Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will not be supporting this bill. There is a process in place now, which is doing a thorough review of the Wildlife Act of the Northwest Territories. There have been claims settled in the last number of years where those agreements have been waiting to have legislation attached to enact those land claim agreements and obligations. The obligations are in regard to the management, protection and planning for wildlife.

I think it is inappropriate that aboriginal people who have lived here for years are now asking for a say of how their rights are going to be implemented through legislation. Now we have a group who are not even residents of the Northwest Territories asking for special rights through this amendment so that they can hunt way before they even become a full-fledged resident of the Northwest Territories. People who are born and raised here are having their rights restricted without any consultation by establishing restricted corridors for harvesting.

Aboriginal people are being affected by the harvesting of wildlife in the Northwest Territories because of these type of reflective decisions where people are saying, "It is not going to affect you. It is just a small amendment."

What we are finding is it is these small amendments that are being imposed on aboriginal people that are the problems, where we are see aboriginal peoples' rights to hunt are not being lived up to, or else they are being abolished to the point where they are being restricted.

I for one feel that we have a process in place. Yes, it has been long overdue, but it is in place. I feel that if this idea is going to go forth, it should go through the same process that everybody else is following at the present time, which is the amendments to the Wildlife Act for the whole Northwest Territories, so that the land claim groups can have their say with regard to how they see the amendment to the Wildlife Act being made to ensure that those rights that they have in their land claim agreements, aboriginal peoples' rights, are going to be protected, so they do not have restrictions put on them without having consultation. The people who want to look at the residency clause can do it in that context.

I for one will not be supporting this motion because I feel there is a process for it. We should not be putting amendments to the Wildlife Act before the review is concluded, so that everybody who will be involved, the residents of the Northwest Territories, will take part to look at wildlife for the whole Territory, not just one aspect at a time. I for one feel that will do more damage than it will to help try to bring a conclusion to this long overdue process of the Wildlife Act.

I would like to thank the Member for bringing this issue forth, but I think in terms of timing, this should be done in the context of the existing Wildlife Act amendments that are going on, the hearings that are taking place. I strongly push the government to move a little faster on this and hopefully we can have it passed in the term of the 14th Assembly. Thank you.