Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just to help out my colleagues. It is on page 3 of the bill. It is at the top of the page.
I wanted to make this motion because I believe... I know this is a recommendation from committee. I sat in on many of the committee meetings. I attended the public hearings here in Yellowknife. I did not travel with the committee to other communities, but I got a pretty good sense, I think, of where people sit in terms of the clause that talked about traditional practice and use of dogs in traditional practices.
It is my belief that we don’t need these three sections in the act. It references using dogs in the course of an accepted activity. I was struck by one of the presenters at the hearing here in Yellowknife, an Aboriginal man who has lived here for a very long time, all his life actually. He spoke and said, “Abuse of dogs is abuse of dogs. There is no reason, whether you are using your dog in a traditional practice or other. It is abuse of the dog and it shouldn’t be. That, in the course of normal activities, Aboriginal people do not mistreat their dogs.” I would say, in the course of normal activities, regular and non-Aboriginal people don’t mistreat their dogs either. I really feel that these three clauses are all related to the accepted activity notion and I just don’t think it needs to be in the motion. Thank you.