Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are on caribou today. I am wondering, first of all, for the Minister, in consultation leading up to the ban, how did the Minister take into consideration the fact that the Yellowknives Dene had not settled their land claims negotiations? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We recognize very clearly that this is a politically complex part of the country with Tlicho with settled claims, and the Yellowknives Tlicho with unsettled claims, along with the Northwest Territories Metis, the largest population centre, the most heavily drawn upon herd in the Northwest Territories. We recognize that this whole process we are engaged in the longer term process for our Caribou Management Plan is going to require whole involvement of all the aboriginal governments. We are committed to doing that. When we looked at the ban, we looked at the caribou numbers that were done, recognizing, as the Premier pointed out, that caribou don’t look at political jurisdiction, they just do what they do. The numbers are precipitously dropped over the last three years and we made the decision based on the conservation aspects. Thank you.
I appreciate those remarks. I recognize there is the conservation issue for the caribou. According to the Minister’s experts, mineral developments have removed about 4 percent of the Bathurst range from them, through disturbance and avoidance. The experts also say that the harvestable rate, the maintainable rate is about 4 percent. With the range diminished by that much, ongoing harvest would be focussed on either fewer caribou or on caribou with reduced vigour and unable to handle the same amount of harvest. This could contribute to the decline and it requires consideration and management action. Along with the ban on hunting, what restrictions is the Minister placing on mineral development activity to protect the caribou, and if it is beyond the range of this jurisdiction, what recommendations is he making to the federal government in that direction?
Each of the diamond mines was reviewed and I’ve given approval. The issue of cumulative impact is one that has come more and more into the forefront as we look at resource development. What we’re dealing with, with the band, is a short-term period of three to four months that will get us through the hunting season and allow the longer-term process for a harvest management plan to be put into effect. It’s during that longer-term process that the work done to look at what the effects are, what are the variables that are driving the caribou numbers down have to be taken into consideration so that we can make the best decisions possible. If out of that process comes the issue of requirement for review of the cumulative impact, then we’ll be responding to those recommendations as they come forward.
I’m looking forward to action on that front. Obviously they are having impact, as the Minister’s own staff are telling us. What monitoring is being one to at least measure the continuing harvest of Bathurst caribou from the range that’s under the restriction of the ban?
We’ve enhanced the coverage with the officers around Yellowknife. As well, they’re working in Behchoko with staff. We’ve also taken on some part-time seasonal staff to assist the officers that are currently on the job.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for those comments. We’ve become pretty good over the years at monitoring the caribou at their calving grounds. It’s been a long process, but I think the counts now are at least statistically sound and so on, and increasingly reliable. But to date we have not been able to measure or count dead caribou. That has greatly reduced our ability to manage the current situation and the past situation that’s allowed this to develop. What is the Minister doing to enable us to be able to count accurately dead caribou and thus actually manage the harvest in a sound and reasonable way before it gets to an emergency situation?
The Member makes a good point. There is a wide range of numbers in terms of the harvest in the North Slave on the Bathurst; anywhere from 7,000 to 10,000 a year, depending on who you talk to. The issue is, and part of the harvest management plan is going to have to deal with the issue, the requirement for mandatory reporting from all harvesters. Right now we can tell how many outfitters there are, how many resident tags there are, but we have no clear idea except on a voluntary basis on the aboriginal harvest. So part of the ability to have a good harvest management plan is to set up a process agreeable to all parties that is going to allow us to get that information so we can count with considerably more accuracy the amount of animals taken out of any given herd, be it the Bathurst, the Cape Bathurst, the Porcupine, Bluenose-West, East, Ahiak, or the Beverly.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
