Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to rise today on an issue I raised yesterday in the House. I find it kind of ironic that the Government of the Northwest Territories is falling back to federal legislation that was passed in the federal Parliament in 1960 to deal with an issue in 2010. I think, Mr. Speaker, it’s a bad precedent that this government is setting on how we manage the affairs of the Northwest Territories by going back to the colonial government of John Diefenbaker.
At that time, we used to have a council which was appointed by Ottawa and ran the government out of Ottawa, and now we are in the situation where we are going back to that same legislation and same process of falling back instead of going ahead and agreeing to acknowledging aboriginal rights, aboriginal land claims and Canadian constitutional changes in regards to Section 35, acknowledging aboriginal people’s rights in the Northwest Territories and enhancing those processes to enact those legislative agreements that have been passed in this Legislature by adhering to aboriginal rights with regard to constitutional rights and, more importantly, Mr. Speaker, the right as Canadians to upholding our Constitution, Section 35.
Mr. Speaker, I find it kind of hard to understand how a government can make a political decision on outdated decisions regarding a government which no longer applies to the Northwest Territories. We are a new Territory after division. We have land claims settled in the Northwest Territories. We also have agreements that clearly stipulate the process this government must follow before it takes any type of radical decisions such as the one we’re dealing with today by ensuring due process, making sure that the needs levels of indigenous people are upheld, and allowing those aboriginal people the right to subsistence harvesting on a manageable level. I think for myself, a Member of this House going on 15 years, this sets a bad precedent in regard to how we make decisions in this Legislature for the people of the Northwest Territories, running back to Ottawa, going through their archives to dig up something that might be...
Mr. Krutko, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted.
This sets a bad precedent where we have to go back to the federal archives in Ottawa to dig up anything we can to justify what we’re doing today in 2010. I think because of the justification of how this came about, the process was enhanced and I think it’s critical that this government investigates exactly how this took place. I will be asking the Minister questions on why we had to go to the federal archives.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ve been reviewing some of my notes from yesterday and from the exchange I had with the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and the Minister of ENR. Mr. Speaker, the issue with me is with the consultation process in terms of looking at the issue of caribou with the aboriginal people. Mr. Speaker, I also understand that the Minister indicated in the House that they were close to coming to a resolution of this issue with the Yellowknives Dene. Certainly, there are two views as to the type of resolution, Mr. Speaker. I find it very puzzling that we are coming to a point in this type of discussion where you have two opposing views as to dealing with the caribou in this specific area. It also entails other discussions around rights, treaty rights, food for survival, even the method of consultation and the method that we’ve been receiving or even the scientific evidence. I haven’t seen much weight on the traditional evidence in terms of that coming forward, in terms of what are the aboriginal people telling us about the caribou in terms of evidence of the elders, in terms of how we should deal with this important species for their livelihood.
Mr. Speaker, I wanted to follow up later regarding this Member’s statement with my questions to the Minister in terms of a resolution with the Yellowknives Dene in terms of how do we resolve this issue. I think that there are some ways that we could work out. There have been suggestions by the Dene Nation in their motions in terms of how do we deal with this issue way before it’s coming to this point here. So I want to ask the Minister later on in terms of how do we ensure that the needs of the people who depend on caribou are looked after. Their culture is at risk and at stake here. There is a herd that the ENR office has said that is going to possibly become extinct if we do nothing. There has not been much weight given to the diamond mines up there and the thousands and thousands of trucks that go by there every year. There are other issues we haven’t talked about. It seems like we are just putting this on the aboriginal hunters, Mr. Speaker. That is not fair.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Judging by the audience we have in the gallery today there is a very important issue there. I was going to speak about something else today, but I feel it’s important that since so many people have demonstrated an interest in this topic of the caribou, that I speak to it from my vantage point as only one of 19 Members elected to this Legislature. I hope this will be received in the spirit in which it is intended.
For the sake of the caribou I implore leaders of all affected stakeholder groups to continue a dialogue that is mutually respectful of all parties. Please don’t allow valuable time, financial, and wildlife resources to be negatively impacted by the personalizing or politicizing of this very important question.
I would like the GNWT and the Minister to continue to explore every option possible to avoid a standoff, a gridlock, or an all-out legal battle over the management of this unique and traditionally precious commodity.
Every one of the ranging caribou herds must be sustained for the benefit of those who will come after us. This isn’t about Minister Miltenberger and it isn’t about Chief Erasmus. It is about humans who will be humble enough to bring the best traditional and scientific knowledge to bear on our God-given, Creator-given duty we have as humans for the well-being of our land and our wildlife.
