Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development conducted a comprehensive public review of Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Wildlife Act, in Yellowknife on October 18 and November 1, 2001. Bill 12 is a private Member's public bill sponsored by the Member for Yellowknife Frame Lake, Mr. Charles Dent.
The committee also heard comments on this bill during meetings held in a number of other NWT communities. During the public hearing process, committee members heard from the following stakeholders: in Fort Simpson, Mr. Duncan Canvin, a resident; in Fort Smith, Mr. Wayne Sterling, a resident, and Mr. Clayton Burke, vice-president of the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce; in Norman Wells, Mr. Winter Lennie, chair of the Sahtu Renewable Resources Board; in Yellowknife, Mr. Charles Dent, MLA for Frame Lake; Mr. John Donihee, legal counsel for Mr. Dent; Mr. Gordon Hamre, a Yellowknife resident; Mr. Barry Taylor from the Yellowknife Shooting Club; Mr. Jonas Antoine, representing the Deh Cho First Nations; Mr. Clem Paul, president of the North Slave Metis Alliance; Mr. Ian McRae, also a Yellowknife resident; Chief Charlie Furlong, Gwich'in Tribal Council; Mr. Bill Erasmus, National Chief of the Dene Nation; and Mr. Lorne Schollar, representing the NWT Wildlife Federation.
The committee would like to thank Mr. Dent and his legal counsel for presenting the bill. The bill would amend the Wildlife Act to reduce the period required to achieve resident status for the purposes of harvesting wildlife from two years to six months.
During discussion on the bill, some members expressed concern that the amendment may infringe upon land claim agreements, compromise current wildlife and harvesting management practices and unnecessarily complicate the concurrent review of the Wildlife Act. The sponsor of the bill advised the committee that in his opinion, the proposed amendment would not infringe upon land claim agreements. Territorial legislation must not be inconsistent with provisions of land claim agreements.
Many stakeholders and some members stated that land claim agreements require mandatory consultation with claimant groups regarding any changes to harvesting or wildlife management in their regions and that the sponsor of the bill did not conduct the required consultation with the claimant groups. The committee notes that the mandatory requirement of consultation applies to the government and not to a private Member sponsoring a bill.
A number of presenters and committee members also expressed concern that a decrease in the residency requirements may result in more hunters and subsequently less game for aboriginal harvesters and other long-term residents. Many aboriginal and long-term residents are dependent upon game as a food source. The inclusion of additional resident sport hunters may compromise that food source.
The presenter of the bill replied that if the privilege to hunt ever interfered with aboriginal peoples' ability to harvest wildlife for food, resident sport hunters or non-aboriginal hunters would lose some or even all of their privileges to hunt under the existing Wildlife Act.
Finally, a significant number of the presenters and committee members were perplexed as to why the amendment was proposed at this particular time. They noted that a comprehensive review of the Wildlife Act is already underway and further consultation is scheduled during the next two fiscal years. The sponsor of the bill explained that the Wildlife Act review is a lengthy process and this amendment will allow more residents to enjoy harvesting and hunting rights without further delay.
Mr. Chairman, the committee was divided in this matter and following the committee's review, a motion was carried by a slim majority to report Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Wildlife Act, to the Assembly as ready for the committee of the whole. Additional comments or questions of Members may be posed as we proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.