Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the comments from the Members. I don’t agree with them, but I appreciate the opportunity to exchange these views.

First in regards to a caribou summit, I publicly announced that a number of months ago that we’re going to do that, but it’s predicated on the necessity to have information. There’s no use to get all the people together, there’s no use to get all the leaders and all the user groups together if we don’t have information to talk about, that if we just sit around the table with each other and say well how many caribou have you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to think that every answer I give is one of my best answers.

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I think that is truly documented in Hansard. Mr. Speaker, I have indicated the process that we are engaged in as a government with YACCS, NGOs, the business plan process, and that is the process that we are going to continue to follow to its logical conclusion, along with the Member’s input. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have been in correspondence with and in contact with YACCS. They have indicated to us their need for additional funding. We are in the middle of the business planning process and coming forward in government and as a department with a number of forced growth items dealing with NGOs. That whole area is one of the areas that we are looking at. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, community health representatives provide very critical services to help prevent illness and promote good health. We have with us today seven community health representatives that just finished a 10-course, 30-credit university level certificate program in the area of community health representative work. They have graduated with the highest marks ever recorded in this Keyano College program.

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We have a very good cross-section from across the Northwest Territories. We have Alice Kimiksana from the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize Paulette Panzeri, the director general for human resources for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada who is also my older sister and it’s the first time I’ve had the opportunity to welcome her to this House.

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I’d also like to recognize Mr. Daryl Dolynny, a pharmacist who works at Shoppers Drug Mart, past-president of NWT Pharmacies Association who has been very instrumental in the work we’ve been doing on getting a Pharmacy Act brought forward.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, that Bill 7, Pharmacy Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first to the issue of a gathering of the stakeholders in the Northwest Territories. I’ve indicated in this House just a few minutes ago that in fact we’re working on that as we speak. Planning is underway. I’ve made public announcements to that effect that once all the information is in, we are going to gather all the players together and we’re going to sit down and we’re going to look at what the information is, what it tells us, and start mapping out the next steps.

In the issue of consumption, Mr. Speaker, there are some areas that need further work. We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there has been extensive meetings and consultation across the Northwest Territories on the issue of caribou management. We just recently prepared and released an NWT Barren-ground Caribou Management Strategy that links all the pieces, the work that’s been done on the differing herds. As we speak, work is underway for a major gathering, what I have also been referring to publicly for the past couple months as a caribou summit. In the coming year, once all the information is in from all the various censuses that are currently underway, and surveys. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the natural resources, clean air, water and wildlife found in the NWT make us the envy of numerous jurisdictions. Protecting these elements is of the utmost importance to the economic, social and cultural sustainability of our territory.

Two key pieces of legislation are planned to help achieve these goals: an updated Wildlife Act and a new Species at Risk Act. Both pieces of legislation have been under development for a number of years by the Government of the Northwest Territories land claim organizations. Progress has reached an impasse over how the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct; there has never been a territorial gathering to discuss the broad issue of caribou and all the various herds and all the issues that are at play here. The intent is to do that in the coming months, once all the census work and survey work is in. We have to look at what the numbers tell us. We have to try and factor in the hunting, the predation, the climate change, the development issues, and it’s a very complex issue. In the meantime, we can’t sit here in a vacuum. We have taken steps with the information that is available. We have...