Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. That's good news, and I look forward to seeing that material. I think it would help the standing committee. There were four areas that have been cut within the overall departmental budget. There's a functional review that seems to have been carved out for $250,000, community-based monitoring and research of $375,000, science budget cut $15,000, and then the Fire Boss planes at $1 million. Can someone tell me about what this functional review is all about? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Dr. Dragon.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the things, I'll, first of all, go through the functional review. During the planning phase of the functional review, that was done in terms of 2016, so before I arrived in the department. So looking at that functional review, what I wanted to do was really get a sense of coming into the department, what was the reality? What was going through the various divisions, and where were the pressure points? What I ended up doing was I ended up contracting and having an operational review done, as well. Then I had two very strategic meetings with my senior management staff, where we talked about the operational and the functional review to determine whether or not these were appropriate reductions.
On the basis of that, what we ended up doing, and I must say as well what I did, I looked at the OAG report as well, because it came out at around the same time. So having the ability to see all of those recommendations, we ended up undertaking a reorganization within ENR and looking at moving some divisions around, moving staff so that it was more comparable in terms of staff complement per director. I think we've been able to do that. Really, when we look at the reduction, what we decided to do was, from the 250 departmental review, we decided to take $175,000 from corporate management, and that is reducing the $325,000 WSCC budget allocation to $150,000. For the last three fiscal years, we've had no expenses within that count.
This is a program that is for a traditional harvester who is actively engaged in hunting, fishing, trapping, and gathering for a livelihood, and at least 25 percent of the harvester's gross income must come through traditional harvesting. This includes any amount of value for traditional country food, as well. Trappers' claims are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and as I said, we had no claims for the last three years, so we decided to take $150,000 from that, leaving an additional, what is that, that's $175,000 within the account, and then risk-manage that in the department depending on the year.
In addition, we looked at $75,000 being taken off in terms of environment stewardship and climate change, and that's a reduction in salary costs and other O and M. This is not fully funding an analyst position within one of the activities, and we feel that it could be adequately handled at the existing level. Those were where we came up with the $250,000 that was initially identified in 2016 as the departmental functional review. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Brief final comments, Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I appreciate the explanation of this functional review. As a result of the functional review, then, the department cut $250,000 out of its budget? Is that what happened with the functional review? Or why is this reduction being made? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I note that the time has expired, so I'd like a brief response from the witnesses. Dr. Dragon.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's correct.
Thank you. Next, I have Mr. McNeely to corporate management. Mr. McNeely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In recognizing the statements made by the Minister here on the opening comments, and attending some of the previous meetings back home, is there a budget allowance here for, say, a multi-partnership workshop with the land corporations and the renewable resource councils to cover on a shared cost basis for various subjects, including caribou range planning conservation and the protected area in the Ramparts, and also taking into account traditional knowledge, progress, and other related issues? Country foods security, for example. Just a multi-subject, multi-organization, so rather than have individual meetings with individual plans, are there plans for one multiple-partner workshop? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I directed the department after we've had some conversations with many of the Aboriginal partners on coming forward with a plan to take some initiative with the caribou issue. Part of that plan, I think, would be travelling to the regions and chatting with the different Aboriginal groups, and getting their input and coming up with a bit of a plan. That's how we want to deal with the caribou issue collaboratively. We've already mentioned the Tlicho, and hats off to the Tlicho. They showed tremendous leadership in trying to deal with the caribou issue. As far as the other initiatives that the Member spoke about, the exact dollar figure, I'm not sure of, but I'm sure we do have some initiatives that we're working on as far as the Ramparts go. I believe I touched on a couple of the Member's issues, but as we go forward now with some of the new initiatives, a lot of the issues that the Member has raised will be some that we would be taking a look at and moving those forward. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. McNeely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Are there allowances or resources available for a woodland caribou study on the west side of the Mackenzie in the Sahtu? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Dr. Dragon.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. One of the initiatives that we're going to be working on and having to do with the section 11 agreement is looking at boreal caribou habitat and coming up with range plans. Strategically, we'll be looking across five different regions across the Northwest Territories and coming up with range plans. Those range plans will be in very strong collaboration with our Indigenous governments and organizations that we will be coming with and looking at doing strategically, starting in the southern part of the Northwest Territories and then moving our way up. We will definitely have the opportunity to be able to work with Indigenous governments and organizations in the Sahtu on that specific herd. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Next, I have Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just under the Fur Price Program, it is a great initiative. I think we are one of the leaders in the country that offer this program to trappers. I would just like to see this continue over the years. I have heard, in the Yukon, people struggle there because they have to basically wait until the auction, until they get paid. This is a great incentive for our trappers to get an advance. That way, they can get back out on the land. I just want to ensure that that program will continue without any deductions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Member's comments. I believe we do have the best support for our harvesters in the whole country. I can assure the Member that there are no plans for any reductions to this particular program. We know how much it is valued by trappers out there. We have heard from them personally. As the Member has said, it gives them the opportunity to get a fur advance and then wait for the actual fur auction itself. It is a great program. It is one that is well appreciated and well subscribed to. We are going to continue to keep that program going. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Blake.
Thank you. Next, under the Community Harvesters Assistance Program, I see a slight reduction since 2017-2018. This program struggles in larger communities, for example, Fort McPherson and Aklavik, with larger numbers. I know in McPherson, for example, we have over 50 applicants every year. By the time you get that many applicants, it is not very much that these people get to go out on the land to help with gas. The main thing is gas for people to get out and travel on the land. It would be nice if we could actually get an increase because, if you speak to the communities, it is pretty clear that they don't have enough funding to help everyone who is in the communities. It is available to everyone, this fund. It is not only land-claim organizations. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Dr. Dragon.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a very well-used program, as the Member mentioned. We have had a lot of history with it, allowing people to get out on the land and actually utilize the money. We have a lot of very positive effects from it. We normally schedule in a little over $1.74 million for it. In the year that you are talking about, the 2017-2018 actuals, from time to time we get projects that we feel we actually need to support. That is additional funding that we provided. We continue to do that. As we see projects that come through, we want to have the opportunity to be able to provide funds so that we get traditional meat into the hands of local people.
Thank you. Mr. Blake.
Thank you. That is great news. That Nutrition North funding would be an asset. I know that is one of the concerns that many of my communities have: sure, our stores make that funding, but we don't see it come down to the people. That is always the concern with communities. I am glad the doctor mentioned country foods. As you know, my whole riding, every fall, there is an opportunity with one of the outfitters who supply wildlife, sheep, moose, caribou, if we are able to get funding for charters.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I share the Member's concerns about the Nutrition North program. We are glad that we are able to help many communities with the community assistance program. I think we have helped some communities get some different types of meat in when the caribou are not readily available. That is there. I think we have also helped with the Member's riding in paying for part of a charter last year, or paying for the charter. As far as a long-term agreement, it is application-based, but I think we have demonstrated in the past that we are more than happy to assist the community. I am not sure of the value of going into a long-term agreement. I think ENR, in most cases, will step up to the plate and help out the community. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Further, Mr. Blake?
Thank you. Next, I have Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank my colleague from Mackenzie Delta for starting this line of questioning. A couple of things that I would like to touch on in this vein is that, in the line item of country foods, we see that this is contributions to support the engagement process in the development of the country food strategy. Can the Minister maybe explain a little bit with regard to the development of the strategy and, in particular, why it appears that, from 2017-2018 to now, there is a reduction of about $40,000 in this line item? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Dr. Dragon.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The country foods file, what we have really been looking at doing is increasing our presence in the communities on what people are thinking in terms of country foods and what else we could be doing differently in the department. What we have looked at doing is combining, actually, two strategies, the country food strategy and the traditional economy strategy, to come up with one that is an ENR sustainable livelihoods action plan.
In looking at the country foods, right now, what we have in place, these were funds that were given to ENR in terms of the development of a country food strategy and related programming. What we have decided to do, like I said, is to realign those two strategies into a sustainable livelihood action plan. What we saw is a significant overlap in terms of the issues. Versus going to the communities multiple times, asking similar questions, and going around the same topic, we wanted to have that discussion.
What we have developed is a large outreach program that is going to be done by the end of March. We are having two large regional meetings that will have designates from community and regional Indigenous governments, renewable resource boards, and land and water boards, as well as 18 small community events. What we are doing with the community events is we are actually going with canvas tents into the community to talk to community members about what they want in terms of this file. We see it as such an important file, and we want to hear from elders, community members, Indigenous governments, and organizations. We want to make sure we have a real robust sustainable livelihoods plan. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Dr. Dragon. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that we are making the effort to combine the country foods and the traditional economy. The word that you used was a "robust" effort. Where in this budget, then, shall we find the resources that are going to go towards this combined effort? We have a country foods line item that seems to be depleting a little bit. Talking about traditional economy, we have a traditional knowledge line item that has also gone downhill a little bit. If we are going to put forward a really robust strategy with regard to the combination of traditional economy and country foods, where are we seeing the resources for that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Dr. Dragon.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If Members could look on page 69 in terms of the program detail, the new on-the-land unit, we have put those funds into that line item. We have approximately $3.290 million that we are going to be putting towards all of these initiatives that we consider on-the-land. Again, it's putting a real focus towards this in the department. We brought in a manager of this program. That allows us to have more focus on these types of initiatives versus them being on the side of the desk. We think that we have a really good strategy, and I think that we have enough money there to do a lot of really great things. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Dr. Dragon. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate that. That seems like a reasonable move to me. I guess I would just add at the end, and there is no need for a reply, really, but if we are going to make these kinds of changes, we should also be putting forward a very strong communication piece so that the communities are very aware of these changes and the accessibility of this new pot of funding. That is all that I have for corporate management. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Nakimayak.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On page 69, just getting back to some of my colleagues here, the on-the-land unit line there, the reduction, I have heard some of the reasons, but I am just looking at some other districts or other governments and self-governments around the circumpolar world. All of ENR's systems for mapping and tracking are very good. I am thinking from a community perspective. A lot of hunters sometimes go out on the land without a GPS or something to track, and a search costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. We have experienced them around this region here this past winter.
I am just wondering if there are any initiatives, since we see all these lines here for on-the-land, of maybe lending out some GPSs or things like that that hunters can communicate with. It is a part of traditional knowledge, and items like that could be very useful to the department just by lending that out, getting some data back from harvesters and where they are on the land. I just want to know what the Minister has to say about that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is actually a very good idea, and I think it is something that we are going to away from here and have a look at to see if there are opportunities for us to provide that. The Member said it exactly. It is very expensive to go out and search for people. There are times when the planes come from southern Canada, and that could be the difference between living or dying.
I think that the idea has got a lot of merit, and I can assure the Member that it is something that we will go away from this particular exchange with and see if it is one that we could implement. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Nakimayak.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Things like this, a few little dollars, can actually go a long way and save a lot in prevention. Other than that, I am looking at these other ones. You know what? I am not going to ask any more questions on this one, since I know that some of my colleagues have already asked and for the sake of time. I appreciate the response. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the budget, we talked about a feasibility study for northern sustainability and community resilience, $150,000 under it as an initiative. In the business plan, on page 60, it says that it has been fulfilled. Can the Minister explain how this happened, or if this has been fulfilled or not? It is $150,000 in the budget.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Dr. Dragon.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the commitments that we had was in terms of researching the feasibility of creating a Northern Centre of Excellence, and I believe that that is what the Member is speaking to, the $150,000. We have been researching. The opportunity that we have been doing is talking to academics and talking to various institutions that have similar types of centres of excellence, but we also thought, given that this has such an alignment with Aurora College and the Aurora Research Institute that is up in Inuvik, that we have to make sure that we are aligned.
What we decided to do was, in terms of holding off for the decision process on this, we wanted to see what was going to be going on with ECE and the polytechnic. Based on that, and now having a leader of that, we will now engage further in those conversations. We are looking at having an RFP that would go out and actually do the work that it is meant to do, based on the initial research that we have already completed of doing a made-in-the-North approach versus a southern-based model. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
