Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the last 20 years or more, Yellowknife residents have been unable to lease land for a cabin or a campsite of their own. Some people have taken matters into their own hands and are now firmly established in the area as squatters. Our Department of Municipal and Community Affairs started to take action to deal with squatters a few years ago. In 2009 MACA placed a moratorium on recreational land leases and began work to develop a recreational Land Lease Policy framework. A consultant was contacted to study the areas around Yellowknife and Inuvik in particular and to recommend changes in the Land Lease Policy.
A month ago the result of that work was made public and comments were invited. The discussion paper suggests adding 35 new cabin lots and 17 casual or day-use lots in the Yellowknife city area. I truly appreciate the work done for this report and MACA has actively consulted with the public on this document since its release, but as I mentioned the other day, the consultation has come at the end of the process instead of at the beginning.
The Yellowknife public meetings pointed out a number of flaws in MACA’s work to date on this policy. I would like to mention what I heard from constituents. One, the study area was only a portion of the Commissioner’s land around this city. The First Nations whose traditional lands encompass this area have not been consulted. The consultant’s recommendations are based on a desk study. There was no on-the-ground evaluation of the study area. The current leaseholders and lake users were not consulted for their advice on the expansion. The new lots are poorly placed, some on swampy land, some on a shoreline where water depth is two feet or less, many in close proximity to each other and/or existing lots.
The recommended lot placement completely ignores valid legal mineral claims in the area. Lastly, there was no research done to evaluate current actual use. We have no idea how many people use the Vee Lake landing boat launch on a
beautiful summer day. We have no idea how many snowmobilers use the area on a lovely winter day like today, yet we will be packing all of these new leases and day-use lots into one small area, the only easily accessible recreation area for Yellowknifers. The current lease owners are understandably concerned, and those looking to lease are still frustrated.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted