On an annual basis, we have a program that supports fishers here in the NWT. It amounts to about $225,000 a year, broken down into a number of program initiatives. But this summer I appeared before a parliamentary committee on fisheries, and basically spelled out to them the importance of the fishery on Great Slave Lake here in the Northwest Territories. I gave them some historical perspective on the fishery, where we wanted to see it go and how important it was for us to reinvigorate the fishery on Great Slave Lake.
Through the work of the Economic Opportunities Strategy that we’ve just tabled in the House this week, it squarely pointed to the fact that we need to do more with the commercial fishery here in the Northwest Territories. I have committed to putting a lot of effort into reinvigorating the fishery on Great Slave Lake. We need to find some funding. There are a couple of key areas: We need a new processing facility in Hay River. We also need to put some money into an aging fleet that’s out on the lake. Thirdly, we need to find some more people that are interested in getting into the business of fishing on Great Slave Lake.
It’s a great resource. It’s underutilized. We also need to find a way to get that product here in a domestic capacity, into stores and onto people’s kitchen tables here in the Northwest Territories.