Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Just a quick question on some wildlife management issues dealing with wildlife habitat and impacts on wildlife from human activity in reference to the Taltson hydro dam that is still in operation and still has a lot of impact on hunters and trappers up and down the Taltson area. One trapper was showing me pictures from last December of water levels coming right up to his cabin, flooding out his dog houses, flooding his cabin out. He said every year, in the springtime...In December there is a high demand for power, the gates are opened, the water levels come up, the beavers are forced out of their lodges out on top to prevent them from drowning but they wind up freezing to death anyway.

So each spring, he says, there are hundreds and hundreds of beaver carcasses on the river. Is there any wildlife monitoring and mitigating and compensation? Are there any compensation issues that should be addressed with the people in the area especially if they have pictures of things that are going on? I think probably the onus is on the Power Corporation to ensure that there is some sort of monitoring agency that does it for them so they get their water licences renewed. Does the wildlife management section of ENR provide for something as drastic as that? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the project is under NCPC and that corporate body would be the people that would have to be dealing with any formal compensation along with ITI. Our role would be to gather the information, and if there is a form of complaint or a concern, we'd certainly have our renewable resources officer, I think it's Lutselk'e that the Member is referring to or Resolution. So through those communities we have officers in those communities and we certainly would take that information forward or document it for the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Anything further, Mr. Villeneuve?

No, thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll take the Minister's positive response on that forum and I know it's an NWT Power Corp issue and I have raised it with them and it seems to have fallen on deaf ears all the time. These trappers are providing photographic proof. I saw the pictures and there's obvious flooding going on there in the middle of December. So we've definitely got some issues there to deal with and I think he said he's even showed them to the Power Corp personnel and they said it's a compensation issue that's been long gone, it's done, it's history, it's Government of Canada when it was NCPC, I think. So basically he's just getting sloughed off and I think he's spoken to renewable resource officers and they're basically telling him there's no real permanent damage. It's basically flooding out his cabin and once the water recedes and his cabin seems to be okay, it's still standing, but that's not the issue for him. The issue for him is basically the wildlife issue. So I'll just give your department a heads up and maybe they can just relay the information down to their renewable resource officer to maybe touch base with them and I'll let you know who it is at some other time, but maybe to go out there in the springtime and see if there are hundreds of beaver carcasses floating down the river after the ice flows because that's what he's telling me. I think it's something that we should really be addressing anyway if that Taltson expansion project has any glimmer of hope of going through. Just a comment. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. I see the department officials taking notes on that. Thank you, committee. We are on page 11-31. I have Mr. Pokiak next.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll leave it to your discretion I guess, I'm going to ask a question in regard to the wildlife and the maintaining of wildlife, more specific towards the caribou I guess because of what's happening over the last year or so. I'd like to ask the Minister, Mr. Chairman, there's been aerial surveys done over the last year or so and they've been working with the co-management boards in terms of the harvesting of the herds. I'm just wondering if the Minister will continue to work with these co-management boards to make sure that they can sustain the level it is now. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. I'll leave it up to the Minister as to whether he'd like to answer that question. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, we'll certainly answer part of the question and that is to commit to working with the co-management boards.

Mahsi, Mr. Minister. Anything further, Mr. Pokiak?

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, we have members on the board that meet on a regular basis.

Mahsi, Mr. Minister. Thank you, committee. We are on page 11-31, activity summary, wildlife, operations expenditure summary, $13.281 million.

Page 11-33, activity summary, wildlife, grants and contributions, contributions, $255,000, total grants and contributions, $255,000. Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I've just got a quick question on the support of natural resources and environmental issues contributions from $322,000 down to zero. Maybe I could just get some clarification on that.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Where exactly...Oh, you're talking the '05-06 actuals?

Yes.

Thank you for the clarification, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, we'll have Nancy Magrum speak to the issue.

Ms. Magrum.

Thank you, Ms. Magrum. Anything further, Mr. Villeneuve?