Thank you, Mr. Steen. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Point of Order

Point of order, Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. You have raised a point of order on no quorum. You do have a point of order. Therefore, I shall ring the bell.

-- Bell

I recognize a quorum. Mr. Steen had asked a question. Mr. Kakfwi, response.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the audience. We can provide to the Member a list of every organization to whom we provided a contribution last year with the amount. We anticipate the same groups that we have provided money to last year to be requesting contributions again this year. As the Member realizes, there is a reduction in the contributions this year of about $2 million. There is a reduction. It is a reduction faced by every group that has received funding from this government because of the reductions faced by the government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Steen.

Mr. Chairman, the Minister indicated earlier that the Western Harvester Support Program is accessible to the groups in the west. The Nunavut area gets funding through the Nunavut Hunter Income Support Trust. Is the Minister suggesting that those committees that have access to this harvesting support program through their corporations are going to be the ones that are going to be reduced versus those that do not have access to this program will not be reduced?

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have not thought about that. The groups that we provided contributions to last year at the community level, we are just going to have to reduce it on a pro-rated basis because the total amount that we are contributing this year has been reduced. That is how we are going to do it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Steen.

Mr. Chairman, if the Minister could forget I ever suggested it, if he has not thought of it yet. Mr. Chairman, I am very concerned about the reduction similar to the other Members to the Hunters and Trappers Administration Fund. That is really what it is. It is not really used for any other purpose except to pay a part-time secretary to do the paper work, to do the filing, to arrange the minutes of the committees and to keep track of the committee minutes. It is a very small fund if you divide it by the amount of committees that have access to that fund. It is going to hit the hunters and trappers where they really need that support. I noticed in the opening statement by the Minister that he suggested that all of his cuts in his department have been mostly away from the harvesting support programs. I appreciate that. I think the hunters and trappers appreciate that. I am really concerned about the hunters still having the ability to keep track of their paperwork.

It must be realized that these hunters and trappers do not respond to their own members' concerns. There are all kinds of paperwork that comes through that office, including scientific application permits from this government, requests from this government for information on land use applications, as well as from the federal government. There are all kinds of applications that come through the hunters and trappers. They need this administration funding. I believe it would seriously affect the ability of the hunters and trappers committees to operate. It could be argued that some of the money that is being directed towards Western Harvester Support Program, in particular my region, hunters and trappers would have access to that funding for administration purposes. It takes away from the purpose of why the money was there in the first place, which was to help harvesters, not do the paperwork. In that sense, the money that is available to the group and let us not forget, it is only the interest that is available to them, it is not the principal. If you divide those interests up into the communities, it does not amount to much when you divide it by the population. It is very small. All that is available is the interest. The principal is not available. Do not forget, those people are using their own land claims money in order to set the program up so they can use their own money to harvest. Obviously that cuts down on their requirement to the government to harvest. It does not cut down on the requirement of paperwork that comes through those offices. My point, Mr. Chairman, is reduction to that particular program is a reduction to the ability to the hunters and trappers to respond to government. I am prepared at this time, Mr. Chairman, to put forward a motion, if I may?

Continue, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. The motion is being distributed. It has been translated and it is in order. To the motion. Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I believe I spoke long enough on the motion or the principal of the motion. I would appreciate comments back from the Members if they feel they would like to comment on the motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. To the motion. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. To the motion. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have also given some thought to the motion and I feel I can support the motion from the sense that I feel this is going to an area and a group of people who are independent, they are out there working and they are maintaining their lifestyle through this. So many times we see money going into areas to support various areas such as the social envelope area. I am not critical of that, I also feel that we have to start encouraging people who are independent who are able to provide work through a good means and will contribute economically to the territories as a result overall. I am supporting this motion.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be supporting the motion. Mr. Steen was most eloquent on the situation and his concerns. I would like to point out the information I have indicates to me RWED plans to lapse the $5 million that was in the budget for NIC. I am hoping, given that kind of lapse and the other amounts of money that are in this budget, that the Minister will have room to be able to readjust and still hit his targets. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Krutko.