Michael Miltenberger

The board, I believe, is working as fast and as fully applying themselves to this issue as they can. They are now looking at being able to be finished their work consultation and such and recommendations that can be considered both by the Tlicho and territorial government by I believe it’s now April or May. In the meantime, the support we’re giving is to do what they asked us to do back in July when they themselves identified the state of the Bathurst herd and the precipitous drop from 2006, 120,000 animals, to around 30,000 in 2009. The need to have these interim emergency measures to protect...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First, I’d like to point out that since 2005, and even earlier, since the signing of the land claims up and down the valley, the co-management boards have been working very successfully with the government to look after and make the right decisions with wildlife, including caribou, and even investing significant monies since 2005. We’re now dealing with the issue of rapid decline with the Bathurst herd in the North Slave. Ideally if the Wekeezhii process could have been able to meet its initial targets in October/November prior to this hunting season, we would not be in...

Let me restate the two separate issues: the broader issue of the long-term management plan for the Bathurst that’s going to flow the Wekeezhii process tied in with working with the Akaitcho, the Yellowknives and the Northwest Territories Metis.

The process was supposed to flow to certain deadlines. Those deadlines slipped. We had a situation where it was clearly identified that this herd is in very dire straits. Because that process had slipped, there was a gap. There was going to be full hunting going to happen this winter when the herd cannot survive further hunting at this point requiring...

Mr. Speaker, who has to survive is the caribou. The big picture is the caribou. That has to be the big picture. When you talk to every co-management board and every aboriginal government, the issue is the caribou. Back in 2007, even the Dene Nation said the Dene Nation leadership has identified the decline in caribou stocks as a crisis situation, a top priority to be addressed by all the nations within Denendeh to preserve caribou for future generations. That is the big picture. That is the issue. We are working hard to do that. We are very willing to come up with ways to accommodate the...

I seriously consider everything the Member says. I know his heart is in the right place, his intentions are honourable and pure. Sometimes we have to look at the process, though, and how do we get to where we want to be, which is to protect the herd until these other longer term processes kick into gear. We are, I would suggest to you, probably one of the most consultative governments in this Dominion of Canada.

There are two distinct issues. There’s the issue of the longer term plan for the Bathurst herd as well as the related Ahiak and Bluenose-East herds. It’s going to take time and it’s going to require a considerable amount of work with the affected aboriginal governments and the territorial government and other stakeholders.

The other big most immediate issue is right now, at present, there are no conditions that would allow protection of the Bathurst herd, whose numbers have gone precipitously down from 120,000 to 30,000 animals. Without action that has been taken, there is a very significant...

Of course, our choice would be the shortest time possible, but we have tied the ban to come off as soon as we can get the report from the Wekeezhii board and be able to respond and engage as well, then, with the Tlicho Government, the Akaitcho and the Northwest Territories Metis to come up with a longer term plan. The targets for that report, their recommendations to be done are April or May, at this point.

There are a number of factors here. The Wekeezhii board is part of the Tlicho Government and it’s new. It’s getting up and running. This is going to be its first full test. The other co-management boards have been successfully in place now, in many cases, for decades and have worked out the bugs. They have a good working relationship. As well, the North Slave circumstance is very politically complex where you have not only the Tlicho but the Akaitcho, Northwest Territories Metis, two unsettled claim areas and requires that extra work. So there are all these factors that have been playing...

I as well would like to take this opportunity to recognize some constituents: Mr. Ken Hudson, the president of the Métis Local in Fort Smith; hunter and carpenter, Louise Fraser, as well part of the Métis and a respected elder; and of course Betty Villebrun, President of the Northwest Territories Métis. Welcome.

The government was involved in the process up to this point and will continue to be involved fully in the process as we bring it forward to conclude the regulatory process.