Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the past number of years, the Gwich’in people of the Inuvik region as well as other Aboriginal groups throughout the Yukon Territory have been fighting to get the Peel River and the Peel River watershed protected. Earlier this week in the news, we saw that the MP for the Northwest Territories tabled a bill in the House of Commons to try to get that Peel River and Peel River watershed protected.
This ecosystem is an integral component to the survival of the Gwich’in people’s way of life, their traditions and their culture. I am of Gwich’in descent and I have seen the effects of a depleting culture within our communities. More important is the critical survival of these wide-ranging wildlife, specifically the Porcupine caribou herd, which is very important because it provides a lot of substance for people living in the Inuvik region. That’s just not the Gwich’in people but also people throughout the Yukon Territory.
I do understand that this government and other governments throughout Canada need an economy and need development, but at what cost? The cost of culture? The cost of traditions? The cost of people’s way of life? There are some people that do work in industry, but sometimes it’s not the industry that we talk about in the House. We talk about hunting. We talk about trapping. We talk about harvesting fish and other wildlife in the territory. Some people also live industry in terms of living off the land and don’t get into the types of industry or get into education. We have to respect that. We have to respect the culture and traditions of people who came before us, who lived off the land for centuries.
I applaud the MP for his hard work and working with the Gwich’in people of the Inuvik region to look at trying to get the Peel River and the Peel River watershed back into being protected. I commend all the people who have been working hard in the Protect the Peel campaign. I’m glad I was able to speak to it today in this House, so that it continues to build momentum so that we can continue to keep our culture, traditions, values, and ways of life strong and thriving and prosperous for people in the Inuvik region, in the Yukon and everybody that lives off that ecosystem. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
