Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member is correct; fur prices have come off somewhat, but the Northwest Territories still is
considered one of the best wild furs in the world. When the Premier and I were in China recently, we had five new buyers that wanted to purchase NWT fur and become buyers at the auction in Helsinki that’s coming up. So we have to continue marketing the fur and the opportunity that our fur provides us. The fact that the money that gets to the trapper is money that goes into the local economy at the community level, and I don’t think we can underestimate what the support that the government provides to the trapping industry here really does for the small communities around the Northwest Territories. It’s really something that we have to continue to support and it is something we will continue to support.
There have been some changes here on new initiatives. When ENR is before the House, Members will have a chance to ask the Minister about new initiatives when it comes to fur. But we will continue working with ENR on our marketing efforts through ITI.
On the filmmaker that the Member spoke of, we do have, as I mentioned earlier to MLA Moses, $100,000 earmarked through our SEED program. This new rebate program that I spoke of is the kind of program that a producer could avail themselves of some funding through that. It could really help them be the difference in getting a film made or not. So I would encourage the Member to let that person know that they should contact the regional office in Inuvik if they’re up in the Beaufort-Delta in one of the Member’s communities. If they’re here in Yellowknife, we have the Film Commission here. Our staff at ITI in Yellowknife would be happy to help them, happy to point them in the right direction and get them some of the assistance that they need to get into making film here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.