Joe Handley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First I’d also like to welcome the fishermen, and Bea and the others, to the gallery today. They do represent a very important part of our economy and one that we feel very strongly must be sustained. We do have a valuable resource in Great Slave Lake, as well as in other lakes, both for commercial and for sport fishing. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the Minister of RWED has dedicated a full-time person to this industry. We have long felt, as a government, that we’re not getting a good deal out of the freshwater fish marketing arrangement. It’s where our fish are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Responsible hunting has always been a key principle that our wildlife people have operated on. I know many hunters do. I have seen hunters go to great lengths to track down a wounded animal to make sure that it is not just being wasted out there. Mr. Speaker, when talking about these herds, I also want to emphasize that the herds tend to increase in size and decrease in size, decline in numbers and so on. Nobody should feel that there is a guarantee that what they have today will necessarily be there in the long term. That has never been part of our plan. The...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We expect that we will be able to introduce the Wildlife Act to this Assembly in May 2005. Mr. Speaker, there is also a companion piece of legislation. That is the species at risk legislation. That one I expect we should be able to have ready for introduction to the Legislative Assembly within the next month or so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, in our view, any Commissioner’s land which is not third party land -- which is land that is owned by someone else, fee-simple title -- is available for the Akaitcho negotiators to identify as part of the land that they would have an interest in. When they do that, then there will be opportunity for others who may have interest to bring forward their case. Through a negotiating process, there will be a determination of what the final land selection will be. Mr. Speaker, I can’t predict what will happen at the sandpits or outside of Con Mine area or wherever else the Akaitcho may...

Mr. Speaker, first of all we do, as a government, certainly respect the Akaitcho’s right to negotiate an agreement. Second, we have an interim measures agreement in place, which deals with, among other issues, how land transfers in the interim will be handled before we have a final agreement. Mr. Speaker, it is a process that we respect very much and one that we will ensure is followed as closely as we can. In saying that, Mr. Speaker, we also recognize that the Akaitcho have not yet moved into the land selection phase part of their negotiations. I hope that comes very soon, but there has...

Mr. Speaker, let me say that our government will support this initiative. Having said that though, we have to keep in mind that it is the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans that manages commercial fishing in the Northwest Territories. I hope someday that becomes our responsibility as a northern government to manage but, in the meantime, we’ll work with DFO and we’ll work with the other partners to achieve the goal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Brendan Bell will be absent from the House today to attend the Western Energy Ministers meeting in Calgary. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, definitely our government will have to respond to the recommendations from this team who was put together to look at the Bathurst herd. So we will be doing that. In doing that, we will be consulting with parties who are not part of the team that was studying the herd. That includes the hunters and those who have commercial operations for tourism. Mr. Speaker, in looking at this plan, the plan does acknowledge that it is very complex because the Bathurst herd doesn’t have an area that is exclusively occupied by them. There are other herds that get mixed in with them from the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In terms of consultation, then certainly there has to be more consultation. Let me say that the Bathurst management plan that was introduced is the recommendations from the committee which is made up of our government, federal government, Inuit organizations, First Nations people and so on. It doesn’t represent, necessarily, the views of each of the organizations that the individuals are from, but it is committee’s recommendation. Before our government would take action on this plan, we would want to take into consideration the needs of all and the interests of all...

Mr. Speaker, we won’t know until the land identification stage of the negotiations whether and what kind of conflict or disagreement there might be on land selection. Mr. Speaker, it has to be recognized that there are three parties at the table: the Akaitcho, who are negotiating their rights; the Government of the Northwest Territories, which has responsibility for those things that are under our jurisdiction; and, of course, the federal government. So we can’t really play the role of a mediator in the negotiations. But we are aiming at having a result that is fair and that is a win for all...