Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As you may recall, last week during our sitting I asked the honourable Minister responsible for the Department of RWED why there was increased hunting traffic on the winter road that goes to Colomac mines. I believe the Minister did not truly understand what I was asking. My reasoning behind this statement is the fact that today in the morning news, I heard our Grand Chief, Joe Rabesca, talking about the amount of caribou meat that has been left behind by various hunters. Mr. Speaker, as I stated previously, my region was hoping to work closely with the department to ensure there was adequate monitoring taking place. If hunters left meat behind, these individuals should be charged. Unfortunately, it seems that this has not happened.
Mr. Speaker, as I stated previously, the Dogrib Rae Band hired one of its own members to provide monitoring, as the Department of RWED is short staff in Rae-Edzo and could not perform an adequate job. There was also mention that the department's office in Yellowknife would occasionally assist the Rae Band Councils in monitoring. Mr. Speaker, it seems to me the department is not living up to the mandate by not enforcing their rules on hunting wildlife. I do not see why a hunter would go out to hunt caribou and take only a small portion of the animal. This is a total waste of a valuable resource and people should respect the resources. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.