Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on my Member’s statement in terms of the recognition for trappers in the Sahtu and the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Minister of ITI what progress or update can he provide to the House with providing small harvesting foods in our stores. I know we had some discussion before as to harvesters harvesting their wildlife foods and bringing them into the stores for people to purchase them.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Traditional economy is a very important part in the Northwest Territories. The value that we have placed on country foods if we had to replace it with store-bought foods, we attributed it to be about $30 million, so it is a very important part of our economy.
For several years now we have been trying to establish what we call a red meat market. Over the years we have had difficulties because of the federal agriculture and inspection requirements. What we are endeavouring to do this year, and with our budget approved we are going to spend in the neighbourhood of $300,000 to do exactly that, find local markets for country food and for local fish. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in helping to find the local markets for country food and fish, has the Minister identified areas that could have this red meat market a project going on such as the Sahtu or any other communities that support trapping and fishing in their area?
Mr. Speaker, we are in the process of identifying those areas. We have received federal funding as part of our Growing Forward initiative which would look at things like muskox, wood bison and, of course, Great Bear Lake obviously has a lot of fish, so those are the areas that we would be looking at. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, has the Minister looked at some of the fish up there in the Sahtu such as Great Bear Lake or any other fish areas such as Colville Lake where most of the economy is trapping and harvesting for the local residents there in my region where there is a pretty good percentage of harvesters and trappers that see this as a lifestyle for them?
Mr. Speaker, we are looking at locally produced food, and obviously fish is one of the foods that are available in every community. It is a matter of harvesting and distribution. We will be looking at those areas. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Has his department also looked at providing some of these foods into our institutions such as the Stanton Hospital or Beaufort-Delta and up in the Inuvik Hospital for some of their patients that often cry for traditional foods once they get into the hospitals? They certainly look for something like that. It would help them with their recovery and health.
Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what we are intending to do, to work with the institutions and the government and so on. Most of them have started already and we want to maximize that kind of food. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
