Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have reviewed the Cansos operations last year. It is not quite complete, but we know that because of the low level of activity, it would not be as substantial as we would like. We will probably proceed to continue the operation this year and continue with the review to see how well it is operating as it was originally intended. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Could the Minister tell us where the Cansos were based and where other airplanes were based?

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We had intended one in Deline, one in Wha Ti and one in Lutselk'e, but I know they were moved around depending on the conditions through the summer. I think the CL-215s were also moved around. The same with the DC 4s, but we could provide to the Members a pattern where we proposed to locate them and where they were actually located through the course of last year's fire season. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you. The provision of up to $30,000 expenditure for community authority in early warning system. Could the Minister tell us how many communities accessed that funding?

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Minister Kakfwi. Mr. Ootes.

Is it correct, though communities do have the authority to spend up to $30,000 for early detection and suppression? I guess that is a question for the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Kakfwi.

That is true. Mr. Chairman, we offered and I went to Fort Simpson, for instance, early last year in May to have a community meeting to deal with two primary issues. One was the incredible concern and the distress the community suffered in the previous year because of the very thing that Mr. Seamus Henry referred to, which is the smoke and the difficulties that many residents faced, especially the elders, the senior citizens and the women and children. There was not much we could do about it. We monitored that and in fact thought about evacuation, which was done, as you know, two years ago in Tulita and Norman Wells. We treated it as a very serious concern. However, the only thing that we could do is try to fight fires at the initial stage and to try to improve our capability there since once fires get larger and more out of control, our capabilities are almost insignificant most of the time. We offered to try to improve our performance in Fort Simpson and to all communities. We communicated that through our officials. If Fort Simpson wanted to, they could have a budget approval to spend up to $30,000 without involving the fire centre in Fort Smith. They could use that to hire crews to hire whatever equipment, manpower, aircraft that was available to them to combat fires at the initial stage. Once they hit that $30,000 mark, if they had not put out the fire, then to relay that to us so we could engage our other resources beyond the $30,000 mark if we felt it was required. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Ootes.

Under what conditions can communities access this program? Is there an understanding by every community that they can proceed and deal with the fire centre in Fort Smith on this and state they have a problem on their hands? They understand they can spend up to $30,000?

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Minister.

Yes, that is how it works. If a community is interested in exploring that or taking advantage of such an arrangement, they would contact my office or the fire control centre in Fort Smith and we would make the necessary arrangements. We would make it a condition from the initial stage that they would keep us aware of what they are doing, so there is co-ordination with the fire centre in Fort Smith. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. I believe that was five questions from Mr. Ootes. I have Mr. Erasmus on the list.

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We have forests and we know there is an indication that entire forests have literally burnt to the ground. Then there has been new growth. We now have new forests. With human activity increasing, we are obliged to look at a way in which we could manage these resources in order to make sure that our forests never burn in huge quantities the way they have. We have fire fighting capabilities that would minimize such an occurrence. For instance, in the Liard Valley, we know the entire valley is a mature timber stand and that at some point or other it could potentially go up in smoke, given the right conditions. We try to have a fire fighting capability that would minimize such an occurrence. We also try to put a management plan in place and are requesting that management plans be developed between our department, with the help of researchers and other work with local people at the community level and regional level. We would put together a plan, do inventories of harvestable timber, and give us a plan on how much timber they think could be harvested under what type of harvesting conditions that would allow for the forest to still be there for the people today, with regrowth for people tomorrow and for future generations. That is what we are talking about when we say sustainable, that there is no erosion or loss of forest habitat, growth or top soil as a result of harvesting. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Erasmus.