Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At long last, through their locally elected representatives and the government they direct, the people of the Northwest Territories have control over Territorial lands. The Land Minister’s recent announcement of his intent to develop a recreational leasing policy, perhaps even with teeth, is welcome.
In the absence of a transparent and publicly reviewed process on recreational leasing in the past, the public has been seeing ongoing loss of the commons, rewards to those who occupy lands illegally, a helter-skelter policy of leasing by the federal government and the turning of a blind government eye with lack of resources, intent or commitment to enforce either law or regulations on recreational land leases. Those following government rules have been penalized with no access to land.
Not surprisingly, the public has questions. Given past trends to the contrary, will there be a clear and transparent process that provides equal and fair opportunity for access to all? The Minister has recognized the unique role of Aboriginal governments and committed to ensuring Aboriginal governments the clear opportunity for reserving land. Will the general public have an equal opportunity for input on the protection of the commons for everyone?
Closely related, there’s a huge ongoing gap between the fact of a moratorium on leasing and its enforcement. Constituents report an ongoing and frequent illegal occupancy of land by squatters, yet despite having lists of legal leases, the department has no complete inventory of occupancy, legal or illegal, on Territorial lands, and the Minister has told me he can’t possibly afford to do one. Given this, some other cost-effective method is needed to build the inventory required for land management.
I suggest that the public has the motivation, the ability and the GPS technology, everyday technology now, to contribute coordinates of land occupants in almost all areas of interest. Lands could easily accept these reports, cross-reference them to existing legal leases and compile a comprehensive list of sites to inspect and establish legitimacy of occupancy. Squatters could then be dealt with. We can’t manage what we can’t measure. We need an inventory.
Despite raising these issues repeatedly in the past, and commitments he’s recently made, the Minister’s plans on these issues remains unknown. Government’s failure and…
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Mahsi.
---Unanimous consent granted
Government’s failure to listen to the public has slowed the process tremendously and caused expensive and repeated re-workings of policy that never got implemented. The people on the land suffer the consequences, and we know it is expensive as well. There is an opportunity to do better, and I know this Minister has good intentions. It will require full participation of my colleagues and the public to achieve that.
Mr. Speaker, I will have questions. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
