Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to my Member’s statement, I raised the issue of conflicts between harvesters to subsistence and also government operations. In particular, the ferry operations on the Mackenzie in regard to the Nazon fishing camp, which is on the Inuvik side of the river and has been located there long before the highway was even built.
In the Gwich’in Land Claim Agreement there is a conflict resolution section, which is 12.4.13. I think it’s important that this government maybe consider reading that, because I think this government has to either resolve this dispute with the individual and try to avoid this conflict regarding traditional right to harvest, but more importantly work with the community’s renewable resource council to avoid this conflict.
I’d like to ask the Minister, in light of the letters that he’s received and I’ve received and the discussions we’ve had on this over the last couple of months, has he considered the possibility of moving where the conflict area is back to the location where the ferry always landed so that this conflict can be resolved and the Nazon family can continue to fish in their traditional fishing area, where they fished long before this ferry operation was located there?