Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We currently have out for consultation a Wood Bison Management Strategy in draft form, which we hope to have ready for implementation by the end of this calendar year. One of the goals, if I may just quote for the Member, is “to recover free-ranging, genetically diverse, healthy wood bison throughout the Northwest Territories.” One of the keys is to look for sustainable ongoing harvesting to benefit all NWT residents.
So the issue the Member raises is one we’re going to be prepared to consider. In the Mackenzie herd here on this side of the river, there’s about 50 tags handed out annually that are split up. While there are 50 tags, I understand that only about 60 percent of those 50 tags are used annually. There is a
growing interest as we look at the issue with caribou, especially the Bathurst herd. There is a growing interest in access to bison not only with the people from Providence, but in the Tlicho and now as well around Yellowknife. So there is, in the work that’s being done, going to be discussions around that area.