Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Bathurst caribou migration patterns are unpredictable at this time of the year. There is no clear reason as to why they are doing this. When the caribou move away from our Dogrib communities, our hunters need more money to be able to reach them. More people in the Dogrib region are going out to hunt and trap due to the Western Harvester Program. This program gives them a chance to purchase big items like snowmobiles, sleds, boats, which they otherwise would not have been able to do.

Mr. Speaker, we need more money for our communities that are spending more to get their hunts in. The problem, Mr. Speaker, is that RWED is funding our hunters on an annual basis but they are not looking at harvesting and migration trends.

When the caribou turn on their hooves and head east again, it will cost our people more to get close to them in terms of time and fuel costs.

Mr. Speaker, the migration through the winter range normally brings the Bathurst herd to the area north of Great Slave Lake, around Wekweti, Wha Ti and Gameti. In 1997-98, they moved even further south into northern Saskatchewan. Last year, some of our communities had to charter planes to get to the caribou, which they did not have to do in the past.

Some communities had to go as far as Deline, using winter roads through Fort Simpson and Wrigley. They had to also hire large trucks to haul their meat back. Due to this, some of the bands have deficits they cannot get out of.

I will have questions later for the Minister responsible for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.