Mr. Speaker, honourable Members will recall that I have risen in this House several times to speak against the policy which the Workers' Compensation Board has used to define whether aboriginal people are "principally engaged" as traditional harvesters for the purpose of injury

compensation.

I have opposed this policy, Mr. Speaker, because it states that if you receive income from other sources for a period exceeding 131 days during the year prior to the accident, you are not principally engaged as a hunter or trapper. It also states -- and this is what I have disagreed with the most -- that If you do not earn a minimum of $10,000 from traditional harvesting for the 12-month period prior to the accident, then you are not to be considered as a hunter or trapper either.

The entire philosophy behind this definition of which hunters, trappers and fishermen are eligible for compensation under the Workers' Compensation Act misapplied non-native criteria related to the wage economy. It has, I believe, conveyed an inexcusable demonstration of the board's lack of awareness about traditional lifestyle and work patterns of aboriginal Northerners.

I am sure I should not have to remind you, Mr. Speaker, that for aboriginal people, being a hunter is a matter of how you live and not how much you earn. If an individual is seen by his family, his elders and his community as being principally engaged as a hunter or trapper, then he should be recognized as such by the Workers' Compensation Board.

I was comforted to learn that the Workers' Compensation Board review committee recently overturned an adjudicator's decision that was based on this policy. In doing so, the committee ruled that the policy is contrary to the spirit in which the Workers' Compensation Act was amended by the 10th Assembly when provisions for the hunters' and trappers' coverage were first included in the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to see that the board has recognized that this policy should never have been made. I will now be calling on the Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board to ensure that it is rescinded and that a new definition of '"principally engaged" - which reflects our honoured traditions as aboriginal people - is developed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.