Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Timber Bay is a very traditional place for the community of Lutselk'e Dene First Nation. They have been using this area since time immemorial for hunting, trapping, fishing, wildlife; it's their way of life. And, you know, they've been doing it long before the Canadian Constitution ever existed. Same thing with treaties, the NWT Act 1967. And in September of this year, the camp was raided. If you could imagine the camp having elders, families, children, guests, up to about 80 people. And then all of a sudden the chopper comes into the community, wildlife officers come out with bullet proof vests, making demands on to the camp and everything else, is very concerning. So after that happened, I issued a press release asking for a public apology and also an investigation into the wildlife officers' conduct.
So, Mr. Speaker, yesterday the court made a decision to quash the permit search permit for going into the camp. So my question is to the Minister of Wildlife and Natural Resources, can the Minister apologize sincerely to the Lutselk'e Dene First Nation for the unlawful activities of his officers and the trauma it has caused for the community? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and again I thank the Member. He's been very active on this file, and I appreciate his work for it.
Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Minister's statement, the officers landed, they waited for an hour and a half an hour and 20 minutes before they could actually get in to do the work. They offered the opportunity to go directly to the source where it was, and it was denied. So, Mr. Speaker, I've reached out to the chief and asked to arrange a facetoface meeting to discuss how we can continue to work on our collaborative efforts to work together to support the caribou. As I said in my Minister's statement, the herd used to be 470,000 where now it's 6,200, and that is a huge issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So basically the Minister's refusing to apologize to the people in Lutselk'e and Lutselk'e Dene First Nation for their unlawful raid into the community, so. I'm shocked, I mean, I I don't know what to say. This is something that's I expect from the Minister to apologize, and I'm kind of want to hear it here today. And if not, then I have other questions. Thank you
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it hasn't been proven it was unlawful. We were given a tip. There was two illegal hunts in the mobile zone. There was caribou wastage. There was carcasses left behind. There was impact that was 6,200 caribou minus. To put it in perspective, last year on the winter road we had illegal harvests. That was just almost half in those two hunts. So I'm more than willing to work, reach out and have those conversations with the chief, and I offered to go right into the community to have these conversations. I'm willing to work together on this. But again, it's interesting that do you want to look after the caribou? Do you want to get rid of them? Do you want them to disappear? We have the opportunity to go into the Beverly herd, and so we're willing to do this. We're willing to have those conversations. And it's hard. And I understand the importance of caribou for Indigenous people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mean, the courts were very clear yesterday, that in Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories, that this permit was quashed so therefore, I mean, there's no evidence, no proof, showing that there was any caribou wastage. So I'm still I'm going to ask for an apology here, and I'm not hearing it from the Minister so I'm going to ask again.
Is he sincerely going to apologize to the community of Lutselk'e for this raid? Thank you
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've already said it once, I'll say it again. I actually said it twice. I'm more than willing to meet with the chief and the First Nation in the community of Lutselk'e to have that conversation on how we can do the recovery on that. That's what I made my commitment to. There is an investigation still going on, and I don't know what's going on with that. So I'm more than willing to work on how we can support the recovery of the caribou. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Final supplementary. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister work with Lutselk'e Dene First Nation to develop and implement a shared enforcement protocol to ensure this kind of thing will never happen again? At the same time, if he wants to work with the community in the spirit of reconciliation, then I'd like to have a commitment here today by the Minister to say that he is willing to go into Lutselk'e to work with chief and council and if need be, then that's where he should apologize because I'm not hearing it in the House here today, because the court Supreme Court decision is final; it's done. Thank you
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've made a commitment to the chief in a letter. The GNWT's committed to continue to work on commitments made in Thaidene Nene established agreement including the development of mutually agreedupon procedures and practice for the enforcement response to be used within the Thaidene Nene. I'm more than willing to work with chief and council. I'm more than willing to have the Member be there and go into the community and work forward on this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
