Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There was a proposal developed by different departments, including Social Services, Health, Economic Development, but they were proposals that were never really accepted. What we have done so far, at this point, is try to pull together all the monies that we have to assist trappers who are harvesters of our resources in the Northwest Territories, to see if we could better streamline them, and give assistance to trappers. Plus, our government has made some agreements with the aboriginal organizations with respect to Nunavut, and they will be contributing a substantial amount of money. When the Nunavut was created, land claims were a reality, so we have asked the aboriginal organizations to be in charge of that. Our government will be contributing a substantial amount of money to create a hunter's income support.

Thank you. General comments. Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. From what we can see, the creation of Nunavut is still another seven years away. Is there anything that this government, this department, is willing to do, as far as people on social assistance? Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you. The total contribution that we are proposing to give to the renewable resource harvesters is $2 million, and an additional $2.6 for grants and contributions under our program. I am told that once the Nunavut claim is ratified, the federal government will be giving some resources to T.F.N., then T.F.N., once they are organized, ratification will take place November 1,2, 3. If the Nunavut claim is ratified, then the federal government will make contributions to T.F.N., and our government has promised T.F.N., if T.F.N. creates a hunter income support, make substantial contribution towards that program. Thank you.

Thank you. General comments. Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The other questions, that I have, from looking at the main objectives of Renewable Resources, and from the remarks that were given by the Minister, as far as Renewable Resources were concerned, to me they sound great for the west, and they sound great for the east, but my community, the communities that I represent, do not fall into those categories.

We sound like we have a plan for forestry, we have a plan for fisheries which deals with fishing, but in Baker Lake we have no fishing quotas, we do not have any commercial fishing. In Baker Lake, we do not have a forest, so we are stuck in between. From that, we have in the west, moose, you have other sources of food, traditional foods that are available both sides of where we are, so we are stuck in between, with just caribou and fish.

Looking again at the debates that were taking place at the time, that the Wildlife Act, at the present time exists, shows that there was considerable debate, again in this House, indicating that the numbers for caribou, or the number of caribou around Kamaniriak and also in the west, were very much lower than they actually were. Maybe the caribou had moved to another location, I do not know what it was, but there was a miscount of the number of caribou that there actually are.

Based on that information, the quotas that we have today, as far as caribou for commercial hunting, which again, does not exist in the Keewatin, at least not that I know of. I am wondering, are there any plans by the Department of Renewable Resources, to either increase, or to somehow improve, commercial hunting, or commercial sports hunting of caribou, in the Keewatin area. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If people are interested in commercial quotas for outfitting or for meat sales, I would be very happy to talk to the Member, or to the H.T.A. in his riding.

In respect to commercial quotas for caribou, not all residents of the Northwest Territories agree on this, but I would like to approach the individual communities, or individual organizations, with respect to commercial quotas. Thank you.

Thank you. General comments. Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the objectives shown on page 12-5, it indicates that one of the main objectives under wildlife management will be to conduct major studies in the following area, and a couple of those are the caribou and wolf.

I would like to get a little bit more of an idea on what major studies mean on caribou and wolves. Thank you. Mr. Chairman.

Just to remind Members, that when you are getting into specifics, we should be dealing with those specifics in those areas. Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, I will have to get back to the Member with more details as to what we are doing in areas of caribou and wolf studies. Thank you.

Thank you. General comments. Mr. Zoe.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are part of the discussions that are taking place now. There is no need to include money at this point.

Mr. Minister.

Yes, we are part of the discussions that are taking place between the Dogrib Nation and the department. We feel that, at this point, we could do it in house. Thank you.

Thank you. General comments. Mr. Zoe.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.