Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday MLA Dolynny talked about the resources of the firefighting season that we have just gone through. I’ve been speaking to a number of people about the recent fire season and I think what it really boils down to, a really good question that came over the weekend was: What type of public discussion will ENR be providing the public to come and talk to them?
A good public discussion could provide both education and understanding about the challenges that ENR had this summer and, as such, could go a long ways to going forward in the future.
Would the Minister be interested in facilitating a public discussion over this last fire season? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve received the text from the Member who got this suggestion from a constituent. I have sent it to the department. I know that they do meetings in the communities as a matter of course. As well, they look at the staff. I just want to get a better understanding; I am not clear what the Member is talking about. Is he talking about in Yellowknife, some major public gathering? Is he talking about gatherings in every community? The question needs to be refined. But we will definitely be sharing the results of the wrap-up and the debrief and what we see as areas that worked and things that we probably need to look at again. We will be sharing that information with MLAs as well as making it public. Thank you.
All very good questions by the Minister and I’m happy to answer them. Trappers and folks who own cabins are very concerned about the fire season. They are trying to understand why things, for example, resources weren’t used certain ways, why sprinklers weren’t accessed, why information wasn’t timely. The long and short of it is simply this: I think the suggestion is great, which is if ENR, for example, hosted a public meeting at the Legislature here, maybe in a couple of the communities where it is relevant, and welcomed input from the people who were impacted by the fires. The only thing that I will say is it is a very emotional issue and it’s very important that it is well moderated because, of course, emotion can sometimes take over. I don’t think people are mad; I just think it’s a very emotional issue and they would like to share their thoughts and express some of their opinions over this last season in hopes that it would be beneficial to the Department of ENR. Thank you.
We at ENR, as a matter of course, touch base in the communities where there is a need to and they will continue to do that. I have been Minister now for a while, of ENR, and we haven’t quite got to the stage of public sessions that the Member is talking about. I will check and confirm with the department what in fact is being done or being contemplated in Yellowknife if anything out of the ordinary. Thank you.
Would the Minister be willing to entertain this type of discussion that we could have our deputy minister, who is very well liked and very well respected in our community… That is Deputy Minister Ernie Campbell. He is a great guy, he communicates well with people and people like him. He could host an evening here with the Minister and ask people what they thought on these types of services, how did it work and what was their vantage point. We have lots of trappers, cabin owners and other people who use the land regularly and they saw different things that all could be a benefit of the Minister. Thank you.
ENR has a presence in almost every community and we represent and have an interest in working with all the communities and I believe we do that in an effective way. I am not, at this point, prepared to just have a special session because a Member got a suggestion to set up something in Yellowknife, accessible only to the people of Yellowknife. There’s going to be opportunities to look at that in probably in other venues, and I will just confirm that I will go back to the department, but we do have a process already in place that I think covers that issue. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you. I think he at least did the proviso at the very end and I just want to be very clear on that. Would the Minister make sure that there is an access point so that the public can provide their perspectives on the fire season and if they have whatever type of info that they can provide, that is made available to the public? There are a lot of people who would like to provide suggestions, and it’s not just that they’re angry or anything, they just want to help. We have people wanting to do stuff. Let’s give them the chance to provide that opportunity because it is very meaningful. Thank you.
I note the Member’s suggestion and will talk about it with the department. I just want to restate that I believe we have a fairly effective system right now. We will be putting a product on the table that will be the result of that work and it will be there and available, and we do make that contact at the community level. Thank you.
