Robert Villeneuve

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I guess I had the remissible loan concept a little mixed up. I thought that was repayable, but I guess you have to come back north and repay it in the form of hard labour. I just want to get the Minister’s support, I guess, to help move this thing forward for aboriginals and treaties alike in Canada and the NWT, and I guess I’m looking at him to offer the NWT students some level of comfort in saying yes, they are going to maybe lobby the federal government to help them with this initiative and establish it as a treaty right, which I feel it is. I just want to get the...

…with student financial assistant.

---Applause

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to talk about the financial assistance First Nations students receive for their post-secondary education.

Mr. Speaker, starting in the year 2007, the Canadian Revenue Agency will be issuing the first T4-A tax forms to First Nations students who have received money from their bands for their college and university education. By doing this, the federal government is treating post-secondary student financial assistance as a taxable income and is demonstrating a lack of regard to First Nations treaty rights.

Mr. Speaker, this is a treaty...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I commend the Minister for making this a priority of the department to ensure that the public is always safe along that Ingraham Trail, especially with all the wildlife that is going through there right now. With regard to the renewable resource officer human resource capacity in that area, I know that we’re fairly limited with the amount of officers that we do have, but I know that this time of year is fairly slow in the whole renewable resource sector, I guess. People aren’t out on the water as often and people don’t go hunting until the ice usually forms and stuff...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My question is in reference to my statement earlier today to the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, the Honourable Brendan Bell. In light of the recent developments along the Ingraham Trail with our discovery of more meat wastage by some hunters that are violating the Wildlife Act, I want to ask the Minister a simple question that if the department has taken steps or does plan on taking steps on increasing the presence of renewable resource officers along the Ingraham Trail to ensure public safety for residents who are living or hiking or hunting...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to talk about an issue that was on CBC this morning that I feel will be coming up more regularly in the future and should be addressed by this government.

Mr. Speaker, I am referring to the government’s hunting and harvesting regulation and the penalties for meat wastage. I don’t believe the current penalties are sufficient and I would like to see more monitoring and policing of our highways and hunting areas by our renewable resource officers.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, with reference to my Member's statement about bad hunting practices and meat wastage in the NWT:

How many infractions have taken place since the Akaitcho incident in 2002?

How many have resulted in official charges being laid or fines imposed?

What changes in the Wildlife Act will help to alleviate or deter this type of practice in the NWT?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d have to agree with the Minister that it is a vast territory and with the limited amount of officers we have, they each have a lot of area to cover. I notice that the migratory route is through this area of the barren land caribou and some years they don’t show up until late in season and some years they are close to town, other years they are quite a ways away. Because this doesn’t happen every year and it only happens for a couple of months out of the year, why doesn't the department, to ensure public safety, have a renewable resource officer or officers there...

With regret to similar situations, Mr. Speaker, which have taken place in the Akaitcho Territory in 2002 that included a DIAND official, the penalties imposed or lack thereof, this type of hunting practice will only worsen and does not reflect traditional values which we are all trying to teach our children.

When violators know that our justice system does not effectively deal with infractions and people know they can get away with this type of practice, it will only continue. If a judgment had been made that was deemed fair and just, and a message to the public was made that this practice was...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that response because I look forward to seeing some changes in the near future. I am willing to sit down with the Minister and help develop some new policies with respect to more consistent delivery of the human resource policies in this government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.