Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Quite a few years back, the Berger Commission, of course, travelled all over the NWT, and in his report he outlined that before any major development happened, there had to be an effort in particular areas. Recently, there was a vision that envisioned that there would be a network of protected areas from the Yellowstone to the Yukon. Of course, with the initiative on the Protected Areas Strategy in the NWT, it’s brought international recognition.
My question to the Minister: What is the Government of the Northwest Territories’ position on the candidate protected areas in the Deh Cho?
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories has been fully involved in the Protected Areas Strategy. We have considerable resources invested in that process. We are intent on carrying on with the intent of that process.
There’s going to be a change in relationships here. The federal government is going to be stepping to the side and we are going to be playing a leadership role. We know in the Deh Cho that we are going to conclude Edehzhie and the other candidate areas. We are going to continue to work with the communities and the other stakeholders. We’ve had discussions and I’ve had discussions with the Minister of Environment about the resources that have been identified for these processes and these nominated wildlife areas to ensure that we, in fact, inherit and continue to have some of that funding that was voted by the federal government.
The Protected Areas Strategy initiative has been long established. It’s a tripartite arrangement, as the Minister outlined, between the Government of the Northwest Territories, the federal government and First Nations. What’s really important to recognize is it’s an eight-step process that’s basically driven by communities. The Government of the Northwest Territories has suddenly stepped back from the Protected Areas Strategy process. Can the Minister explain this decision?
Our commitment to that process remains unabated. We’ve had recent meetings with the leadership of the Deh Cho about making sure that we can conclude the land use plan, setting up bilateral meetings between the governments so that we can talk about and resolve issues. I’ve met for a number of hours with the leadership from the Deh Cho on the Wildlife Act to try and resolve their concerns about the Wildlife Act, mainly as it pertains to their land claims. We are fully engaged in that. At that same time, we’re in a transition period as the federal government is going to exit stage left in this area and we’re going to take on a bigger role.
The work is there. We’re going to make sure we make full use of that work. We’re going to review the processes, and we know we have to do work on our northern tools so that when we look at our options, now that we have devolution, we have to be certain that we make full use of all the arrows in our quiver as it pertains to the tools we have to deal with the protected areas.
One community in particular is trying to advance protected areas, and they’ve been working on that for a long time, especially elders that have committed to believing that this process will work on behalf of the communities. PAS areas throughout the North would benefit all Northerners.
What options are available to the Dehcho to continue to advance areas for permanent protection?
The protected area process has eight steps to it. Most of the candidate areas in the Member’s constituency, I believe, are around step five. In my time in government, it has been a process that is… The wheels grind very slow and fine in terms of advancing nominations through the system. We’re committed to that system. We’re going to adjust for devolution, but we’re still fully committed to that. We’re committed to the land use plan in the Deh Cho. We’re committed to concluding our Land Use and Sustainability Framework as a territorial government, so that that broad framing policy gives us the clarity we need to go forward at these various tables, and we’re going to examine more closely the northern tools that are there that have been talked about but, for the most part, underutilized to this point.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister assure this House that the pause that the government is taking at this point will not put into peril the PAS process and jeopardize committee funding. Mahsi.
I can clearly commit to the territorial government’s, our government’s commitment to this process. There are discussions underway with the federal Minister in regard to the federal funding. We have not yet concluded the discussions, but the goal clearly is to maintain that funding and keep it available between ourselves and the territorial government so that the work has been done, and the money that was voted by the Parliament of Canada remains there for the use that it was voted for. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
