Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to weigh in on the caribou issue here today. It is something that has certainly caught the attention of the many, many people in the North who depend on this valuable resource as a way of life. Although I’m not one of those people, I am observing the situation and I have some comments that I would like to make on it as well.
Mr. Speaker, I’ve had an opportunity, through the Minister of ENR and his staff, to see some of the science around the declining and virtually threatened numbers and the populations of the different caribou herds. Some of the impacts are fairly obvious. Some are not so obvious. There are many potential impacts and not all of them are the traditional harvest of the caribou by people. There are many other things that seem to be affecting this and, like I said, not all of them are absolutely quantifiable.
However, Mr. Speaker, we hear from the Department of ENR that they have gone out and they have done their best to consult with stakeholders and those who are impacted by any actions this government may take to protect this resource. I do not doubt, to some extent and as documented, that that kind of consultation has taken place. But, Mr. Speaker, there’s probably a subtle difference when we share the responsibility for the management and conservation of this resource with other governments. There is probably a subtle difference between consultation where you go and just tell the information to people and the type of consultation where you receive the feedback.
I think that the consultation should have taken on the format of inquiring of those people who probably value the resource as much or more than we do as legislators in asking the question: if this scientific data and if this population census is correct, what are we going to do? What’s the solution? What is the collective solution? What are the answers to these questions?
So, Mr. Speaker, although I know that this does call for decisions and it does call for a response to the problem, I believe that we all have a duty to be a part of that and if there is a way of extending our hand to our other stakeholders in a way of asking the question about what the solution is as opposed to telling them, I think it would go a long ways. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
