Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in September 2022 I was contacted by a constituent about outfitter licenses as this constituent was starting an outfitting business offering boat charters, tours, and guided fishing and hunting trips in the South Slave Region. So I emailed the minister of ENR asking some questions on outfitter licenses under the wildlife business regulations, and I really did not like the answers I received.
For context, Mr. Speaker, my constituent is an Indigenous man who was born and raised in Fort Smith, and he did apply for an outfitters license, but the department denied his request. When I emailed the Minister asking why he was denied, the Minister said that ENR has not denied his request for a license but clarified the type, eligibility, and number of outfitting licenses available. So in essence, Mr. Speaker, the Minister is denying that his department denied my constituent an outfitters license.
While my constituent applied for an outfitting license and his application was not granted, by definition that action is a denial of that license. What's more frustrating, Mr. Speaker, is that according to the Wildlife Act and the wildlife business regulations, there is a maximum of seven outfitting licenses issued to operators who are not partnered with the local harvesting committee and a maximum of ten outfitting licenses for operators who are partnered with local harvesting committees. Plus, there's a lack of detail around the criteria for who can obtain an outfitting license and for how long they can hold them for.
Section 37(1) of the wildlife business regulation states the holder of an outfitting license is entitled to have a license issued annually for a period up to ten years. Based on that, Mr. Speaker, it appears that the outfitting licenses are basically held forever within the tenyear timeframe so long as the outfitter complies with the rules, or what happens at the end of the tenyear timeframe? How does this leave room for any new applicants to apply to be holders of an outfitters license?
The Minister did not provide me an answer to this, and the regulations do not answer that either. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---unanimous consent granted
Lastly, Mr. Speaker, one other concern I have with this is that there is no way to know or identify who the other outfitter license holders are or where they're from or based out of, nor will the Minister share that information. So for all we know, all the outfitter license holders in the NWT could be foreign citizens but there's no way for us to know that right now. I will have questions for the Minister of ENR later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Members' statements. Member for Nunakput.
