Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This week is Small Business Week, and Hay River being one of the communities that I think is strongest in business, I’d like to make some of the statements about some of the products and services.
One of the industries that is definitely needed in Hay River is the Hay River Fishery. We’ve talked about this in this House before. The Hay River Fishery and the Great Slave Lake Fishery needs assistance. We’ve been working with the Department of ITI to look towards opportunities in the future. We’ve been looking at infrastructure, but we need to continue to work on training for these types of individuals, getting more individuals into this industry. We need to train some of our local people and encourage people to become entrepreneurs.
We see almost weekly from some of the fishermen, they show us pictures of the Great Slave Lake. It’s dangerous work; it’s hard work; but it’s challenging work and it’s beneficial.
We know that some of this industry is changing in other provinces such as Alberta – we know recently Lake Athabasca closed down its fishery – and we’re looking to see what the opportunities are. Does that include fishers coming up here? Does that include being able to market our fish and sell our fish in Alberta?
We need to encourage fishery in this territory. We need to help the fishermen of the Northwest Territories and Great Slave Lake fishermen. Obviously, I encourage that we continue to support Hay River fishermen. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.