Mr. Speaker, what is permanent will depend on the circumstances of the particular area. It has to be appropriate, depending on what kind of conservation designation there is outside of the protected area designation. But it does include all the areas on the map.
The Member stated, for example, 1999 Protected Areas Strategy. All the land that’s on that map that is designated to be protected is all the land that is projected to have any kind of conservation designation far into the future. There’s no new land on there. There’s land that’s been identified now since 1999. Some of it is yet to be determined, the final designation, but we know some, like the Ramparts or Edhzhie, the request is that there be a
park there, a protected area. The others will have a range of different kinds of designations. It could be a cultural area; it could be a wildlife area; it could be just an area of some significance that has some designation. If there is some activity that’s found within that area, then we will collectively look at what it is and how does it fit, what kind of community support there is, but the door would be open to have that kind of discussion. Unlike Nahanni National Park or Edaezhe, once it’s fully withdrawn, or the Thaidene Nene footprint area.
I would also point out, as we talk about this land, we have a very, very significant piece of land
- 44,000 square kilometres of land
– that has been under
interim protection for decades, tied up in land claims. As we commit ourselves to concluding land claims, when we do that will free up very, very high potential areas for potential development that could be contemplated by Aboriginal governments, industry and the territorial government. Thank you.