Madam Speaker, last week, I attended the federal/provincial/territorial Fisheries Ministers' meeting in Victoria, British Columbia. The primary purpose of the meeting was to review the federal government's plans to streamline, downsize and reduce the costs of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. I assure you, Madam Speaker, the federal government is determined to reduce the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in overall budget and person years. In doing so, some responsibilities will be transferred to other
federal departments and to the provincial and territorial governments.
I would like to explain some of the measures the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans plans which will impact the Government of the Northwest Territories. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has indicated that the responsibility for freshwater fisheries will be divested. The federal government intends to delegate responsibility for freshwater fisheries management to provinces and territories, and to transfer responsibility for fish habitat and fisheries water quality to the Department of the Environment or, possibly, to provinces or territories.
This transfer will not necessarily come with the full amount of resources necessary to manage the freshwater fisheries, as most jurisdictions would prefer. Failure to accept responsibility may result in poorer management of freshwater fisheries due to a split of responsibilities between the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Department of the Environment. We must examine our options very carefully to manage the impact to the people of the Northwest Territories who rely on fish for subsistence and commercial benefits.
The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans stated he is not intending to dismantle the Freshwater Fisheries Marketing Corporation, although, he is not adverse to a restructuring of the mandate and operations of the corporation to meet the changes of the 1990s and the needs of the fishermen who rely on the corporation for fish sales and marketing. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans stated that the department would retain responsibility for marine fisheries and refocus their responsibility for oceans. I emphasized to the Minister that I support the direction he is leading to, but land claims and aboriginal rights must be respected and aboriginal people must be consulted. I further reminded him that there is a third ocean in Canada, the Arctic Ocean...
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...which deserves recognition and attention similar to that given by the department to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in southern Canada. I recommended that a separate Arctic region be created in the restructuring of his department.
We have for too long had to accept very limited recognition of the Arctic Ocean and had to rely on the goodwill of southern regions for management and scientific assessment of Arctic Ocean resources and fisheries. I strongly believe this is an opportunity for the Northwest Territories to be established as a distinct region for oceans and marine fisheries management, as well as to take responsibility for freshwater fisheries, including Arctic char. A northern region and northern fisheries management can only benefit the people of the Northwest Territories who have had to rely on the management and permission from southern Canada to utilize their own fisheries resources in the Northwest Territories.
Other plans put forward by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans include a reduced, more efficient and practical science program; a coordinated enforcement and vessel utilization between the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the departments of National Defence and Transport or Coast Guard; divestiture and privatization of harbour management; and, new revenue-generating options such as licence fees that are commensurate with the value of the public's fisheries resources which all Canadians, and people of the Northwest Territories in particular, depend on for subsistence, social, cultural and economic benefit.
Provincial/territorial Ministers presented the federal Minister with a consensus document, which I will provide to Members, outlining the concerns and positions of their respective jurisdictions.
Changes to the management of fisheries are necessary for effectiveness and efficiency and offer an opportunity for northern residents to benefit from. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans will trim approximately 40 per cent from its expenditures of approximately $800 million and 6,000 employees across Canada over the next five years. I intend to ensure that this reduction is not off-loaded onto the government and people of the Northwest Territories, and at the same time, work to ensure that the management of fisheries in both the freshwater and marine sectors of the Northwest Territories improves as responsibilities change for the benefit of our people.
Madam Speaker, within the next two or three weeks, deputy ministers of Fisheries from across Canada will meet on these issues. They will first examine the impact of changes in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for their own governments, and work out strategies to manage these changes. Our government will seek to realize the opportunities these changes will create for the benefit of the people of the Northwest Territories. It is my view, Madam Speaker, that we have the opportunity to control our own fisheries management and resources with the support of our people and for the benefit of our people in the north by our own government, if we choose. Qujannamiik.
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