Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, will support this motion. For a number of years now I have been working on this issue and have been very concerned about the continuing impact of the anti-harvest lobby in the lives of our people: The Inuit, Dene and non-aboriginal people who rely on harvesting natural resources to sustain them. As the Minister of Renewable Resources, I have been directly involved in counteracting these lobbies, or at least I have tried.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to say I am a hunter. I grew up in a hunting camp. I was born in a sod house. My father was relying on hunting to sustain himself and his family and the dogs. The dogs carried us over thousands of miles a year to pursue our traditional harvesting. Harvesting natural resources, mostly seals and foxes, was very viable and very important to my people.
Mr. Speaker, when the market crashed back in the early 80s, I saw the devastation of my people. Once proud hunters, they became useless in their communities. They had no means to go out and the government did not have enough money to support them. Then we started seeing our people committing suicide, young people committing suicide because their fathers were not teaching them how to go out and how to be proud people. Mr. Speaker, we saw this happen in the early 1980s in Baffin, Keewatin and Kitikmeot. Mr. Speaker, I used to be angry at these people. It is beyond that point now, Mr. Speaker, it hurts me to see humans not understanding that what they are doing is impacting other people. They are killing people. They are murderers of my people. Mr. Speaker, one of my approaches has been to teach other people of our northern lifestyle and the continuing importance of harvesting wildlife to our people.
The most effective voice to promote the northern lifestyle has been hunters and trappers themselves, going to these groups and talking to groups to try to make other people understand.
I was shocked to hear, yesterday, that it is a belief of European people that all wildlife is endangered. They believe that. There are millions of people in Europe who believe that because they have been told that. They believe that caribou in the Northwest Territories are endangered. They believe that polar bears are endangered. They believe that rabbits, wild rabbits, wild foxes, and wild lynx are endangered. They actually believe that these species are endangered and that they should not be harvested.
Mr. Speaker, it is the only way that a lot of my constituents can make a living. It is the only way that they can be proud to have children and to teach them the land skills. If it was not for my people's ability to survive out in one of the harshest climates, I would not be here today. My people are very innovative and very adaptable.
I think we also have a responsibility to ensure that our harvesting techniques are humane. We have been trying to do that. As a department we have been supporting and encouraging trappers to change their ways. This has been difficult. I could understand very well when the trapper complains that the new traps are too big and they are too cumbersome and they are dangerous to use, but it is the way that we are showing the world that we are responsible and that our trappers are very responsible. Most of the trappers who have been trained to use new methods are saying that these are good methods, because they are adaptable.
Again, Mr. Speaker, I feel that our federal government Fur Industry Defensive Program was a very viable program and I am glad to hear that the mover of this motion is encouraging and asking the federal government to continue with that program. It was very viable and working as well. We need the support of our friends in Europe and I think, as politicians, we should try to get over there as we were asked to do.