Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. My constituency, of course, is situated very close to the southern NWT with easy highway access. Basically the Deh Cho, in the heart of the region, there was tremendous forest fire activity last year that basically rendered a lot of the forests highly impacted by an unfortunate natural occurrence. Yet at the same time, it’s February at this point and summer is dawning. This matter has been raised in the House before.
My question to the Minister is: What changes to legislation need to be made in order for the commercial harvest of wild mushrooms to be viable in the NWT? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s a major piece of legislation that has to be redone. That’s the Forest Management Act. It’s a major legislative undertaking. Some preliminary work will get done in the life of this government, but it will be carried through to conclusion in the life of the 18th Assembly. Thank you.
This matter, as I’ve pointed out, has been brought to the House before and there are some entrepreneurs at the local community that are poised to take advantage of this opportunity, especially at the local community level where there are very few employment and business opportunities.
What is the Minister prepared to do to help out the communities to basically prepare for the commercial harvest of wild mushrooms? Mahsi.
ITI has put on, and will continue to put on, workshops to assist communities and interested individuals on the ins and outs of the morel mushroom harvest, both in terms of the actual harvesting and then looking to the secondary piece, which of course is marketing the product. Thank you.
There seems to be a call of action for this government to put in place some provisions to ensure that the commercial harvest activities of mushrooms are, first of all, regulated. At the same time, there’s a level of control to ensure that this very precious natural resource is protected, so it seems that the Minister needs to do something.
Is the Minister prepared to step towards an interim provision to protect mushrooms? Would the Minister consider establishing immediately an arrangement with First Nations on their traditional lands to put in place a traditional knowledge study of morels? Mahsi.
If there’s a specific request, ITI and the government, of course, would work with the Aboriginal governments on land that is identified or a part of a settlement area. On public lands we have the provisions put in place that we are able now to do under the current legislation and we will continue to do that. We, as well, offer these workshops to folks at large.
As the Member indicated, the year after fire season, there tends to be a bumper crop of morel mushrooms, and there’s an industry that tracks these fires across Canada, and the harvesters will appear to pick as soon as the harvest season commences. So, we’re prepared to work with the Aboriginal governments and community governments. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s encouraging that the Minister is going to take some action after many times that this has been brought to the House.
Will the Minister ensure that there is at least a dialogue that is established with those First Nation communities that are interested in at least doing a baseline study of the traditional study and the purpose and the value of wild mushrooms, especially those communities that are situated close to the NWT border and along the highway? Mahsi.
The government, of course, stands ready to work with the affected communities in the affected areas where there have been fires in the previous year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
