Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs in regard to the caribou issue that is happening right now. I want to ask the Minister in his role as the Affairs Minister, has he had any type of discussion with the Minister of Indian Affairs on the situation that is happening in the Northwest Territories?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the specific issue we are dealing with around caribou, we work with the aboriginal leadership across the Northwest Territories, depending on the specific herds and which aboriginal groups directly harvest from those herds and been involved in that. There is much to see in the discussions that have been held on some of the restrictions in place, working with co-management boards. I have not had direct discussions with Minister Strahl in this area. There are times when we will have opportunity to speak on a number of concerns. This, I am sure, will be one of those areas that we will touch base on in the possible meeting that I may have with him on his trip up here. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, in terms of the possibility of future discussions with Minister Strahl, with our aboriginal Minister in terms of the contentious issues and the future of our relationships with the aboriginal governments, would the Minister then commit to having these discussions with Minister Strahl in terms of how we deal with this possibly very volatile issue in terms of future relationships with the aboriginal governments of the North here? Would the Minister commit to reporting to the House if he is going to have some type of discussions with the Minister?
Mr. Speaker, we have these discussions as we go forward as the Government of the Northwest Territories in the 16th Legislative Assembly. We have shown, and I can show Members, the amount of times we have gone and met with aboriginal leadership across the Northwest Territories.
On the issue of caribou, we have agreements of co-management boards with the aboriginal leadership across the Territories that have settled areas that have co-management boards in place. The one place we don’t have is the area of the Akaitcho. That is an area where the Minister and the department have met with their leadership. In fact, at the last regional leaders’ meeting, this issue was discussed to talk about the importance of caribou and what steps needed to be taken. Meetings were upcoming following that as well. Minister Miltenberger and the staff had consequential meetings to that in those areas. There will be a number of items to be discussed that I will have discussions with Minister Strahl on this area, because it is an issue that has arisen. We will touch base on this as well. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, several weeks ago there was a leadership meeting in Fort Simpson convened by the Dene Nation where all the chiefs had some discussions on this issue. From discussion I heard on the radio, it seems like we are still at an impasse in terms of this issue here with the chief and this government in terms of the ban on caribou and there must be some form of miscommunication somewhere along the line. Would the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs see if there is a possibility of seeing if we could work with the leadership down the Mackenzie Valley in terms of how do we deal with this issue here? I think if this is not resolved in a good way, this will damage our relationship with the aboriginal community for a long, long time.
Mr. Speaker, let the record show that we have worked with the leadership up and down the valley. In fact, we have from the NWT Metis, we have from the Tlicho, we have co-management boards set up for regime and accepted some harvest allocations. This is the one area that this issue has arisen and was raised at the Dene leadership. We continue to work with the leadership on a whole number of issues. The caribou will be one of them. Ultimately, I think when you talk to all of the leadership up and down the valley, it is the fact that we want to ensure that we have caribou herds for our future generations. So it is the conservation of caribou that must be first and foremost and work towards how we achieve that. That is something that we will continue to work on as the Government of the Northwest Territories with our aboriginal partnership across the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, conservation is an issue. It is being cited in the actual resource transfer agreement act but also there are treaty and aboriginal rights also, so there are two sides to a story here, Mr. Speaker. I guess I am trying to find which will prevail for the day after this issue has been heard and discussed. I want to ask the Premier, if he has the chance, will the Premier commit to reporting results of discussions with Minister Strahl immediately to the House and to the Members?
Mr. Speaker, I am always prepared to update meetings we have had with federal Ministers on a whole number of issues that we have discussions on. As I said, this will be one of the areas. There is not much time to talk about it, but it is informing him of the steps we have taken. When we talk about what we have tried to do as the Government of the Northwest Territories through the Minister of ENR, his staff, it is to, again, put the conservation of the caribou first and foremost that we have caribou for the first generation. Let’s not lose sight of that. It is important we set up a process amongst the leadership across the Northwest Territories and understand that caribou don’t play politics. They don’t get involved in who has the final right, who wants to be known as the last person. We made debate on who had the final authority, but what is the debate worth about who has final authority if the last caribou gets shot and we talk about what was and not what is. So we are going to continue to work together as a leadership across the Northwest Territories and come out with the best picture possible and the best solution. That is to ensure that our future generations have caribou to harvest. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
