Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to talk about the traditional economy in the Sahtu region. Trapping is alive and well in the Sahtu region. The Sahtu region is quickly becoming recognized as the top region in the Northwest Territories for total value of fur being harvested. Thirty-eight percent of the total value of furs in the Northwest Territories comes from the Sahtu. The top producing community in the Sahtu is Colville Lake, followed by Fort Good Hope, Deline, Tulita, and Norman Wells. The total amount of Sahtu fur being harvested for 2008 and 2009 is estimated to

contribute up to half a million dollars to the local economy in the Sahtu region. Some trappers in Colville Lake will be earning over $40,000 this winter and trappers as young as age 12 have earned income from harvesting fur this year.

The trappers in the region are the Kochon family in Colville Lake, followed by the Jackson and Pierrot family in Fort Good Hope. The top young trapper in the region lives in Colville Lake, but youth from all over the Sahtu have shown increased interest in trapping this year.

The Sahtu is home to the prize Anderson River marten, which is used across the world for making high-priced garments, including major fashion centres in the Far East, Russia, the Middle East, and Europe. Trappers in the Sahtu consistently get the top price for marten at the fur auctions.

ITI and ENR staff have noticed that a large increase of the youth that have gone trapping are due to the ITI Take a Kid Trapping program, which involves 51 students from Tulita, Deline, Fort Good Hope, and Norman Wells. The number of part-time and full-time trappers in the Sahtu are about 225, 20 percent being elders, 14 percent being youth under the age of 18, and 10 percent being female.

The top fur being harvested is marten, followed by fox, wolves, beavers, and wolverine. For example, Take a Kid Trapping program has been very successful in communities like Colville Lake where there’s approximately 28 kids from Grade 2 to Grade 12 who are working in this program. Students who own their own traplines, students who are raising money to take trips to Europe. If the Sahtu region continues to do as well as they are this year, they are expected to break the record of harvest produced in terms of dollars.

I’d like to say that the Sahtu region and other regions like that, we certainly support people going on the land and that trapping is alive and well in the Northwest Territories, especially in the Sahtu.