Thanks, Madam Chair. We wouldn't be necessarily waiting for the federal money before we start to do something ourselves; is that correct? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of ENR.
Thank you, Madam Chair. No, we have actually started the process already. We are ahead of the federal government. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. When do we expect to undertake the next series of caribou calving ground surveys, and is there money in the budget to do that? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of ENR.
June for Bathurst and Bluenose-East. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Sorry. Thanks, Madam Chair. I didn't quite hear the Minister's answer. He said June of this year? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Yes, Minister.
Yes. Correct. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. How is that coordinated with the government of Nunavut? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister of ENR.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We work collaboratively with the Nunavut government. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am wondering if ENR or any department has some sort of evaluation of the monetary value on the meat that local harvesters provide their communities.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of ENR.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Presently, no, we do not. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I know that, in some conservation circles, there is hesitancy to put a value on wildlife, but I think, as we are going forward in this Assembly, looking at food security, and we are talking about increasing the harvesters assistance program, I really do think that there is a value to putting a value on what all of our caribou herds are worth to providing food security and then doing some of that assessment of what ultimately that benefit in food security is, being provided by local harvesters. Would ENR be willing to begin that work?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of ENR.
Thank you, Madam Chair. With your permission, I will ask the acting assistant deputy minister to respond to this question. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Elkin.
Thank you, Madam Chair. While we have been working with our wildlife co-management partners, one of the key things that we need to know, and they want to know, is monitoring the amount of food, how much caribou do they need to meet their needs, and what is available. We do that work with them. What we have heard through our consultation on the Wildlife Act and others is that there is a desire not to put an economic value, so we try to do that work by estimating what is basically what they call a basic needs level, how much caribou do communities need to meet their needs. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Elkin. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I do recognize there is that contention here. To me, if we are talking about saving the Bathurst caribou herd and we can put an economic value that it's providing thousands and thousands of dollars of meat every single year ideally forever, I guess, I think it helps make those arguments when comparing a Bathurst caribou damage to nonrenewable resource projects. I think this is a conversation for another time, but I do think that economic value has some things.
Another, kind of, core of the North American model of conservation is to not allow market hunting, essentially to not allow people to hunt for the purposes of selling meat, which kind of goes in contradiction to what I just said about prescribing a value to it. I know there is some exploration of the idea of allowing our harvesters to sell the locally harvested meat and whether that be to restaurants. Can I just get an update from the Minister where that work is at?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of ENR.
Thank you. With your permission, Madam Chair, I would like to ask the acting assistant deputy minister to answer the question.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Elkin.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, when we did consultation and engagement and built the Wildlife Act with our partners, we heard fairly clearly that there was not support for commercialization of wildlife, so that is actually built into the act, that you cannot do that. What we do in some land claim areas is we recognize the traditional sharing practices, and that is laid out, what that means in each of the four settled land claim areas. Department of health, I will not speak for them, but they are looking at ways to bring food into institutions, and we have been working closely with them to facilitate that, not through the commercial mechanism, but in ways to get people to donate and share so we can provide that to people in facilities. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Elkin. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I do appreciate that, and I think the move to traditional foods in the hospitals is a good step. Perhaps that will somewhat commercialize the market, but I don't want to see that principle of non-commercial hunting disappear. I do think there probably is some inconsistency in the messaging that is occurring between ITI, Health, and ENR in regard to the market of hunting, because I have seen more and more push to allow locally harvested game to end up in restaurants or end up in markets. To me, I don't understand how we could do that without commercializing it. I guess my question would be: would the Minister of ENR just be willing to reach out to ITI and Health and get a bigger, fuller picture of how this fits within the principles of conservation?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of ENR.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We have an interdepartmental working group that is looking at this and is trying to address this issue right now, presently. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess, kind of, moving on and in a similar vein, we do have a reindeer herd, which is not wildlife, although it is the responsibility of ENR. Along the same vein, I question why I do not see reindeer on more and more menus, why I cannot buy it in the grocery store. Can I get a sense from the department of what is going on with our reindeer herd and whether we can tap into that as a food source?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of ENR.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Just for clarification, that is actually a privately owned herd. It's not a Government of the Northwest Territories managed herd. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I do recognize that it is a privately owned herd, so I guess I will just accept that as an answer and reach out to Mr. Binder at some point. Madam Chair, I guess my next question is: presently, we have a fairly large no-bison zone due to a number of disease controls. I have actually had constituents reach out on the possibility of looking into bison farming. They also looked into reindeer herding as the possibility of getting some of those things, and right now, the regulatory process just essentially makes that impossible, is what my constituents have told me.
This is one of the issues; every time we ask questions of food security, I don't exactly know who to ask them to. When I ask questions about animal health, if it's not wildlife, it kind of falls to MACA, which does not make any sense. Sometimes it falls to ITI. Once again, we have that interdepartmental working group. Would the Minister be willing to have a conversation about the feasibility of regional centres, including my constituents in Yellowknife North, about how they could even go about possibly having a bison farm or a reindeer farm?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of ENR.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, we can have that conversation. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Are there any further questions to the section, wildlife and fish, under Environmental and Natural Resources? Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I just see the title, wildlife and fish, and I am just curious at what section the fish are actually in here. I see lots of fur-bearing type headings. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister of ENR.
Well, thank you, Madam Chair. The fish are in the water. To get more of a clarification, I will turn to the deputy minister, with your permission. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Deputy Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This division, recently the name was changed to "wildlife and fish" to reflect the fact that we have fisheries responsibilities at ENR. We have an MOU with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for enforcement of their freshwater sport-fishing regulations; we also have the Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program; one of the three valued ecosystem components that we do a bunch of research on at the department and work with partners on is fish; and our waters group, as well, works with communities on fish monitoring. We wanted to reflect that we do work on fish, and it was determined that naming this division "wildlife and fish" would show that. It's consistent with many other jurisdictions across Canada that have fish and wildlife divisions within their environment department. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Hay River South.
