Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to make a few quick comments. Some of the issues I want to raise are not in detail, so I thought I would bring them up in general comments.
First of all, I wanted to say that it really concerns me when I see overall that his department over the last couple of years has shifted focus from what used to be community-focused to more industry specific and more so to diamonds. A lot of things have changed. It looked like a bright future in the communities where the Development Corporation and the private companies are now looking pretty grim. The opportunities are very limited.
However, we are at the threshold of development in the Deh Cho. There is an agreement that has been signed and we probably will see the formal signing in the spring of this year. Yet we are seeing cutbacks, a number of cutbacks.
The biggest one is to the Business Development Fund. This is a fund that our communities depend on. It has taken a major cut in the last few years. From my estimation, it is about an $800,000 reduction. This means that a lot of companies in the smaller communities are going to have a harder time to access funds when there are less funds. I have been told that the funds for the Business Development Fund, in the South Slave region anyway, only last until early June or July. It is going to get even tougher to access the dollars. That is a real concern.
The second thing is a lot of communities in my riding are depending on the interim resource management agreement that has been there for a number of years to assist them to deal with different resource pressures and participate in land discussions. That has been cut completely now. I am hoping that there is going to be some indication from the federal government that we will see this returned at some point.
One of the biggest issues that I wanted to raise tonight is the situation that is happening with the Kakisa commercial fishermen. I was happy to see the Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development Minister was down in that community and discussed this issue with them. It might be premature to expect a response from him, but we experienced a real downturn in the number of available fish in the fish catch over the last couple of years. What used to be a daily catch of three or four or five tubs is now something they are catching on a biweekly basis, I believe. There have been some studies done by Fisheries and Oceans. However, I think there is going to be a real need for some type of assistance for the commercial fishermen there.
I am not sure what the results are of the study. I have not seen it yet. However, I am sure it is going to mean that we are going to have to request that some of these fishermen quit fishing maybe for a year or so or however long it takes. It may be because the quotas were set too high, but I cannot say for sure yet. They are going to need some assistance because that is their livelihood. It is something they depend on and have depended on all their lives. Commercial fishing has been in existence since the 1950s in Kakisa. That is something we are going to have to be very aware of and monitor very closely over the next while.
There are other issues that I wanted to raise, but they are in detail. I will just mention them quickly. I am very concerned that the Wildlife Advisory Group has no representation from the Deh Cho. I do not know why that is. Maybe we could get an explanation at some point. In his statements, he mentioned that there are three oil and gas positions. I am not aware of any that have been located in the Deh Cho. The focus seems to be all in the Inuvik area and there is little attention being paid in this area that I represent.