Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I might be repeating s some of the things that have already been said, but I feel it’s important that I add my voice to this important debate.
Mr. Speaker, I feel it’s really important for us all to concentrate and be very clear about what this is all about. We are talking about extraordinary measures taken to respond to an extraordinary emergency situation we are faced with. It is important that all leaders in and out of this House understand clearly and act responsibly about the decisions we are making on this issue and how we inform our public about this issue.
Here is what I know, Mr. Speaker, for sure, and what my decisions are based on in my support for the interim emergency measure. This emergency issue before us is about one thing and one thing only. It’s about protecting a caribou herd that is so vital to the survival of the culture and livelihood of our aboriginal peoples in the North Slave area. The ban on hunting of this caribou herd was issued by the Minister of ENR in December 2009, supported by the Cabinet, because it was absolutely necessary. The emergency measure was necessary because the barren-ground herd needed protection this winter hunting season. It could not wait any longer.
Let us remember that this ban is an interim emergency measure. It’s an interim emergency measure. Interim means this is a temporary, not permanent, measure to deal with the emergency situation. The interim emergency measure is in place only until such time the responsible body, the Wekeezhii Renewable Resources Board, has a chance to address this issue. Hopefully sooner than later.
The emergency interim measure was necessary because the board was not able to meet in time to address this urgent issue. Emergency means a number of things, It means it’s urgent. Urgent means not a lot of time. Emergency also requires a response that is appropriate for the nature of the emergency, No more, no less.
Mr. Speaker, in ordering this emergency interim measure, government has taken mitigation measures to assist aboriginal residents with options of obtaining other sources of meat and other herds of caribou meat.
Mr. Speaker, this interim emergency measure was issued because the herd is deteriorating at an alarming rate and we cannot sit back and watch another hunting season go by without taking action. The job we have in front of us is to do everything we possibly can to save this herd and do it without delay.
Mr. Speaker, our best scientific info tells us the herd has declined from 100,000 in 1996 to 32,000 this year, Who is at fault for this decline in caribou is irrelevant in this emergency. We know there are a number of factors that are probably contributing to the low numbers of caribou. The important fact is that the caribou number is on the verge of extinction. Unless we take action, we may not have any more barren-ground caribou in a few years to even talk about what to do or whose fault it was that the herd is gone. God forbid if it became extinct.
Mr. Speaker, the choice is we save this herd, then they go extinct. If they did go extinct, we would have plenty of time to argue about whose fault it is and if we are able to revive it, I am sure there will be lots of credit to go around as well. Mr. Speaker, if this herd became extinct, the most severely impacted people will be our aboriginal people who rely on this for their sustenance, I have to tell you, Mr. Speaker, it is not just ENR and the scientists saying that the herd is on the verge of extinction.
Many aboriginal leaders and leaders have been telling me this personally either at Wal-Mart or Tim Horton’s or when I visit their homes and all around the Territories around the leadership tables. Mr. Speaker, many aboriginal people have been telling me for the last number of years that caribou is acting funny, that they are behaving and calving abnormally. Places where there used to be hundreds of thousands of caribou, they don’t see them anymore. Mr. Speaker, this is traditional knowledge that we need to rely on.
Mr. Speaker, in a few years, if we were left with lamenting about the barren-ground caribou that no longer exists, I need to know, as a leader of this Legislature, that I did everything within my power to do something about it when we had a chance to do it. Perhaps we are all wrong about the numbers and maybe we’re naming the herds all wrong and counting them all wrong -- because plenty of people out there have been telling us we couldn’t do anything right about this -- but let me ask you this: what if they’re right? What if really there are only 32,000 caribou out of 400,000 strong that there were? Should we allow another 5,000 to 7,000 to be harvested this year knowing that it could be true, that there are only 32,000? Should we allow the
cows and the pregnant cows to be harvested? What does that mean? I don’t hunt, but 7,000 saved could mean 20,000 in two years.
Mr. Speaker, in this emergency situation we must give our benefit of doubt in the interest of protecting the caribou herd. Mr. Speaker, I have a difficult time understanding the claim that there has been a lack of consultation. I want to tell you, that unless you have been living under a rock, we have been talking non-stop about the dwindling number of caribou for almost the entire time I have been here for 10 years. Now we have a real possibility that the Bathurst Caribou is almost extinct and, as I said earlier, I have heard many aboriginal leaders discuss this in their leadership meetings. Finally, Mr. Speaker, as someone who spent some time in law school, I know that no rights are absolute, no legal principles are absolute. More often they are about balancing of rights and often these rights are conflicting from one another. Rights and legal principles are about establishing human relationships in an orderly respectful way so that we can survive and prosper as a civil society. What I know for sure, is that the barren land caribou need help from us and they need help now. The interim, temporary, emergency, urgent measure is one action to help them and that is what I am prepared to support. Thank you Mr. Speaker.