Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about the caribou harvesting project in Coral Harbour. The caribou population on Southampton Island has been increasing quite rapidly over the last decade. Since 1967, when 48 caribou were reintroduced to the island, the population has grown to over 13,000 in 1991 and to more than 32,000 in 1995.

A report prepared in 1975 suggested that the island's carrying capacity is 40,000 caribou.

A caribou harvest took place this spring, in an attempt to reduce the size of the herd, while at the same time providing employment to the residents of Coral Harbour. A portable facility was erected near the herd where the skinning, cutting and packaging of 2,300 caribou took place. Over 150,000 pounds of meat was then transported by skidoo to Coral Harbour, flown to Yellowknife and then trucked south.

I would like to commend the citizens of Coral Harbour for their hard work in helping to make this harvest a success. They were involved in almost every aspect of the process: hunting, skinning, cutting, packaging and transporting the meat. The harvest employed over 25 people from the community. I would also like to thank the territorial departments of Economic Development and Tourism; Education, Culture and Employment; Health and Social Services; and, Renewable Resources, as well as the federal departments of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Agriculture for their cooperation and excellent coordination of the harvest. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause