Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on Mr. Krutko’s line of questioning. I did raise it yesterday with the Minister of ENR, Mr. Speaker. I know that aboriginal people come from a proud history. We tell our youth we as aboriginal people, have a special right, an inherent right in our treaties and one of them is to hunt and fish and trap as long as the sun shines, the river flows and the grass is green. We can hunt to feed our people. However, the Minister of ENR implemented a no-hunt zone, Mr. Speaker. No one disputes conservation or preservation, but what we’re talking about today is restricting the right of aboriginal people to hunt, fish and trap, most particularly hunt in this no-hunt zone.
I’d like to ask the Minister again, under our NWT Act, 18(3), it says that nothing shall be construed as authorizing the Executive Council to make ordinances restricting or prohibiting Indians and Inuit from hunting for food on unoccupied lands. However, there is a stipulation about a herd being extinct and I’d like to ask the Minister what document, what research, what definition is he using for a herd being extinct, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we should also talk about the caribou and the trouble that they’re in and the fact that the herd numbers have gone from 120,000 to 30,000 and that we have to take some action in the short term to make sure that the herd is protected, recognizing that we have to work to accommodate their aboriginal right to harvest, which we want to do and we have done with the Tlicho and we’re working on it with the Yellowknives. We have the authorities under the Northwest Territories Act, any Orders-in-Council subsequent to that, as well as our own Wildlife Act, which is, as we speak, being redone. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Canadian case law is full of examples where jurisdictions tried to prevent aboriginal people from hunting and fishing and they’ve always lost in court. Once again, the Minister is challenging our inherent right to hunt and fish. We’re going to go to court, we’re going to win, but I’d like to ask the Minister right now, we’re not talking about lifting the ban, but we’re talking about allowing our aboriginal people to hunt as they always have for hundreds of thousands of years. So will the Minister consider that seriously and immediately? Thank you.
Thank you. We are not talking about restricting or removing any rights, we are talking about conservation, we’re talking about an accommodation with the aboriginal governments to ensure that their people have access to subsistence harvest. There is agreement by the Tlicho, support by the Tlicho, support by the Metis Nation. We are working on a resolution with the Yellowknives. We are interested in resolving this. The Members in this House now have become legal scholars, well scripted with legal questions from vast talk and smooth-talking lawyers and that’s not our job. If there’s a question about our authority, we can have that discussion. We can fill the room with lawyers and technical staff and we can have the debate about are we a duly constituted government, do we have that authority. I suggest to you that clearly we do. Every land claim that has been signed recognizes the need for conservation and the role of the government to be able to step in, and even in unsettled claims areas, 35-1, as well gives us a process to be able to do that carefully, but we are dully constituted to do that. We’re going to do that very carefully and we want to resolve the outstanding issues with the Yellowknives.
Thank you very much. If the Minister is creating the law or regulation that charges aboriginal people for hunting and getting them thrown in jail, then he is restricting our inherent right to hunt and fish and trap. So, once again, where does he get that authority that’s based on the definition of a herd being extinct? What is the Minister’s definition of this Bathurst herd being extinct? Thank you.
Thank you. The science tells us, the numbers tell us, all the work we’ve done with the communities and all the census information tells us that if we just carry on the next, within about two to three years, the Bathurst herd as a separate distinct herd will cease to exist if we just allow the hunting to continue. We have an obligation and a requirement to do the right things to protect the herd and at the same time respect the processes that are now underway with the Wekeezhii and to consult further with the Yellowknives to come up with a longer term plan. This short-term emergency interim measure allows us to do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Once again, no one disagrees with the short-term emergency measures, Mr. Speaker, it’s about restricting the aboriginal right to subsistence hunting. When it happened with the cod fishing, they’re still allowed to fish for cod. So I’d like to ask the Minister to give that serious consideration and tell this House if he can commit to work towards that before March. Thank you.
Thank you. I’ll reiterate my commitment and information that I gave when the Member from Hay River South asked the questions. We have discussions underway. We have agreement with the Northwest Territories Metis. The Tlicho Government has supported our efforts for conservation. We have, and continue to have, dialogue and some clear proposals up for discussion with the Yellowknives and we are committed to hopefully resolving this issue in the not-too-distant future. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
