Good afternoon, colleagues. Welcome back to the House. Orders of the day. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon. Aurora College, through the Aurora Research Institute, or ARI, is involved in a major research project in the Beaufort-Delta working with Natural Resources Canada and the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, an arm of the Government of Japan. ARI is assisting with the delivery of a major energy research program involving gas hydrates.

Japan and Canada have collaborated to advance research on gas hydrates for the past 10 years, having completed previous field projects at the Mallik site in 1998 and 2002. Japan has a keen interest in gas hydrates as it has sources offshore where there are immense challenges in conducting research. The work underway is pioneering new methods of extracting gas hydrates and the results of this research will not only benefit the NWT, Canada and Japan, but other locations where deposits of gas hydrates exist. Finding new sources of energy, particularly cleaner sources of energy, is important for the international community.

Mr. Speaker, gas hydrates are a solid form of natural gas, which is believed to be abundant in the Mackenzie Delta. The Mallik Gas Hydrates Research and Development Program is planned over two winters, 2006-07 and 2007-08. The goal is to see the first experimental production from gas hydrates. As gas hydrate deposits also occur in marine settings, Japan is interested in evaluating whether techniques developed and proven in the NWT are applicable to the production of Japanese offshore deposits.

Natural gas is a clean burning hydrocarbon fuel. Canada would benefit if gas hydrates could be developed as an environmentally sustainable resource. The NWT would benefit as estimates suggest the volume of gas hydrates in the Mackenzie Delta may equal or exceed that of conventional gas resources.

Mr. Speaker, the project is on track. Road construction was initiated in December and, in February, drilling equipment was mobilized to the site. Currently two research wells are being drilled. Between 100 and 115 people are working at the camp which has reached full

capacity. Despite harsh weather conditions, good progress is being made.

Mr. Speaker, Members of this House may take pride in this $50 million research project as it has an unprecedented role for Aurora College and ARI. The college is acting as a coordinator for field activities with major contracts following the terms of the access and benefits agreement signed with the Inuvialuit Development Corporation. This ensures that local businesses and joint ventures play a key role in the program with the majority of the program budget being spent on contracts with northern drilling and oilfield companies.

The Gas Hydrates Research Program is a good opportunity for Aurora Research Institute to take an active role in leading-edge research in the energy sector and could improve the ability of ARI to secure funding for other large-scale programs including alternate energy programs related to wind and hydro power.

Mr. Speaker, the NWT is focussed on all aspects of energy development in northern Canada. Responsible development of rich energy resources will play a key role in the economic development of the Northwest Territories and will have an impact on the Energy Strategy of Canada as a whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report today on the excellent performance of NWT harvested furs at recent fur auctions.

In total, over 9,000 NWT pelts have been sold at three separate auctions since January. In all cases, fur sold through the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program has outperformed fur from all other jurisdictions at auction...

---Applause

...with total sales from all pelts now expected to exceed $800,000.

Marten pelts sold through the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program continue to fetch a higher-than-average price for harvesters in the NWT; over $79 for NWT pelts compared to the overall average of just over $69.

Mr. Speaker, while prices for marten spiked dramatically last year, those results were an exception to the norm and were fuelled, in part, by exceptional interest from the

Chinese marketplace that was not renewed to the same extent this year.

The price of individual marten pelts is down from last year. However, Mr. Speaker, it is on par with those that have been recorded for the past five years and is, in fact, up slightly from two years ago. This is important to us, Mr. Speaker, because as a government we originated the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program in 2002 for the exact circumstances we are witnessing today.

The Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program provides: a guaranteed fur advance for NWT trappers while their fur is shipped for sale; a prime bonus fur those whose furs sell for more than the advance; and a grubstake payment of $5 per pelt paid to eligible trappers at the start of each fur trapping season.

It provides NWT trappers with a comprehensive fur marketing service and ensures trappers in the NWT are secure in the knowledge that they will receive a return from their efforts.

Since the program's inception, the price for marten pelts has risen sharply from about $60 per pelt Canadian to the almost $80 we are discussing today. Marten pelts account for almost 80 percent of the total value of the NWT harvest.

Finally, Mr .Speaker, and perhaps most importantly, I am pleased to report that since the introduction of the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program, the number of youth involved in the trapping industry is continuing to grow.

---Applause

Mr. Speaker, this trend indicates that the trapping sector of our traditional economy is getting stronger and continues to benefit residents across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Ministers' statements. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the last number of years, I have become much more informed about caribou and hunting than I ever was prior to that time. The one issue that kept coming up that caught my attention was a discussion by Members in this House, by people everywhere I travelled in the Northwest Territories, and that's the issue of waste. Mr. Speaker, I am specifically talking of stories where animals are shot and only the back strap and hind quarters are taken. In some cases, the animals aren't even gutted. I have heard stories of meat being labelled as diseased because they didn't want to bother carrying it back to their boat because it was too far. Stories of animals being shot and they checked the brisket by cutting the brisket to see if there is any fat and if there is no fat, the entire animal is just left and they go on to the next animal that was shot.

I have seen pictures, 120 animals shot on the Dempster Highway, bodies all dragged to the side of the road, a big pile of bodies, antlers, hooves, just thrown together, a monstrous pile, 120 at one time.

I have heard of hunters shooting into the herd; I was told rifles probably not even sighted, hoping to hit something. If nothing dropped, they carry on not checking for wounded animals.

I have heard the stories of people being able to go out on Gordon Lake afterwards just to walk around and harvest all the tongues and all the other parts that have been left behind, the front shoulders, the ribs, because they are not being picked up; of animals being shot far in capacity to take them out of the place they are being hunted.

Mr. Speaker, as we talk about the value of these animals and the precious gift that they are, clearly one of the things we have to keep in mind is that we can't forget that point. As we talk about the caribou numbers and what's happening to the animals, we can't afford to waste what is really and truly a precious resource. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (English not provided)

Mr. Speaker, when the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. McLeod, gave his Minister's statement in the House during this session, I was glad to hear him say the co-management boards established under land claims agreements have the primary responsibility for wildlife management in their settlement areas.

Mr. Speaker, before anyone starts any research, identification or monitoring on Tlicho lands, chapter 12 of the Tlicho Agreement specifically states that proposals have to be submitted by the Wekeezhii Renewable Resources Board for their review before any activity happens on the land. Mr. Speaker, government should also be talking to Tlicho elders before any major decisions are made.

Environment and Natural Resources should be talking to the elders, not just the wildlife biologists, before they come onto our land to monitor caribou herds. Mr. Speaker, traditional knowledge is respecting Tlicho. Any decision made without consulting the elders will not be respected by us as the Tlicho Government. Mr. Speaker, specifically, the elders need to be consulted about the wolves and the increase in population in our region. I have stood here before this House and talked about the people in the Tlicho communities and their concern about how close the predators are coming to them and how they are concerned for their children's safety. Mr. Speaker, we are worried that it is only a matter of time that the wolves start attacking our children.

Mr. Speaker, I must stress again the need for ENR to work more closely with the elders before any final decisions are made about the caribou and other issues such as predators before any decision is made. Mahsi.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Envision the caribou roaming on this vast countryside of tundra and forests. The caribou, once in large numbers, continue to migrate in search of food and eventually locate to their calving grounds to start the cycle all over again. The caribou do not understand the meaning of boundaries, because they need to continue to move from feeding place to feeding place to survive.

Mr. Speaker, the caribou have provided meat and clothing to the people of the Northwest Territories for generations and generations and they are known to survive predation and hunting. Over the past 20 years or so, with the invention of snowmobiles and aircraft, people in the Northwest Territories find it a lot easier to hunt this free-roaming species.

Mr. Speaker, recently, over the last few months, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources conducted photo census aerial surveys of the Cape Bathurst, Bluenose West, Bluenose East, Tuk Peninsula, Porcupine and Bathurst herds, and much to ENR's co-management board's surprise, to find the numbers in these herds declining. Why? There are many reasons that can relate to the decline of the herds. A few examples are predation by wolves, bears and over hunting by the people of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, in response to the surveys, the Department of ENR held community hearings with the local hunters and trappers committees along the Beaufort and Mackenzie Valley to discuss the numbers. The department of ENR and some of the co-management boards agreed that something had to be done to address the decline of the herds. Mr. Speaker, we, as legislators, but more specifically the Minister of ENR, must continue to work with the co-management boards to make sure the caribou will be around for generations to come. We owe it to our children and their children.

Mr. Speaker, I will not put the blame on anyone, but I will continue to support the decision of the Minister in ensuring the caribou numbers increase to a level where they are sustainable. My continued support for the Minister's decision is dependent on whether the department does a thorough consultation process with the Behchoko Management Board established under the respective land claim agreement. Those groups without a land claim will need to take care of their interests. In closing, Mr. Speaker, the Minister has taken a precautionary step to address the concerns of the caribou herds that we must continue to do more for the benefit of all Northwest Territories residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for generations, caribou have taken care of the aboriginal people of the Northwest Territories. They fed us, clothed us, and provided tools for us. Mr. Speaker, we have been told lately that the numbers are declining and now it is our turn to look after the future of the caribou. Aboriginal governments and the co-management boards recognize that there may be a problem and want to do what they can to ensure the survival of the caribou for future generations.

Mr. Speaker, caribou are a way of life for the aboriginal people. They always have been. We have to do now what is best for the survival of the caribou. Let us not wait until the herds are depleted to the point of where they cannot recover.

Mr. Speaker, there is a story I always like to tell. I ran into an elder while I was driving on the Dempster Highway. This is a guy who has been around for years. He has hunted caribou for years. He is driving up and down the highway picking up piles of guts from the side of the road. I asked him why he was doing that. He said we tell people that we can govern ourselves, but yet we leave garbage on the side of the road. That wasn't sending a very good message to people. So he took it upon himself to pick up these piles of guts and go throw them away, because that is how much he didn't want people to think badly of his people.

Mr. Speaker, sadly, this elder is now gone but I think a lot of us here are getting close to being elders; some closer than others. It is now our turn to carry his message forward and do what we can to teach the future generations to respect the caribou. My grandson is nine months old, Mr. Speaker, and I want to come to a point as he gets older to be able to enjoy the benefits of the caribou like we all have and not just have it a story in history that his grandpa tells him when the caribou were plentiful and roaming the Northwest Territories and we didn't do what we could to manage these caribou and sadly, grandson, there are no caribou left for you. We have to go to Northern and buy pork chops or beef from Alberta. We don't want that day to come, Mr. Speaker. We are in a position, along with the rest of the leadership of the Northwest Territories, that we can do something about it and leave something for the future generations and not deplete it today. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Members' statements. The honourable Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is one thing that binds the people of the Sahtu more strongly than the land and the culture and it is the caribou. Mr. Speaker, our region has over 70 licensed tourism establishments, including outfitters, outpost camps, catering to the outdoor tourists as well as big game outfitters and sports fishermen. They are welcome to our region, Mr. Speaker, but they need to respect the land they operate. It is our land and not theirs. I talked about some of the stories. I talked to one young guide who worked in the Mackenzie Mountains. I asked him, do you guys shoot sheep? He said yes. Do you guys skin the sheep also for the people? He said yes. I said how do you skin the sheep? He was telling me. I said, don't you know the traditional knowledge and what our people have been telling is that when you shoot a sheep, you cannot skin it where you shot it. You have to pack it a mile or two away, then you have to skin it. But there is a certain way you have to skin this animal because it is a precious animal to us. It is a gift to us. So traditional laws like that, we are losing them fast in the mountains.

Mr. Speaker, that meat from the various animals we shoot in the mountains gets distributed to people in the Sahtu communities and older people that want this meat. The delicacy sometimes is not brought into the communities. Some of the meat is sometimes not distributed fast enough. It is old. Sometimes the meat is full of sand on it. Sometimes the meat is spoiled. People sometimes don't understand why this is happening, that people in the North in my country here are wondering why certain parts of their skills are not being used by the outfitters. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Pokiak from Nunakput talked about our land here in terms of our land claim agreements, in terms of an agreement that should be respected. I, for one, support the Sahtu Renewable Resources Board in terms of their decision on this issue here with caribou.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that one day I hope we will see our free-roaming caribou and that we don't have to walk into a Legislative Assembly and see an animal in our foyer that is stuffed and that is the only thing that we can see and are the results of our caribou in the future. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today we are having a theme day on the value of the natural resource of caribou in our territory. Like most wildlife species, there are many factors that affect the populations in nature. Their numbers rise and fall in historical cyclic patterns. Whether in times of plenty or in times of decline, it is always in season to consider treating this precious resource with respect. For many generations, the caribou have been a source of food and hides for garments. In this day and age, I think it would still be respectful to think of every way possible that value could be derived from these creatures. When hunted for meat, many hides and racks of antlers are left with the animals that are hunted. Fewer and fewer people are willing or have the knowledge to process the hides with traditional tanning methods.

I know that caribou are a way of life for aboriginal people. We don't have to visit very many homes in the small community and you will see caribou ribs on the stove boiling and you will see caribou slabs drying and hanging on racks in the kitchen drying for dry meat. But, Mr. Speaker, I think it is time to consider some value-added aspects of the caribou, including value to hunters for the hides that could be traditionally or commercially tanned. Hides can be processed with hair on or hair off. There are many uses for such hides. In the past, the government conducted a pilot project associated with the muskox harvest that saw value realized from the hair made into beautiful garments, commercially processing the hides which produced unique material for garments and furniture upholstery. Why not the same available for caribou hides so that harvesters can have their hunting costs offset through the value of the hides? There would also be economy created in the commercial tanning process. Caribou hair is also dyed or left natural for tufting in works of art such as that we see decorating birch bark baskets, garments and framed art. Then there are the beautiful items created by the antlers either left in their natural state or sawn up to make all types of jewellery and accessories.

I believe this government has a role to play in organizing and creating opportunities for the many value-added opportunities that would create an incentive for every and

all parts of the caribou to be used. To do less is to waste this valuable resource and what it has to offer and to deprive those involved in the harvest for realizing as much economic value from these creatures as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today, too, I would also like to use my Member's statement to talk about our caribou and the crisis that the caribou are in. Caribou, Mr. Speaker, is our most important renewable resource here in the NWT, second only to the people of the NWT whose survival is directly attributable to our caribou and our other wildlife. Although there are issues that are before the courts that we cannot discuss here in the House which are directly related to this caribou crisis and the recommendations for recovery of our herds by this government, I feel that it is now time to send a strong message out to the public that each individual's actions to address the declining numbers is a first step towards a full recovery of our herds' numbers.

Mr. Speaker, the coffee shop talk-of-the-day is either about climate change, energy conservation or caribou hunting. I hear about people going out and getting caribou. Being an avid hunter myself, I am never hesitant to ask how many caribou that were successfully hunted. Many people will be glad to tell you just how many they harvested over the hunt that they went out on and what they did with the meat. This is all good information for everybody in the coffee shop because now everybody will know who to go to visit to get some caribou meat. By letting people in the coffee shop know how many you harvested, Mr. Speaker, it is just no longer considered coffee shop talk. This is really very important and vital information on our caribou survival. We all have to show our support for our caribou by being more diligent and informative as to how many caribou were actually taken by informing our local wildlife officers after each successful hunt. With more and better details on exactly how many caribou are actually being harvested by all northerners, aboriginal and non-aboriginal, we can all be confident that any future management actions that may restrict or place certain conditions on sectors of our society from exercising their historical harvesting practices are the right decisions and that we should, and will, stand behind these actions without resolve or reservation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I will be talking about an urgent matter for the City of Yellowknife. I want to discuss the federal funding for the public transit system, or what I should be calling the stalled federal funding transit initiative that was promised by the federal government to the City of Yellowknife. It is about time that the Minister of MACA remembers that he works for big communities and small communities equally. The federal government has recognized how important a strong and sustainable public transit system is and they have, to their credit, even introduced a tax deduction that highlights that. So where is the City of Yellowknife's transit money?

I have addressed this issue in previous Member's statements with no answers, although I continue to be very hopeful. I am concerned about the federal transit funding promised to the City of Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker. In addition to the funding available under the New Deal for cities and communities, the federal government was going to make over $1 million available for existing NWT public transit systems, Mr. Speaker. As we all know, this money has been available for some time and still the City of Yellowknife has not received a dime or even a bus token on this matter. An initial announcement was made on June 1, 2005, which further underscores how this issue has been stalled by the Minister of MACA. Further, Mr. Speaker, B.C. and Ontario have been spending their money since September 2005, and still we have no idea of where this money is and what the Minister is planning to do with it. This money can improve our transit ridership in Yellowknife and decrease our greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging more people to use public transit.

Yellowknife is a growing city. Our economy depends on a good transit system, Mr. Speaker. I would like to see some support from our MACA Minister to deliver on that money. Mr. Speaker, if you want to encourage people to ride the bus, you need to have buses. If you want buses, you need the money that was promised to get them on the street. So, Mr. Speaker, I have to remind the Minister; what is he doing? Is he re-engineering the definition that promised the City of Yellowknife transit money, or what is he doing? I don't know. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I will have questions for the Minister of MACA yet again, who is supposed to represent big and small communities equally. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.