Robert C. McLeod

No, I know, I know. Everybody heard me because the mic was on. I was just saying that this whole exercise we are going through is not a make-work project. It is just that we are trying to improve services across the Northwest Territories to the public and to our GNWT employees. So going back to the Member's question, I will commit to sharing the information with the appropriate committee. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I share the Member's concerns about the Nutrition North program. We are glad that we are able to help many communities with the community assistance program. I think we have helped some communities get some different types of meat in when the caribou are not readily available. That is there. I think we have also helped with the Member's riding in paying for part of a charter last year, or paying for the charter. As far as a long-term agreement, it is application-based, but I think we have demonstrated in the past that we are more than happy to assist the community. I am...

Yes, I think that they all decided to move to a safer location. No, I don't think that the Member was going to give up until I gave him the actual information. The Nahanni Population is the Nahanni Butte population, and the Slave River Lowlands is Fort Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The agreement is for 20 years. This was a P3 partnership, and so we are paying fees on that, and we make $1.2 million. As far as renegotiating, I am not sure if there is an opportunity to renegotiate. Maybe I will go to our fibre-line expert through you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. When ENR had identified the Fire Boss and not the potential savings that were going to be realized, it came back to the FMB and asked if it would be able to defer that and they would find other sources of reductions. They did, and we approved that. All the other departments within the GNWT had met their obligations. Because we had asked for a waiver on the Fire Boss potential savings, that is the reason we came up with this.

As we go forward now into the next budget, I think with some evidence we have on the actual cost of operating the Fire Boss, I think the numbers that...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The budget line item that the Member is referring to is part of this appropriation that we are bringing forward to the Assembly right now. Once it is approved, then we will go out, work with the community, work with all the other communities, like we normally do, as far as the training and that goes. Right now, it is subject to approval of the budget. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, going back to my earlier comment, we identify somebody who has the ability to move through the system and, with the proper training, move into a management role. I think we see it government-wide. We have a lot of Indigenous people now in management roles, and some of it is through the training of the GNWT, and there are a number of training options that are available. So we continue to work with them, and, if there is an opportunity for them to be identified, get a position, move through the system, we will train them, and we have the appropriate appropriation to...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I directed the department after we've had some conversations with many of the Aboriginal partners on coming forward with a plan to take some initiative with the caribou issue. Part of that plan, I think, would be travelling to the regions and chatting with the different Aboriginal groups, and getting their input and coming up with a bit of a plan. That's how we want to deal with the caribou issue collaboratively. We've already mentioned the Tlicho, and hats off to the Tlicho. They showed tremendous leadership in trying to deal with the caribou issue. As far as the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the Member's riding, a draft Nahanni bison management plan has been revised following an internal ENR review, and it will go out for a broader GNWT review. In the Nahanni population, currently, there are seven male tags only available, and once the population has reached 1,000 animals, a male-only harvest of between 1 to 2 percent could be implemented, as per the management plan. I think that the short answer to the Member's question is yes, we are looking at three different herds of bison in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

I apologize, Mr. Chair. Yes.