Thank you. As the deputy minister said previously, we are working on a "what we heard" report. The deadline for response is February 10th. But also as the deputy minister has said, we have other programs out there that we've heard from the users of the program, which is our Indigenous governments and our harvesters and our people in the communities, on what they would like to see. So we are working on it, and I think if I remember correctly, we're supposed to have something prepared by midsummer to bring forward. And for further detail, I'll just ask the deputy minister to clarify if I missed anything. Thank you.
Deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We're already working on some of the items that have been brought before us to improve the CHAP program, and there are a number of others, once we get the responses back on February 10th, where we checked in on the "what we heard" document with harvesters and Indigenous governments to make sure we had it right that we'll continue to work on, and we'll come back in the summertime with a plan on what we've accomplished and what we still have to accomplish to update the program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. I guess we are getting some more information forthcoming. Any further questions on this section? Ms. Weyallon-Armstrong.
Thank you. I see that you said there's an increase in the contribution for the harvesters support program. Because I've been hearing from families, especially young families in the small communities who rely heavily on country foods. So what they're saying is that because of well, lately they've been seeing an increase in groceries and gas. It's making it difficult for them to it's difficult for them as it is, especially for those with low income from low income family. What they're saying is that now that with the caribou restriction in place, it is hard for us to go out because of the gas. The gas price has increased in the small communities. So there is lot of talks about that, harvesting country food.
So what I would like I just want to ask about that because this program, harvester support program, is really it really helps a lot of people. It helps a lot of families due to the increase in groceries and gas and all that. So I want to ask how do you guys allocate? How does this fund allocated to the regions or to the small communities?
Mahsi, Ms. Weyallon Armstrong. Minister.
For that type of detail, I'll turn to the deputy minister. Thank you.
Deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There's a formula which is one of the things that's being reviewed. But we provide funding to the Indigenous government, or the RRB, and they provide funding to the community members. That's one of the things that was brought forward as a concern is that sometimes people are unable to access the CHAP funding.
With respect to the other elements of the comment there, we have Take a Family on the Land program that's new, because we heard that that was something that was really important to people where we've allotted there was $209,000 allotted in 2020 to that and $166,000 to 17 groups this January. So that's a new program that is along the lines of CHAP in supporting some of the aspects of CHAP where there's funding, as well as a regional COVID harvesting subsidy and regional community training and knowledge exchange programs. So there is additional work in addition to CHAP. The funding formula is one that we're looking at right now, but it's up to the recipients of the funding at the Indigenous government level to distribute the funds within their area. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Ms. Weyallon-Armstrong.
Thank you. So you said there's a formula in place. So the money that's there, it's one point something million 1.3 million here. So is it allocated based on needs or per capita?
Mahsi, Ms. Weyallon-Armstrong. Minister.
For that detail, I'll turn to the deputy minister. Thank you.
Deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's not it's allocated based on a funding formula, which I believe takes into account the number of potential recipients, and then the need is dealt with by the Indigenous government to provide it to those in need within their area. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Ms. Weyallon-Armstrong.
Yes, because right now at you know, usually at this time, people from my region they harvest caribou, and in the past they used to go to our regions in the regions, Tlicho regions, but now they have to go long distance. And it's just a lot of them are saying that it's hard. It's difficult if you don't have the means, if you don't have a vehicle, if you don't have any of those the stuff that it's really hard for them to access country food, especially caribou because which is a main diet for the people in the regions. And so that's why I was asking about that for it, because harvesters support program really helps family, especially if you have to travel from the outlying communities all the way to Mackay Lake in the you know, like, it's a and now with the increase in gas, a lot of people are complaining that it's you know, it's it's hard. It's difficult for them. And now with the mobile zone that it's the mobile zone is huge. It's difficult for people to go hunting. And some people, they go there, they come back, you know, they have they cannot like, they come back empty, like, with no caribou, nothing because it's too far. And then the RWED are making it more difficult for my people, especially for my people, that to go to harvest caribou. It's they go long ways.
Like, for example, for a family from Gameti, there's an ice road, winter road now. Winter road is open so people are going out. And for them to travel from their community to barrenland and it's hard; it's difficult. So I just wanted to know if any time soon they're going to change or the mobile zone not to be huge right now because it's they're unable to go hunting. They can go hunting but it's, like, they have to go further. So that's why I'm saying that. So I just want to know if there's any plan in place to change the mobile zone to accommodate the people that want to go harvest caribou. It's not just for my region, but every year there's people from other regions that go hunting as well, like from across the lake. And we see them go there, and then even from Deh Cho, people go there too. So and last year, a few times there was some people from Sahtu region as well. So that's why is there any plan in place that you know, like, just so that people can harvest caribou. Thank you.
Okay, mahsi, Ms. Weyallon-Armstrong. If we can be mindful of the time and the other speakers, keep our preamble short and to the point if you can. Minister.
Thank you. There is no looking at shrinking the mobile zone. The mobile zone is done with where the caribou are, where our collared caribou is. And it's also working with our Indigenous governments and the renewable resource board of Wek'eezhii Renewable Resource Board. So we work with Indigenous governments. We work with the councils, the leadership, and we explain it; we work with it. And it was developed in collaboration with our Indigenous government. It was with the Tlicho. They talked about it. If you look at the Bathurst right now, we're at about 6,200 caribou left. The Beverly is available. And in our conversations with our Indigenous governments, we've talked about working with them on setting up community hunts. We talked about doing that. We've also talked about working with the communities to identify where the Beverly is located so that we can work with them on this. But for further detail, I would like to ask the deputy minister to add anything I may have missed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So to highlight from the Minister's comment, the mobile zone is work that we do with Tlicho government and with the Wek'eezhii Renewable Resources Board, So that's joint work, and it's to protect remaining Bathurst caribou. ENR is supportive of harvest of the Beverly herd which is a healthy herd, and we have provided additional funding this year because we recognize how challenging it is for Indigenous governments that access those caribou, and they have been unable to well, it's much more difficult. They haven't been unable to, but it's been much more difficult.
The reason that the mobile zone is so large is because the caribou are distributed across a large area, and it's challenging when there's mixing of the herds, which we've had this year and last year. So we recognize that there are those concerns, and we're working with the Tlicho government and other governments on ways that we can promote respectful harvest and help them to access caribou that are in numbers that are, you know, safe to harvest. Thank you.
Mahsi. Ms. Weyallon-Armstrong.
Yeah, well, that's good if they're I think this is I'm hearing it from people, you know. I'm not hearing it from the leaders. So it's good that maybe they but it's just that I'm hearing from other people as well. So that's why I am addressing their concerns because they rely heavily. And some of them said, I mean if it wasn't for the traditional food, you know, like, it would be more difficult for them with the increase in groceries and gas. It prohibits them, a lot of them, from doing further from doing more for themselves, you know, to be selfreliant. So that's why I am addressing the caribou, that mobile zone and that, you know, it would be nice to see this harvester support program working with the Indigenous government, and, you know working with Indigenous government based, you know, like allocate the funds based on what they say and, you know, like based on needs or per capita would be great. Thank you.
Mahsi, Ms. Weyallon-Armstrong. I think I gave you an extra one but, Minister, if you care to respond, mahsi.
Okay, I agree we need to work on this. That's why we went out and did asked the Indigenous governments and the users of the program what they needed, what they think we need to do, and how do we improve. We have been working as the deputy minister has said, we've heard some things and we've started working on those things as the funding we are waiting for the information on February 10th. This is from Indigenous users, our hunters, our Indigenous governments. It's not the Government of the Northwest Territories coming up with this solution. It is the people of the Northwest Territories and our hunters that are helping us develop this. And again, like we said, we will be bringing it forward, hopefully this summer, the information from what we learned and how we're moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi, Minister. Mr. Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess I'm perplexed because we have artisans who are looking for hides with which to, you know, to, you know, make items for sale to tourists and that. And we talk about the harvesters support programs. So one of the issues, one of the problems is that they don't have access to moose hide and caribou hide, and that's because I don't think there's an incentive to bring that out of the bush, and it's left there. So I guess I'd ask the Minister is there any incentive to harvesters to bring their moose hide and caribou hide out and so it can be accessed by artisans? Thank you.
Mahsi, Mr. Simpson. Minister.
I don't know what hunters the Member is talking about, but I know the hunters that I've talked to, I've heard from, they bring the hide in. They're bringing them in to their communities. They do a lot of time the families use it. And so it's very much the hides are brought in, whether it's the caribou or the moose, they bring it in. And I know in my riding, we have elders that work on this and they sell it, or they actually I had one lady two ladies that I know, do the hides and then they make use that to make their slippers and their gloves and that. So in regards to for incentive to sell it to others, I will ask the deputy minister if we do have certain things in this program area. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the NWT Art Strategy includes an action item to increase access and availability of Northwest Territories fur and hide for NWT artists, and it's an ITIENR coshared action item. So we are working through programs such as CHAP and those mentorship programs that I mentioned, that are new, to indirectly assist by teaching people to harvest and prepare the hides, and our ontheland funders collaborative has provided funding to hide camps to make sure that those skills are being passed on to others. We will also work with communities to consider options for support if they approach us about a specific larger scale initiative. So if someone wants to do this in the communities and they come to our ontheland group, we can look at that as well.
With respect to ITI, they have a program that buys and provides funding for hides moose, beaver, seal, fox, muskrat, et cetera. So there's two different departments that are doing work on this matter. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Mr. Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess, you know, I have a lot of people come to my office, a lot of artisans selling goods, and a lot of those goods are made with commercially tanned hides. And I ask them all the time, why don't you use traditional tanned hides? Because we can't access the hides. No, we're not some of the hunters, harvesters, aren't bringing them out of the bush. And maybe they do it in Fort Simpson but I get people from Providence, Simpson, all over, come to me to sell stuff, and it's an issue.
So what I'd like to see, I guess, is that as part of this is that we provide that we can provide an incentive for harvesters to bring the hides out, if they're not, and make them available to artisans to tan. And whether we just my preference would be just give it to them. Like, you pay somebody $250, $500, I don't know what it would be, to bring it out of the bush and then turn it over to the artisan, and they can tan it. And that's kind of what I'd like to see, because there is a gap there. I know there's a gap there. You know, when you get tourists in, they when they pick something up, first thing they do is smell it. They want something that's traditionally tanned, so. And if access to the hide is an issue, then we should address it. And if we have to provide some incentive we provide incentive for everything else so, you know, there's no reason why we can't do that. So is that something your department can look at since you actually deal with the harvesters? Thank you.
Mahsi, Mr. Simpson. Minister.
Yeah, we can potentially look at this, but for clarity I think the deputy minister would be able to say if we can do this this fiscal year coming up and moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that we'd be interested in having some conversations with folks that are interested in this through our ontheland program. To my understanding, there's the getting it and bringing it out of the bush but the work begins when you're trying to actually tan the hide, and there are fewer and fewer people that are willing to do that work because it's very work intensive and very difficult, and that's why we've been supporting things like hide camps through the ontheland funders collaborative, is to make sure that those skills are still available. So we are supporting the skill development, and we're happy to have a conversation through the ontheland unit, in particular with folks that, you know, that are interested in that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Mr. Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I'm pleased to hear that, that you're willing to work with it because what I will do is I will send the artisans over there because what I proposed to them was that if they get the hides, that ITI then pay them to actually tan the hide, because I know how much work goes in to tan a hide. Like, it's not just a week's worth of work. It's longer than that. It's two weeks. Could be three weeks. And it's fairly intensive. And it was to provide the artisan a little extra money if they're tanning their own hides. So that's just a comment.
I'd just like to move on to personnel and active positions. With the vaccine policy, I'd like to ask how many staff in the I guess in corporate management I suppose at this point, were impacted by the policy? Thank you.
Mahsi, Mr. Simpson. Minister.
For detail, I'm going to turn to the deputy minister. Thank you.
Deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm aware of five people who chose not to get vaccinated in the department. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Mr. Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So can you tell me for them to keep their positions, was it mandatory for them to have the vaccine?
Mahsi, Mr. Simpson. Minister.
So that's very much a FinanceHR issue. I know where the Member's going with this, but. So if their schedule requirements, i.e., getting on planes, that they need to make sure they're vaccinated and that's a federal government. If they need to be in a company that requires it, they need to do it. And if they don't and if they're not don't have the vaccine, then we have set in the policy through the territorial government with the Department of Finance that they follow that process. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Mr. Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I guess it's safe to say that, you know, if somebody's required to fly and a requirement the federal requirement is you have to be vaccinated, then it is mandatory to have the vaccination for that position if you want to keep it?
I just want to go on here, is how many Indigenous employees would have been impacted?
Mahsi, Mr. Simpson. Minister.
