Thank you, Mr. Vician. Next on my list I have Mr. Yakeleya, followed by Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Minister talked somewhat about the locally produced foods in our communities. Is there any type of strategy or plans to look at these miniature abattoirs that we have in our communities? We have one in Fort Good Hope and Deline we are looking at which were made in Hay River. We want to look at how we produce these local traditional foods to bring them into our GNWT’s institutions. The first two I think are the old folks’ home and the Stanton Hospital.

Is there any type of discussion happening with his colleagues to look at something like these two miniature abattoirs, so that we can package the meats according to regulations we’re under right now? That would make an option for these two institutions for starting off to say, yes, we can have a little business here using these two different community abattoirs to bring in some of the

traditional foods into the hospitals and to the old folks’ homes? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have had some success with the small scale abattoirs that we have in I believe it’s two communities now. We would look at opportunities for additional units as we go forward. All of our programming, when you look at the food development programs that we have, we are trying to get more locally produced food into the local market. That would include institutions like North Slave Correctional Centre, the hospital and any elders homes across the territory. That is something that we continue to strive for and something that is a real goal of the department and the government. We’re intent on seeing that through. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, the optimal end result of this discussion would be the Minister look at this, and given this year’s budget and again next year, we can come forward with these miniature abattoirs to say, yes, we have worked it out through the system and the regulations. For example, next year local traditional foods can be packaged, sent into these institutions to say now you have traditional foods. It will produce skill, economy and make use in the small communities. Maybe the Northern Store or Co-ops will be interested in having these foods on their shelves. My goal here is to see if this is possible as an innovative approach to putting a system in place where traditional foods can be put into the institutions. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, when you look at the Small Scale Food Program and other programs are administered at the regional level. If the Member has folks that are interested in the region, they could approach the ITI staff in the region to discuss the prospect of a small-scale abattoir being added to the community. Our ITI staff at the regional level are well equipped to answer the questions that folks may have.

Again, I will get back to one thing that I mentioned to MLA Bromley and that is the development of our Agriculture Policy and how it is we can fit in the things the Member is talking about, the small-scale abattoir producing locally produced fish and meat products and getting them into where we need to get them in, and that is the institutions and into people’s homes across the territory. That’s something, again, that we’re very much interested in doing. Thank you.

I appreciate the Minister’s comments. I hope the Minister will have the people approach the regional office and once we approach it, that is good, we need to then dedicate some dollars to it if we’re going to move forward, knowing that if we can take care of the Department of Health

and Social Services, the regulations and all this stuff, all of this has to be fleshed out to make sure it’s okay to bring these foods into the institutions, the jails, the old folks’ homes, we need to work on that. So we need to have some dollars to say yes, we support you, now let’s work out some of these issues that potentially could be there. So other than that, then find the dollars to make it so. One day they could have caribou meat and fish served at the hospitals or the jails or the old folks’ home. Rather than just bringing in a frozen leg and frozen fish, this could be done properly, because that’s one of the roadblocks that we’re running up against of not having traditional foods. It makes it very difficult. So I look forward to that.

The agricultural dollars that we do have, again, flow into the regions, and our goal is to work with local producers at the regional level. I know the Member has had a great deal of success in the Sahtu, especially in Norman Wells with the potatoes and chickens, and I understand there’s a small-scale chicken operation in Deline and that’s pretty exciting as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Ramsay. Next I have on my list Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just two areas I wanted to touch on here as my colleagues have already talked about a couple that I wanted to discuss. First off is the Community Harvester Program, and I see there’s somewhat of a significant contribution in that area, but I’m just wondering if the department and the Minister have taken into account some things such as climate change, migratory paths of the animals and possibly because of climate change, or even if there’s some development in a certain area that causes some of these harvesters to take a longer route, or if ice hasn’t frozen yet, or other things that are a concern that might require the harvester to purchase more gas, or purchase more materials to go on longer hunts and longer trapping routes to get certain types of animals. If so, how is the department looking at compensating or adjusting these numbers to affect that change? Has he seen the increase in applications or an increase in terms of what the harvesters are needing for going out?

I know up in Inuvik we’re getting more of the guys going on the land and trapping and hunting, mostly trapping, because the economy isn’t the greatest right now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We haven’t seen an increase in the fund. It is fully subscribed. There are obviously, as the Member makes light of, a number of pressures that are currently on folks that want to get out on the land to hunt or to harvest and those pressures are real.

The price of gas, I know he talked about some of the issues with climate change, and I understand there are regions in the Northwest Territories where snow came a little bit late this year, so it was difficult for hunters to get out and that’s something that we understand. We haven’t, again, seen an increase to this budget, but it does provide funding for community hunts and community harvests and it’s a very important part of the funding that we supply to communities across the territory. Thank you.

This is a possible going concern and other pressures. Would the Minister look into conducting some type of questionnaire or survey for anybody that does apply on the program, or is there a questionnaire or survey that the harvesters can fill out and follow up so that it would help us adjust the program as need be for some of these concerns that are brought forth? Thank you.

Thank you. Again, I just wanted to get back to the number of just over $1 million, $1.074 million. I think it was late in the life of the 16th Assembly that CHAP funding was actually

doubled. So there was twice as much money put into this area late in the life of the 16th Assembly.

But if there are additional pressures and costs continue to go up, this is something, as we move forward, we could certainly revisit. Thank you.

Just maybe a recommendation for some type of questionnaire or survey to follow up for any harvesters that are seeing any specific challenges or pressures that will give some direction to government.

The second area that I wanted to discuss is an area that I haven’t seen an increase in over the years, but it’s something that does bring some economic increases to our region and Inuvik, and that’s with the Great Northern Arts Festival. With the forced growth, the cost of travel, increased cost of hotel rooms, materials for people that want to participate in some of the events or sell their materials, there’s been a contribution that has been pretty regular of $25,000. Have there ever been discussions of increasing those to offset some of the forced growth that we see in the region or anywhere? Thank you.

Thank you. In addition to the $25,000 that we have earmarked for the Great Northern Arts Festival, our staff, on a regional basis obviously, help with in-kind support to the festival, and have for a number of years, and will continue to provide that assistance to the arts festival in Inuvik. Thank you.

The in-kind service is always in there. I mean, obviously the $25,000 that’s allocated, it can only cover so much. So if the in-kind services are the same services that are always provided, then that $25,000 obviously isn’t doing as much as it used to due to forced growth and other things. So I just want to make that comment and just bringing

it to light that although we’re still doing the in-kind support, the money that’s not in-kind is only going so far and it’s not going as far as it used to go. Thank you.

Thank you. I do appreciate the Member’s concerns and the organizers could access additional funding through our SEED Program in the region, and again, they’d need to approach regional staff in Inuvik to do that and to avail themselves of some SEED funding to help out with the arts festival. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Ramsay. Next on my list I have Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to follow up quickly with a couple of questions about our CETA negotiations. I learned that we are trying to protect our communities, or at least stay in touch with them, and that there are procurement thresholds.

The numbers I’ve seen, and I’m not privy to all this information at all, but in fact would allow most of our infrastructure projects to be susceptible to getting through these agreements. I think partly because our infrastructure is so expensive, and this obviously is a concern. So I’d be wanting to know what the ministry is doing to protect our local providers again on this front.

I would like to know what the department’s, as lead for the government, position is. Are they judging that the benefits to business will outweigh and be acceptable and outweigh the rising cost of living, which the agreement will bring through things like rising drug costs and loss of local contracting, or is their position confidential? Again, that raises the question of transparency. The Minister is right; it’s unusual for provincial and territorial governments to be able to participate here. Again, if it’s happening behind closed doors, that doesn’t do a lot for us, but is there any information, any transparency, any clarity the Minister can provide on what our positions are in these areas?

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Ramsay.

What might work is if we could offer a briefing to the Regular Members, to the EDI committee on the CETA agreement, and any questions the Members may have, we’ll be able to share whatever information we have, and I think that might be a better avenue to have a free-flowing discussion on the technical aspects of the agreement.

I never turn down a briefing, as the Minister knows, but my questions stand here because I think this is something that the public is bringing to my attention and would obviously appreciate the Minister’s response to these questions.

There is a lot that’s not supposed to be shared. It’s something that we’d have to be cognizant of the fact that the federal government is negotiating the agreement with the European Union. There are some things we can share with Members, and we’d be more than happy to share what we can with Members and we’ll take things from there.