Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Opportunities are everywhere, but unfortunately, when opportunity knocks, it doesn’t always wait for Northerners to get up and grab it. That’s why we must look very closely at what has happened over the last summer.
As Northerners have passed this recent tragic situation of many, many forest fires, and as we will be paying for them for years to come, we must look towards the opportunities that will be bountiful across our territory. As my colleague for the Deh Cho had said, the mushroom opportunities will be there.
We all know that the opportunities of accessibility and renewable foods such as mushrooms and the morel industry will bring Northerners, but when I look and hear and talk to people in these communities, they see the opportunities as their only chance. When you have an employment rate that is struggling to get up to 50 percent, they need every chance they get. When I talk to families in Fort Smith, Fort Providence and even Hay River, they’re really looking forward to this chance. If this government doesn’t realize what this chance is, I’ll certainly remind them. It’s called a job.
In small communities it’s tough to find opportunities, but don’t let this one slip by. As the government sits by and does nothing, may I compliment them on their ability to do nothing. I’m calling upon them to get some action and get some fire in their bellies again. It’s time to create some territorial legislation that does set up a network that creates picking opportunities for the morel industry that allows Northerners to be working and benefit first, because we all know when those southern pickers show up, they are known as a very nomadic group. When those nomadic groups show up in large communities, as the group, that is, we know that they tend not to spend a lot of money on the local economy. This is a tragic circumstance that they’re self-contained. The question is, when it gets to that $1.5 million of harvest last year, how much has entered the hands of Northerners.
Other governments have found a way. I encourage this government to find the wisdom of Saskatchewan and even BC. The Nisga’a tribe is known for having great regulations to ensure that
their people benefit from this opportunity. It’s time to develop regulations that make sense and further protect local economies that are trying to get on their feet. Let this government not watch the situation roll on by, by southern pickers who show up and invest nothing in the North and leave us with no opportunity.