Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask some questions to the Minister of ENR, Mr. Miltenberger, in regard to the study on the Bathurst caribou herd. I want to ask the Minister has his department, along with other independent consultants, done an in-depth study on the impacts of the diamond mines that were opened up in the North part of this region in terms of seeing if that had any impacts on the migration of or the breeding or anything that has to do with the caribou?
Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Work has been done to get the most accurate survey results we can for the Bathurst. Each diamond mine is required, by their operating licensing work that they commit to, to look at the impact that they have and sort of try to minimize any disruption to the wildlife in the area, including the caribou. That would take into play BHP, Diavik, as well as Snap Lake. Thank you.
Thank you. Does the department have a before and after report as to the impacts of the caribou? There are thousands of vehicles that go up to the diamond mines each year. They are doing a lot of blasting in those areas and there’s certainly lots of disruption in terms of the natural lifestyle of the caribou. Has the Minister shared that with this House? I haven’t seen a report in terms of the possible impacts of this diamond mine on the caribou.
What we know with considerable certainty is from 2006 to 2009 the Bathurst herd numbers diminished from 120,000 to the neighbourhood of 30,000. We know, as well, with some considerable certainty that there’s a considerable number of variables, climate change, resource development, hunting, ease of access...(inaudible)...species, changes to climate, permafrost, those type of things that have all combined to have an impact on the herds, not only the Bathurst but herds across the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Mr. Miltenberger listed a number of factors to the decline of the caribou. I would like to know about the impact on the caribou. Does the Minister have any information in terms of the calving of the caribou? Has this had an impact on the calving of caribou?
We’ve accumulated since 2005 a considerable amount of information on nearly every herd now, with the possible exemption of the Ahiak, that looks on cow/calf ratio, bull/cow ratio, general health of the herd, calf survival, all those types of things. We gave an overview to committee earlier this week. If there is a wish for more detailed survey information, we’d be willing to provide that. Thank you.
Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We certainly did receive a briefing from the Minister and I hope the Minister would make that briefing public so we could have the public look at it. Does he have a record of all the outfitters in this area that will be impacted or have been impacted in regards to this caribou herd and the impact of the outfitters taking the prize bulls in terms of doing part of their business? Can the Minister share that also with the Members?
All the information that we shared with committee has been shared across the North, around all the involved and affected aboriginal governments, stakeholders, when it comes to the Bathurst herd. But the work done, the work that was overviewed, by the ENR staff, that’s all information that we make the point of sharing because it’s such important valuable information for making decisions.
We also have, between ourselves and ITI, a very good idea of all the outfitters and the tags that they’ve used and that information as well, I believe, has been shared. But if the Member would like us to provide that again, we would do that. Thank you.
The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
