Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today is World Environment Day. It is the biggest and most widely celebrated day for positive environmental action. It is perhaps fitting that this day we chose to vote on a motion to support devolution on the management of public lands and resources from Canada to this government. I hope that this is a sign of our strong determination to respect our land and environment.
We Dene people are part of the land, the land is part of us, it is integral to our lives. We thank the moose or caribou, it gives us life to feed us, to keep us strong and healthy. We thank the land for feeding the animals and for our safe travels on it. This is what the elders teach. The elders have also prophesized that the land would change, that the deer will come back, that water will be valuable, that the sun will get hotter. We have seen all of this happening.
In our lifetimes, the weather has turned much warmer, there is more rain, the pattern of caribou migrations have changed, and permafrost is melting. I guess it’s not permanent. We must be aware of all of these things as responsible stewards of the land. The elders teach us to be observant when we are out on the land. It is key to our survival and to the health of the land.
There are many pressures on our land today. We’re building roads to new mines; we have oil and gas development and pipelines; we’ve been called upon to allow fracking to spur the flow of oil and gas to the surface. We have to balance consultation and resource development. We have to make some hard decisions. We have to base them on good scientific knowledge and traditional knowledge. It is the only way we will succeed.
In the Deh Cho this has always been the goal of our land use plan. Twelve years ago and $6 million later, we should have more results. It is not easy to balance the wishes of industry and the elders’ advice for a sound, effective management system. If governments were more serious about it, we’d soon be able to implement a land use plan we could all be proud of.
On this World Environment Day, we should celebrate the good work we have done, but also recognize that we have much more to do. Our world’s environment depends on what we do every day. That is what the elders teach. Mahsi.
