Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Dent for coming forward with this proposal. I know he personally spent a lot of time and effort on this, doing the research and compiling the information that Members see here before us. I would like to thank him for that. I know it has been a long time in getting this together.

I have a couple of points that I would like to make in speaking to this. I will acknowledge, as the government has been clear to point out, that there is a process underway. They are conducting a review of the Wildlife Act. Unfortunately, this is about a ten-year process and I, like some of the speakers who have presented here today, am not convinced that this review will be concluded before the end of this Assembly. I do not think the government can give us any assurance and I do not that this will be the case. It is unfortunate that newcomers to the North are inhibited by not being able to hunt.

On the one hand, there are very good reasons why people should at least have spent a meaningful amount of time here so that they do understand the land and cultures of the Northwest Territories before they go out to hunt. On the other hand, the time should not be so onerous that people who have spent a significant amount of time here still are unable to hunt. We do have the strictest regulations for residency in this area in the country, as I understand.

Another point that was made earlier that I agree with is that conservation is achieved by regulating the number of animals in areas where game may be harvested, not by imposing an arbitrary residency requirement. I think this is true. If we want to talk about conservation, and if there are issues about conservation, it is up to this government to investigate and use some of the tools at its disposal to make sure that wildlife species are not at risk, and to make sure that aboriginal people who rely on animals for subsistence come first. I think that this government has an obligation under the Wildlife Act to do just that. If there are concerns about that, certainly this government has to look at that.

I do agree that, as the act states, it is implicit that if the privilege to hunt ever starts to interfere with aboriginal peoples' ability to harvest wildlife for food, resident sports hunters would lose some or even all of their privileges to hunt under our existing Wildlife Act. That gives me some comfort that as long as we monitor the situation, adding more hunters -- as long as we do not go crazy with the number of animals that can be harvested -- should not be a concern.

The one thing that I would like to make clear, Mr. Chairman, is that I do not think six months is a significant amount of time so that people do have an appreciation for the area and the culture in the Northwest Territories.

Like Mr. Roland, I agree that a longer period of time, somewhere in the middle, probably a year, would be more acceptable to me. Certainly a coming-into-effect date later next year would also be more agreeable so that there is a chance to do some consultation and let people know exactly what this means. The government can take it out there and reassure residents and reassure all the people of the Northwest Territories that this does not mean there is going to be a run on the number of animals harvested.

Mr. Chairman, I would not support the bill in its current form but I would support it if we expanded the residency requirement to a year instead of six months and looked at a date in the summer for a coming-into-effect date. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.