Debates of June 8, 2006 (day 8)

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I just have some caribou management issues that I wanted to ask the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources about some of the actions that he’s planning for the summer. The department is working with the Department of ITI to address some hardships resulting in the low numbers of caribou. I just want to ask the Minister how or what plans or how do they plan on addressing all the hardships in the smaller communities that aren’t seeing the caribou numbers like they used to? With the high price of food in a lot of these remote communities, have they come up with any ideas or recommendations on how the government is going to be addressing the hardships? Maybe he can just brief the House on those. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Return To Question 83-15(5): Hardships Created By Declining Caribou Herds

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we’ve identified that early on as one of the potential impacts if the declining herd numbers remain down and there’s restrictions to the hunt placed on hunters, but we don’t have a definitive answer yet. We’ve identified that as an area that we want to pay some attention to as we move through the coming months and into the next winter. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Supplementary To Question 83-15(5): Hardships Created By Declining Caribou Herds

Mr. Speaker, I just want to ask the Minister, I guess, if they haven’t really identified how to address the hardships, how to subsidize freight for food or give out food coupons in the remote communities that rely heavily on caribou and just not for the hunters and trappers and the harvesters in the communities, but are they going to take into consideration all the outfitters that are being affected by the low numbers that they’re allowed to harvest? Are they going to be included in the hardships that they’re going to address? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 83-15(5): Hardships Created By Declining Caribou Herds

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have an arrangement with the outfitters and we’ve set some targets in terms of quotas and we’re going to continue to work with them as the new numbers come in. In regards to the communities and the impact of the potential restrictions to the access to caribou, many of the examples or suggestions made by the Member are the very type of things that we’re looking at as possible ways to deal with the issue, but we haven’t come to any final conclusions. But we do know that this is an area that’s going to need some clear, undivided attention. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Supplementary To Question 83-15(5): Hardships Created By Declining Caribou Herds

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Definitely we need some real attention paid to the caribou management issue. I’m getting word from a lot of outfitters that they’re going to be closing their doors because of this new quota that the government has imposed on their operations and the caribou harvest that they’re allowed. I just wanted to ask the Minister about what I suggested last time, and what a lot of elders have also brought to my attention, about the quota on males only, which could lead to a further decline in the caribou herds or just weaker herds in general. I wonder if the Minister has considered changing that quota to not include the prime bulls in any of the herds or restricting them definitely to the outfitters, but also to the hunters and trappers and say well, you know, we don’t want to take all the prime leaders of the herd. Can the Minister make an amendment to his actions to accommodate that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 83-15(5): Hardships Created By Declining Caribou Herds

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand there’s leadership roles played by both bulls and cows and one of the concerns is with the shooting of cows, is that in many cases when cows are taken, you lose the potential of anywhere up to a dozen or so calves and I’ve heard many stories of pregnant cows being shot. So there’s a concern about the breeding stock, as the Member has indicated. The reality is, we have a bulls-only policy for the resident tag hunters, as well as the outfitters. It’s not a restriction at this point on the aboriginal harvest, but it is an issue that’s going to require discussion, because there are differing points of view and we’ve got to get the best advice as we move forward on this. But very clearly the concern is if you shoot cows only, that you’re going to lose tremendous breeding potential and we have to have the balance. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Supplementary To Question 83-15(5): Hardships Created By Declining Caribou Herds

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just with regard to all the outfitters that have been affected by the drop in their quotas, I’m wondering if one suggestion that was brought to my attention is raising the number of tags that the outfitters in the northern North Slave region might be able to bounce back with is raising the number of tags for grizzly bear tags that they’re allowed to harvest in the northern part of the NWT. A lot of outfitters feel that if they raise those quotas -- the number of grizzly bears is definitely grown quite significantly with the amount of polar bear, human incidents that are arising in the mines and in the exploration camps and stuff -- will the government consider bringing the grizzly bear tags to the attention of the outfitters and say hey, you know, this is something that you probably could fall back on in the five years that this Caribou Management Strategy is going to be rolling out. Is that a consideration? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 83-15(5): Hardships Created By Declining Caribou Herds

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ve met with the Barren Land outfitters, I’ve met with the Mackenzie Mountain outfitters and the issue of grizzly bear tags did come up. At this point, though, we haven’t made a firm decision. There is the option of looking at what are now considered defence kills and where grizzly bears are shot when they come into camp or are too close to humans and to see if there’s a potential offset in terms of tags. However, we have not reached a final decision on that particular issue. Thank you.