Debates of March 7, 2005 (day 50)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on March 1st, the muskrat trapping season opened in the Mackenzie Delta. For years, families from the Beaufort-Delta travelled to their camps and continued to harvest muskrats. Many of us who grew up in the Delta always looked forward to ratting season so we could spend time out on the land. Mr. Speaker, schools in the Delta have elders who take students to the camp and teach them the traditional ways. With all the resource development that is going on in the Northwest Territories, it is good to see so many people still engaged in the pursuit of traditional activities. We must remember that, unlike oil and gas, the fur trade is a renewable resource and that the fur trade is what the Northwest Territories was built on. I am pleased that the Government of the Northwest Territories has programs like the Fur Marketing Program that help those residents who choose to continue with the traditional activity of trapping. I know many people who take advantage of the incentives and still enjoy the way of life that being on the land can provide.

Mr. Speaker, I have always admired and envied those who still go out on the land and make a living. Whenever we can, we try to get out and do some hunting and trapping because being out on the land is a part of us, and we will continue to go out no matter what we do for a living. I encourage the government to continue programs to allow people to continue with the traditional activity of fur harvesting. It is an investment of a healthy lifestyle that results in healthy people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause