Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are about this government's lack of preparedness around the opening of the Tlicho AllSeason Road. I'll mainly focus on the environmental side for now. So my questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
The legally binding measures from an environmental assessment project have not been completed, especially when it comes to the impact on woodland caribou. Can the Minister tell us how this will affect the proposed opening date of the road scheduled for tomorrow? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, all the wildliferelated measures for the opening of the road have been completed. ENR has been working with the co-management partners to meet the measures from all or the Tlicho AllSeason Road environmental assessment that needed to be fulfilled prior to the road opening to the public.
In July, ENR provided input into Infrastructure's final habitat offset plan with boreal caribou which was submitted to the Wek'eezhii Renewable Resource Board.
In August, ENR submitted an interim Wek'eezhii boreal caribou range plan to the WRRB. Work on the full Wek'eezhii boreal caribou range plan will be assumed in 2022. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course there's a number of things that are still not approved, and he didn't actually address my question about what effect that's going to have on the opening, which is tomorrow. So the effect, Mr. Speaker, I'll tell you, is nothing. This government hasn't completed its commitments.
I noted the recently released boreal caribou population and harvest models report from ENR that recommended a very limited or no resident harvest for the boreal caribou population around the Tlicho AllSeason Road. What is the Minister going to do about the new all season harvester access that the road represents and will harvest restrictions be introduced and when? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the boreal caribou sustainable harvest assessment report was completed for ENR to identify sustainable harvest levels for boreal caribou in the southern NWT including the Wek'eezhii area. ENR is meeting with Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations on the finding of this report. I must really stress we're meeting with Indigenous governments here and our organizations. The report concluded that the area around the road could support some harvest of boreal caribou and so far we have not seen indications that sustainable harvest levels are being exceeded. ENR has hired a renewable resource officer in Whati to increase a harvesting monitoring along the roads in accordance with measure 9-1. The GNWT is also providing financial support to the Tlicho government for the Indigenous harvesting monitoring program that will begin this winter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Thanks to the Minister for that. I'll just remind him again that the road is opening tomorrow. So it's great that there's meetings happening but the road opens tomorrow.
I fully understand that inland fisheries are federal jurisdiction but we obviously have a role to play. The sellers of sport fishing licenses, promotion of country food, harvesting and sustainable livelihoods. And the Minister also has a fish a wildlife and fish division under his department. So what, if anything, has the Minister done about the impacts of the new road access on the sport fishery in Lac La Martre and the sport fishing lodge already operating there? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Tlicho government and the federal Department of Fisheries and Ocean established a fisheries management working group to ensure any concerns with fisheries are brought forward and addressed.
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Infrastructure developed a fish and fish habitat protection plan with the Tlicho AllSeason Road which considers measures and commitments made during the environmental assessment and incorporate input from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. And we've reached out to the federal government, and we've had these conversations from our end as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I'd really be curious to know what's happening there, but I remain very concerned about the continuing failing of this government to adequately plan for new roads, let alone properly maintain the ones that we have.
Can the Minister tell us what lessons, if any, we've learned about the banishment of environmental impacts from the Inuvik to Tuk highway and how those were applied to the Tlicho AllSeason Road? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can tell the Member right now we are working with the Indigenous government. We are working with the Tlicho government to get this road up and operational and making sure we do things properly. We just received a letter from the Tlicho government with some valid concerns, and I'm working with them on that.
Both projects took a cooperative approach by engaging with local governments, local Indigenous organizations, stakeholders, and the territorial and federal government to achieve significant local and regional benefits. Given the difference in geologic or geographical locations and ecosystems of the two projects and a technical design differs, the project environmental impact for the InuvikTuk highway in the TASR are different. That wildlife management and monitoring plan for the Tlicho AllSeason Road project considered the Inuvik to Tuk highway, wildlife, and wildlife habitat protected area, and the wildlife affected monitoring program. So we've taken and looked at the reports, looked at how we move forward and, most importantly, we work with our Indigenous governments to make sure we do it right. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
