This situation was made worse by the fact that in November 2009 another senior ENR official was quoted in Above and Beyond indicating that caribou numbers for the NWT are going up. In addition, in October 2009 the Minister of ITI made several tourism-related statements indicating the value of outfitting in the NWT. These statements lent credibility to ENR’s earlier statements and increased the outfitters’ confidence that their tags would not be affected in 2010.
Given that these long-time, committed Northerners relied on this information in good faith, I believe that the Minister of ENR should show the same level of integrity as the Minister of MACA and come to some sort of financial agreement with these outfitters to mitigate the damage caused by the department’s bad information. It’s alright to admit making mistakes; it’s also good to do the right thing. I would like to see the Minister demonstrate that he values long-term Northerners and is willing to assist them when provided incorrect information from his department. At the appropriate time I will be asking some questions of the Minister.