Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, Mr. Speaker, yesterday was the first time I heard my Minister speak about Bill C21 here in the House in regards to long gun firearms legislation that's trying to go through in Ottawa. What's the GNWT's position on this bill? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Honourable Premier.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to defer that to the Minister of Justice.
Thank you. Minister responsible for Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So when Bill C21 was introduced, there wasn't a lot of controversy around it. I mean, it is a bill that's banning certain firearms, but the real controversy was the amendment that the government put forward in November that would prohibit a number of firearms that are used by hunters in the Northwest Territories. As I've stated in this House, we are not in support of those amendments. I had a conversation with the Minister of public safety on Tuesday, and I explained to him the history of the Northwest Territories. You know, the fact that in the Northwest Territories, there are more hunters on average in the population, and I would guess that our hunters are hunting a lot more than most parts of Canada. So these are very, very important tools to the people of Northwest Territories, and we are not in support of removing those tools from the hands of the hunters and residents of the territory. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for that, Mr. Minister. I'm really happy to hear that. Will the Minister, the Government of the Northwest Territories, clearly, make the federal government on longterm firearms will negatively impact our Indigenous people and territory.
Will the Minister go public and start having meetings across the territory with our hunters and trappers and the people across the territory, because we haven't heard a thing since this Bill C21 came out, and like I said, it's the first time I heard it yesterday. We have to let people know what's happening, to work together. And did the Minister also talk to the Yukon government and to Nunavut? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So when I spoke to the Minister, I said that there needs to be consultation; people need to come to the territory and they need to talk to people on the ground, not just to us and Indigenous governments, but to the hunters, the residents, who are going to impacted by this. So I have made that strong recommendation to the Minister.
First, the Department of Justice of the Northwest Territories is not going to go out and do consultation on a federal bill. That's the fed's job. But I think that they got the message. They're aware of the push back; that's why they removed the amendments. I haven't spoken directly with the Ministers from the Yukon and Nunavut but I'm aware of their position, and their position is the same as our position. They don't want to see their hunters disadvantaged in this way either. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on Bill C21, was ever the Northwest Territories government offered to see what any comments on this bill before the federal government went forward? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would have to double check with the department but we definitely, there was no consultation on the amendments that are really the cause of the controversy here. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
