Thank you, Madam Chair. At the outset, Madam Chair, I want to, as other Members have indicated, express my appreciation for the work that’s gone into this act but also for the previous act, which came through at the end of the 16th Assembly.

This act has been many years in the making and many people have worked on it. In my mind, it’s unfortunate that this act has been as divisive as it has been. It has pitted Northern residents against Northern residents. That’s been the unfortunate part of the act for me.

However, on the positive side, there has been a huge amount of cooperation amongst groups, organizations, staff, MLAs, various and sundry groups, and that cooperation has led to a better act today than what we had two years ago.

I do have some concerns, though, with a number of provisions in the act. I believe – and I don’t think the act states it firmly enough – that wildlife is a resource that belongs to all NWT residents and that it belongs to all NWT residents equally.

I am concerned in terms of the focus, some of the focus, a lot of the focus in the act on rights and so on. I want to read something that I stated two years ago when this act came forward and didn’t then go

through third reading and has been amended quite a bit since then. At that time I said, “There’s far too big a focus on rights that are already covered in other legislation and agreements. This should be a management act, but it goes beyond that with the clauses that focus on rights. On the other hand, there’s a noticeable lack of definition and description of the rights for non-Aboriginal residents. The act should recognize that non-Aboriginal residents deserve the same access to wildlife as our Aboriginal residents.” I still believe that. My mind has not changed at all in that regard.

I think a number of Members have spoken about rights of Aboriginals and I will never stand in the way and say that they do not have special rights, but in my mind, special rights do not mean exclusive rights. I don’t understand why we can’t say these rights are guaranteed for these people. They’re not guaranteed for this group of people, but that doesn’t mean that the second group of people can’t access wildlife as the first group does. That’s where I find this act fails a bit.

I have concerns – and some of these amendments will come forward later – in terms of the training that’s required, according to the act or according to the regulations, however it’s determined, with the harvest reporting. In terms of conservation, I think we are doing a big disservice if we don’t require harvest reporting from everybody. I think there’s way too much left to regulations and it’s a major concern for me.

Lastly, in terms of the management council, it doesn’t include non-Aboriginal hunters. Again, I go back to my statement that I believe the wildlife resource belongs to all Northerners and I think all Northerners should have a hand in managing that resource.

So I will have some comments when it comes to specific clauses, Madam Chair. That’s it for now. Thank you.