Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We came, we saw, we can frack. With the recent tour down to North Dakota and eastern Saskatchewan, I want to thank the Minister for taking us, the leaders, members of the committee, on the exploration of hydraulic fracking in that region.
Hydraulic fracking in the Sahtu promises to secure our energy future if we do it right and responsibly. We are looking at hydraulic fracking as our path to greatness, and anything to do with greatness is a risk. For example, people put men on the moon, and that’s a great risk.
I want to say that our land is rich. For example, just look at the recent approval of another giant mine in the Yellowknife area, and we’re hearing about producing our potential on the hydro development by examining transmission lines to the South.
The Sahtu Dene Council clearly stated their support for economic development opportunities within the Sahtu region. This opportunity will create employment for its members. The GNWT statistics profile reported in 2010-2011 that the majority of the Sahtu members were on income support. Tulita, population of 552, had 286 clients. Fort Good Hope, population 585, income support clients 254. As you can see, the results from these stats, a lot of my people, the majority of my people were on income support for that year. That tells us that our people are dependent on this government and income support, and that is their main source of income.
The Sahtu chiefs are in favour of development; however, they want to be sure that their concerns about ecological integrity of our lands, waters and animals are protected.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Our land is powerful and has many promises. What we do as keepers of the land will determine the quality of the life we live.
I call upon this government and our people to take the time to learn about hydraulic fracking and about the balance that we need to consider, and also about having the EDI committee play a role in the upcoming guidelines and public education involving hydraulic fracking in the North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
