’m not sure what the Member is trying to get at, but let me be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in the House yesterday, our hope is to get in front of standing committee with our plans moving forward on regulating oil and gas activity here in the Northwest Territories. Our plan is to have as seamless a transition as possible. We’ve got service agreements set up. We want to ensure that we are protecting the environment and, at the same time, growing the economy here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories recognizes that our future prosperity is heavily dependent on the responsible development of our abundant natural resources. On April 1, 2014, our government will be assuming new responsibilities for the administration of public lands, resources and rights in respect of waters. This means changes for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, which will now administer mineral exploration and development activities and regulate onshore petroleum activities in the Northwest Territories, except in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region.

H...

Mr. Chair, when you look at the Small Scale Food Program and other programs are administered at the regional level. If the Member has folks that are interested in the region, they could approach the ITI staff in the region to discuss the prospect of a small-scale abattoir being added to the community. Our ITI staff at the regional level are well equipped to answer the questions that folks may have.

Again, I will get back to one thing that I mentioned to MLA Bromley and that is the development of our Agriculture Policy and how it is we can fit in the things the Member is talking about, the small...

At almost every opportunity the issue of community policing, First Nations policing, Aboriginal Constable Program is raised with the RCMP. That is something that our government is very much interested in seeing advanced.

As I mentioned to the Member in my first set of responses to her, there was no uptake in the last Aboriginal Constable Program that was set to go to Depot in the fall of 2013. I believe we had one individual from the Northwest Territories that was set to take the training. We have two spots reserved for us when that program does get off the ground in 2015. The individual that...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I thank the Member for his comments and his concern. I do want to tell him and he knows I support the Sahtu, what is happening in the Sahtu, as does the government. We have made a commitment as a government to look at decentralization. This isn’t a regional office that we’re putting in Inuvik. There are nine new positions; it’s a headquarters function and they’re going to Inuvik.

We are moving forward with decentralization plans. There will be more coming, and I hope Members can understand and appreciate and have some patience with us as we continue to move forward and...

I certainly look forward to the discussion during the business planning process next fall. We also have the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program. Just late last year we increased the Fur Revolving Fund by $600,000. We have had a great deal of success in getting trappers top dollar for fur at market and we are seeing more people get out on the land that are trapping and pursuing that activity. It has been very successful for us, and again, I look forward to the questions in the fall in the business planning process. Thank you.

Absolutely, that would be our goal to do that and our anticipation is, hopefully, that some of those dollars would roll in this year.