Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In February, the NWT Barren-Ground Caribou Management Strategy was released. It identified the actions this government, our partners and users need to take during the next five years to help caribou herds recover. Today I would like to update Members on the actions we have taken to date:

Measures identified by the wildlife co-management boards are being implemented.

Harvest levels have been reduced.

A two-week delay in the release of maps showing the locations of caribou has been implemented.

Additional collars were deployed during the spring distribution surveys...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We intend to be able to come forward with some clear options of a layout and answer some of the questions as we see them as a government in terms of the liability, the role of Health and Social Services, which is the ultimate end user, what role MACA plays if any, the type of legislation we’re going to need, how do we address the liability issues. As we, for the first time, will be formally acknowledging that this is a service that we have a vested interest in, we have to be able to speak to the resource requirements, how do we support communities that are doing this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we’ve committed to come back to this House in the fall with a plan that’s going to lay out how we want to rationalize, as a government, this particular service and coordinate the efforts across the departments that are impacted; as well, be able to work with the communities on the best way to move forward both with the emergency response, the ambulance service, as well as the medical transport fees. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, what my intention is, as Minister is, to maintain the current arrangement where there’s a public trustee that’s going to oversee, that the CEO’s going to report to. The JLC’s going to continue and on our legislative agenda is a review and updating and revising of the legislation that governs all the authorities and boards because it is out of date and needs work. But for the foreseeable future I intend to carry on with the arrangement we do have. I believe Stanton is functioning very effectively and the board chairs that I deal with on a regular basis seem quite pleased with the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the current legislation there is provision in legislation for boards, for authorities, including Stanton. There is also provision for what happens when there is no board, as there is in this case. What happens then is there’s a public trustee to be appointed, which there has been, and that has been the deputy minister. The CEO then reports to the deputy minister. That’s the legal arrangement that currently exists with Stanton within the framework parameters of the current legislation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Joint Leadership Council, which comprises of all the board chairs from the authorities, the deputy minister and myself, are going to be paying very close attention to this initiative. As well, all the CEOs are involved through the Joint Senior Management Committee to oversee a lot of the detailed program implementation piece. The CEO of Stanton will be working closely with the Elders’ Advisory Council and there will be a representative from the Sahtu on that and they will be providing that kind of advice, so we can see how we move forward from here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Stanton Territorial Hospital is an $80 million, 500 staff facility. It is our major tertiary care facility. The Member is correct; there is a high percentage of aboriginal population who use the service and we have been working with Stanton, with some of the MLAs over the last number of months and have been getting advice from elders across the Northwest Territories about how we can start to better incorporate traditional healing practices and wellness approaches into Stanton hospital. There has been a lot of work done. We’ve taken the time to go to other...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand there’s leadership roles played by both bulls and cows and one of the concerns is with the shooting of cows, is that in many cases when cows are taken, you lose the potential of anywhere up to a dozen or so calves and I’ve heard many stories of pregnant cows being shot. So there’s a concern about the breeding stock, as the Member has indicated. The reality is, we have a bulls-only policy for the resident tag hunters, as well as the outfitters. It’s not a restriction at this point on the aboriginal harvest, but it is an issue that’s going to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we’ve identified that early on as one of the potential impacts if the declining herd numbers remain down and there’s restrictions to the hunt placed on hunters, but we don’t have a definitive answer yet. We’ve identified that as an area that we want to pay some attention to as we move through the coming months and into the next winter. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this issue has been on my agenda now for the last year or so and I’m very committed to try to have these issues resolved in the life of this Assembly and a process initiated that’s going to allow us to lay out a plan of how we’re going to move to a more rational funded kind of arrangement where we recognize the costs and we work with the communities to come up with a service delivery model that is effective for different communities across the North. Thank you.