Mr. Speaker, wildlife is valued by all people in the NWT and contributes to our well-being and economy. A new Wildlife Act is needed to effectively manage wildlife in the Northwest Territories. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has prepared a draft of the proposed new Wildlife Act for public review and comment. This draft was developed with extensive input from Aboriginal organizations, wildlife renewable resource boards, residents, industry and other stakeholders.
To ensure everyone has the opportunity to provide additional input into the proposed new Wildlife Act, ENR is continuing a robust public engagement and consultation process. To date, the following steps have been initiated:
Community and regional public events and open houses are being hosted across the territory to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to get information on the proposed act, ask questions and provide comments.
A meeting with Aboriginal government leaders has been set for June 19, 2012.
Public information materials, including a plain language version of the draft Wildlife Act, fact sheets, posters and frequently asked questions have been widely distributed and posted on the Internet.
A dedicated website, nwtwildlifeact.ca, has been created to ensure that all public information materials and event schedules are easily accessible on-line.
A Stakeholder’s Wildlife Act Advisory Group has been established with representatives from industry, tourism, outfitters and resident hunters to allow these stakeholders an opportunity to review the proposed act in detail and provide recommendations.
To help shape the final version of the act, we strongly encourage the public to make their views on the proposed Wildlife Act known.
Mr. Speaker, with this feedback, it is hoped we can introduce a new Wildlife Act during the upcoming fall session.
A new Wildlife Act with broad understanding and support will ensure wildlife is conserved for the benefit of all people in the NWT. I look forward to ongoing collaboration and cooperation between everyone involved.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
