Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank the Minister for that. I believe we have to be flexible when we determine bills and by-laws that are enforced in a lot of our small communities.
We do not realize that we are unique in the Northwest Territories. We have some communities that like to live the traditional way of life, without being legislated and having people control their day-to-day activities by putting by-laws in place.
We do not see the effects when we pass by-laws in this House, but people in the communities are feeling they are being over-regulated. You just cannot do anything these days without some regulation or by-law enforcement officer on your case because you did not do something.
I think we really have to look at how these by-laws are developed and how they are implemented in our communities. We hear many complaints from the people in the communities about how quickly these by-laws can be passed through a council, some as quick as two days, and there is no public consultation process. In order for us to do justice, we have to ensure there is due process. That is the concern I have with this. I have heard a lot of concerns in my riding from harvesters who live on the land and depend on their snowmobiles to get them from point a to point b. And they have to get a license. They have to make sure they do not operate the snowmobile after a certain period of time.
These are tools that are put forth by this government. We are the ones that hand the tools over to the communities to make by-laws within the scope of the legislation. We can tell the communities they have the ability to make by-laws. Technically, they do. Realistically, we are the ones who are setting the parameters as to how far those by-laws can go. If they are totally exempting by-laws altogether in our community, and they would have the ability to say we are not going to have driver's licenses on our vehicle, or we are not going to license snowmobiles. We are not going to do this because they would be breaking the law.
I think it is time we took a look at how these by-laws and the legislation we put forth reflects reality in the Northwest Territories. We adopt things from southern Canada and we impose it on small, isolated communities. I feel this is unjust.
The question of sleds is one issue in this bill. I, for one, have been involved in negotiating land claim agreements for almost ten years. It was always the intent to protect the traditional pursuits of aboriginal people to ensure they will be able to continue carrying out those pursuits without being regulated to death. That is exactly what I see happening with this by-law.
I would like to thank the Minister for his comments. Before that, I would like the Minister or someone from his department to explain or elaborate on clause 3.
