Thank you, Mr. Chair. The concerns again brought to me by the elders of the community of Colville Lake, they’ve stated to me many times they’re concerned about wildlife technicians, biologists using the collars to monitor the movements of caribou, especially the ones that we use in the Sahtu, Bluenose-East and Bluenose-West, and that the feeling that their method of traditional knowledge is not taken very seriously as the aircraft and collars are used on caribou to give credence and evidence to the scientific papers on caribou. There is some value to it. Again, it rubs against the respect for the animals and by having collars on these animals they feel that it’s going against the laws of animals in the culture of the Colville Lake people. So I want to state for the record that as much as the department is telling us the value of caribou and the value of putting collars on animals, there are some elders there that are very saddened that we’re using this technique and that they should be using traditional knowledge and best practice in terms of monitoring. I’m not too sure if that will ever be discontinued as there are a lot of biologists and technicians that swear to God that collars are probably the best thing for monitoring or managing animals. I’m just stating very clearly that people in Colville Lake are not too happy and they don’t agree with it. They’ve asked me, again, to bring it to the government’s attention and they can have some more discussions if they want. However, I want to state that for the record.
Norman Yakeleya on Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
In the Legislative Assembly on February 22nd, 2011. See this statement in context.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
February 21st, 2011
See context to find out what was said next.