Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our natural environment has been taking a beating lately. Unprecedented wildfires, debilitating drought, these changes in our climate have yielded increased costs of firefighting and electricity, lost homes and loss of income because of tourism impacts.

A particularly tragic loss is the additional blow to already severely depleted caribou populations from the extensive loss of their winter habitat. The collapse of one of our most valuable and culturally important resources, our once strong and life-sustaining Bathurst and Bluenose-East caribou herds, may be one of the greatest concerns to all people of the North.

Recent UN studies have shown that since 1970, worldwide wildlife populations have been reduced by half, half as many fish, half as many mammals, half as many birds. We see this trend in the NWT; in particular, we are losing two of our great caribou herds. For thousands of years these animals have sustained First Nations people of the NWT. If conservation efforts fail, the herds may soon be gone.

Mr. Speaker, it doesn’t look good. When I see community hunts planned, despite chiefs knowing the desperate plight of these herds, I know we do not yet grasp the situation. When I read that communities are simply resigning themselves to wait until winter to hunt because they haven’t seen any yet, I know that hope of recovery is dwindling. When I hear that cow caribou are being shot, any at all from these herds, I know that the children of today may very well not have the privilege of living in a time of caribou plenty as we have done. They may not get to practice their caribou culture as their First Nations parents have done until recently. We must act now to reverse these trends to avoid the horrifying reality of no more caribou.

Step number one is to stop shooting caribou. It may be all kinds of factors that caused the decline, but until we stop the killing of the remaining animals, the caribou will not recover. This is immensely sad and a tough reality, tough on elders whose very bones are made from caribou and cry out for them, tough on chiefs who must lead their people, a travesty for children meant to grow up with caribou abundance and all it means to people of cultures.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted