Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to speak for a few minutes generally to the principle of this creation of a department that is devoted to the goals that Environment and Natural Resources is devoted to. I think it's a good idea. I do think that the mandate of the Department of RWED must have seemed conflicting at times and I don't think perhaps it was more manageable in the past, but going forward I think that it's going to become more magnified and more pronounced because of the demand for our resources here in the North. I think when we talk about our environment here in the North, we have to view it as kind of the last place maybe on Earth to do things right in terms of protecting the land and protecting the environment.
Now when I say that, of course, it's ironic that we can do all we can within our power to protect our North, but in fact it turns out to be an area that seems to be a catch mitt for all kinds of atmospheric contamination. It seems like a lot of things gravitate to the North. When you look at some of the analysis that are done on some of our wildlife and you hear reports of what kinds of things that are not found naturally in our environment that are found in things like breast milk, it just makes you realize that we can try to keep things as pristine here as we want, but still we're affected by a bigger world around us, which brings me to another point. It's not enough for us to be focused on what's going on here at home. I think we have to be proactive and really involved in other things, which are going to touch on us because we're not an island, we're surrounded by all kinds of things that are going on.
With this new department I think we can take a larger role in some of the national and international issues that wouldn't necessarily affect the North just because of the way that some of these things gravitate towards us and we have a very fragile environment. But if we're not going to be the ones speaking out for that environment, no one else is going to do that for us. I'm sure there are national organizations, international organizations who have an interest, but I think we're the stakeholders, the ultimate stakeholders here. So when I say we could have more of an input I'm thinking of things like ANWR where because the wildlife don't know the boundary that we know we have vested interest in being really proactive on things like the exploration initiatives that are wanting to be undertaken in that wildlife reserve, things like Kyoto, groups that work on climate change with other circumpolar partners. I think that we need to be at the table and we need to be very vocal and we need to be prepared and we need to have effective input on all of these things.
So it isn't just about exactly what's going on maybe in our communities. It's what's going on around us too on an international and in a global way. So I think it's really important that we do things right. We've made a lot of mistakes in the past when it comes to the environment and a lot of that was just lack of knowledge, but even now we think something like the Giant Mine storage of the underground arsenic, the way that was done that was maybe the wisdom of the day that put that where it is, but even now I think we've got oil wells in the middle of the Mackenzie River built on islands and it was really in keeping with the technology of the day. But going hand in hand with that, we do not have yet here in the North what I consider to be a good contaminant containment program. If there was a major malfunction or something happened that a lot of product got into the Mackenzie River, for example, just think about the far-reaching affects that something like that could have. So we have a lot of areas that we could still do some real work on and some catching up with whatever the latest available technology is that's out there around the world.
So I just wanted to say those few comments, Mr. Chairman, and say that I really support this initiative right from the beverage container recycling. Again, it's long past due that we would get on board with making sure that we're not littering our own territory with garbage and unsightly landfills and things that don't need to be cluttering up and filling up our land.
So I think that this is a good move and going forward, it is going to cost a little more money but it is legacy planning and it is far-sighted, visionary and something that needs to be done. I just want to say I support this and I would like to see the new Department of Environment and Natural Resources really grab a hold of some of these major issues which could affect us and put the Northwest Territories on the map when it comes to environmental protection.
---Applause