Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions will be directed to the Minister responsible for ITI. Mr. Speaker, this government's talked about the need for a facility that would allow for the traditional tanning of hides. I have heard this discussion for the past 30 years, and NWT Indigenous artisans continue to find that traditional tanned moose and caribou hides difficult to access. We've talked about tourism, along with collectors that want products made in the North with real northern material which artisans now find difficult to procure.
So I'd ask the Minister, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell this Assembly if there is a financial program that specifically targets with programs specific dollars those artisans that are involved in traditional tanning of hides? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm also well aware of the problem. It's certainly not new. It's been raised to our offices as well.
At present, Mr. Speaker, there are arts council grants through the Department of ECE that can be certainly directed to all artisans in the territory. The Department of ITI provides supports for hide camps, tanning camps through generally through seed funding and funding that can go to the communities. So I anticipate that there could be more that the Member's looking for something more, but there are some creative ways that we can support those these projects for now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's important, and we need to support and encourage those artisans who hold the traditional knowledge of tanning moose and caribou hides. These traditional tanned hides are a much sought after commodity here in the NWT. And this practice goes handinhand with culture, arts, and tourism. So we need to provide a form of compensation for those tanning their own hides. We know it can take up to three weeks and many hours. And the artisan ends up either using the hide for themselves or selling it sometimes at a deflated price, and they deserve more.
So Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to having her department look at developing a program with specific dollars to encourage artisans to continue to and expand the traditional art of tanning moose and caribou hides? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it certainly is disheartening to think that after all that work, the hides would be sold at a deflated price. They are in high demand. I've certainly heard that is a barrier to some of our artisans as well.
At present, Mr. Speaker, in conjunction with my colleague from ECE, there is a review taking place, this fiscal into next, around all of the arts funding programs, certainly wanting to ensure that we are understanding where our money is going and understanding if there are gaps that we should be filling. Of course, alongside that there is the much bigger review of the government renewal initiative to really take a look at all of what we are doing as a government and where we're supporting our the residents. So at this point, that it's through that process that we'll be able to consider whether or not we need to change the existing programs or look for new ones to better identify where to put government dollars. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is important for Indigenous artisans to have access to traditional tanned hides. And it is just as important that this knowledge be passed down to the younger generation. I would ask the Minister or sorry, artisans are willing to teach their children, grandchildren, extended family the art of traditional tanning of moose hide moose and caribou hides.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to work with the Minister of ECE to support the new development of a grant program beyond what is currently in place, one that has both a complementary grant and training program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this again is timely to have this conversation in the House. It's timely to have these questions. ECE and ITI, of course, have released the arts strategy not long ago and are indeed, as I mentioned, undertaking a review of all of the programs and the funding associated to it. So in the course of that, we can certainly commit to working together to look at whether or not there is funding that's available that's perhaps not being utilized, whether there are programs that could be better advertised to those who need it, or if in fact, there's a gap and that there's programming that's not being best directed where it when there is actually a need. So we'll certainly commit to looking at it in this review process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know that many of the artisans are actually bringing in hides from, like, Saskatchewan and Alberta because they don't have access to them here. So, you know, it's important that, you know, that they have access to tanned hides but also they need access to the raw hides as well. And this is where harvesters come in. It's important that we also provide incentive incentive to harvesters if we expect them to bring the hides out after a successful harvest. So, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to working with the Minister of ENR to work out a program that compensates harvesters for delivering the hides, moose or caribou hides, to ENR or directly to the artisan? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm certainly happy to take up a conversation with another colleague. I know that ENR does have a lot of programming in place to support traditional harvesters in the communities and around the Northwest Territories. And the Department of ITI, of course, is responsible for the NWT fur program. So we'll certainly take it away and see if there's more that can be done with our own fur program and of course to confirm with my colleague what better response we have to this. The opportunity to have homegrown and homesourced hides really is the ultimate solution, and of course I'm going to see if there's a way that we can get there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
