Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Draft amendments to the Wildlife Act are not there yet. It has been a long road, and a pressing need to update the act into the legal reality of today is clear. The draft bill does go some distance towards recognizing Aboriginal and treaty rights but fails on our additional responsibility for bringing those without these rights into a cooperative management future.
As I have said repeatedly, whole management is the only approach that will work, but workable whole management requires that this bill also provides for wildlife users without Aboriginal and treaty rights to be directly engaged in the process. While the legal makeup of advisory and management boards may omit wildlife users without Aboriginal and treaty rights, that does not preclude a direct and funded role for them and advising government representatives who are at the table. The difficulty lies in the fact that government representatives must represent all people, including those with Aboriginal rights. And thus they have an inherent conflict of interest. Unless those without treaty rights have a clear mechanism for participation and debate, our solutions can only produce the failed management practices, discord and resistance that now prevail.
Another key issue is recognition of the legal fact that priority rights do not mean exclusive rights. Few, if any, would debate the recognition of priority access for those with Aboriginal and treaty rights over residents and then commercial interests. Case law indicates that while Aboriginal harvesters have pre-eminent rights of harvesting, that does not mean completely excluding allocation for users without Aboriginal and treaty rights.
Mr. Speaker, you have heard me speak out many times on behalf of Aboriginal and treaty rights holders. I am extremely pleased to see this draft legislation making significant progress in recognizing those rights, but we have a responsibility for maximizing the use and enjoyment of our wildlife for all our people within the provisions for recognition of Aboriginal and treaty rights. To achieve this, we need to conduct and fund consultation for all users and provide all users with a meaningful mechanism for direct participation in wildlife management. Conservation is most supported by those who use the resource. Working together requires providing a real opportunity to engage.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Working together requires providing a real opportunity to engage. Failure will lead to bad management decisions and embittered agendas for years to come. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On February 2nd I made a Member’s statement outlining concerns I received about the most recent public consultation process that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has been conducting on the proposed Wildlife Act.
There is concern that these consultations are not really being conducted to get input on the proposed changes but rather to inform the people on what the department is planning to put before this Legislature. Many participants have the feeling that their concerns about the content is being ignored and that only token or administrative changes are being considered by ENR, so no real or substantive changes will result from these current public consultation sessions, which started in November, then over Christmas and ended in mid-January.
Mr. Speaker, on February 2nd I asked the Minister some clear questions. I was trying to get the Minister to provide constituents across the Northwest Territories with some confidence that their voices and input have been seriously considered during this most recent round of consultation; specifically, the voices of the non-Aboriginal hunters, the Akaitcho and the Dehcho, whose only input into the proposed and final act come as a result of the really important public consultations.
Mr. Speaker, I was very frustrated by the Minister’s response to my questions. Rather than answer my questions, the Minister, in my opinion, danced a dance of deflection. Rather than answer these important questions he challenged the credibility of the NWT Wildlife Federation, accused me of egregious behaviour, made continual reference to 54 drafts, but wouldn’t confirm how many of these drafts have been done after the current consultations. And when pressed for examples of how ENR would be incorporating input heard from the residents during these most recent rounds of consultations, the Minister provided examples of clauses that were already included in the proposed act, items that have not been changed since the current round of public consultations.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, consultations have been going on for over 10 years. Unfortunately none of these consultations included the distribution of the current departmental draft and only this last round of consultation included the plain language summary. Yes, Mr. Speaker, the drafting of this proposed legislation recognized treaty and Aboriginal rights. Some Aboriginal governments participated in the drafting. This is a unique and respectful practice which needs to be applauded. However, we are still a public government and the voices of all our residents must be heard and acknowledged.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, a lot of good work has been done. However, one would think that the Minister would want an act of this importance to be as near perfect as possible before putting it in front of this House.
If the Minister can’t demonstrate that this most recent and final round of public consultation has had meaningful impact...
Mr. Abernethy, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Minister can’t demonstrate this most recent and final round of public consultations had meaningful impact on the final draft and that no substantive changes are being considered as a result, I suggest that this act is not ready to be put before this House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This past December and January I attended public meetings for consultations on the Wildlife Act. The presentations were excellent and thorough but I came away with concerns for the act; concerns that were strengthened by submissions by a number of NWT organizations.
I want to start by saying that I appreciate the efforts of the Minister and the staff of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for their work in the development of the act over these lo many years and for the presentations and consultations that are recently concluded.
I will not comment on the consultation process. The Minister has heard people’s concerns about that already. I do have to comment on the act, in light of what I’m hearing from constituents.
The new Wildlife Act is long overdue but the draft act, as presented during the recent consultation process, is not ready for first reading without some amendments. Firstly, there are a couple of requirements in the act which will force airlines to contravene Transport Canada regulations, and that they cannot do.
Secondly, I have major concerns with the proposed membership of the Conference of Management Authorities. We’re told that any interested non-Aboriginal residents are represented by the GNWT, but in reality that’s not adequate. We’re told that the conference membership must be limited to agencies who have a legal responsibility for wildlife management, but if that must be, then identify several ex-officio, non-voting members from interested organizations: the Chamber of Mines, or Chamber of Commerce, or the NWT Wildlife Federation, for instance. We must be inclusive as a government and we must be seen to be inclusive.
Thirdly, NWT businesses are concerned about the powers identified in the act to establish conservation areas, particularly the mining companies. There is little in the act that speaks to an NWT that protects and manages wildlife and also allows and encourages economic development. There must be language added to the act which expresses the philosophy of sustainable development.
Lastly, many, many people have indicated their concern with the unidentified content of some 250 or more regulations that will govern the new act. The department must be more forthcoming about the content of these numerous regulations.
I’m heartened by the assurances given to Members at a recent briefing on the act. What I heard is that a number of changes will be made to the draft act prior to its presentation to the House and I commend the Minister and his staff for recognizing that change was needed. It is imperative that the department’s response to the consultation be shared with everyone who submitted comments, with the general public, prior to the first reading of the act.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
