Thank you, Mr. Chair. We continue to provide all the information that we gather as a department on monitoring and management of the Porcupine herd and the other herds, and all our information that we have, all our datasets, et cetera, are available to all of the boards. We certainly encourage our Members as well as the Aboriginal government members to share that information, not just internally with the board but also to the communities, to the academic institutions, et cetera. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Debates of June 7th, 2016
This is page numbers 409-454 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was going.
Topics
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Campbell
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Herbert Nakimayak Nunakput
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my questions are alongside of Mr. Blake's there. I see the actuals for 2014-15 are a bit higher than the 2016-17 main estimates. I'm just wondering if that will have an impact on co-management with Aboriginal groups for conservation and caribou management plans across the territory. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Campbell
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The difference between the two years is primarily suppression funding, so we're hoping to maintain our contributions to the co-management boards. At this point I am certainly not aware that we're reducing the funding that's for the implementation of the land claim agreements. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Michael Nadli Deh Cho
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to ask, when are our wood bison management plans expected to be complete? As I understand the wood bison, their designation meant that they're... I think they've reached a category of being a species at risk or threatened. If we can have an update. Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Campbell
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The designation federally for wood bison is threatened, and just recently territorially with our species at risk legislation they've been listed as threatened as well and that, of course, both processes trigger recovery plans or management plans. In the cases of the three herds for the Northwest Territories we do have the management plan completed for the Mackenzie herd. We're underway, quite advanced actually, for the Nahanni and the Slave River Lowlands herd. My understanding is we expect those two management plans to also be completed within this fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Michael Nadli Deh Cho
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just in terms of certainty, I mean, within the Nahanni, Liard, and the Mackenzie herd, you know, we have a matter where we don't have final agreements with the Aboriginal governments. So I want to understand how the department is engaging communities in terms of ensuring their involvement with developing management plans for bison. Mahsi.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Campbell
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has established committees for the development of these management plans. Those committees consist of representatives of the Aboriginal governments as well as the residents of the Northwest Territories, and it's through that process that we're ensuring engagement with the communities that have these herds. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
The Chair R.J. Simpson
Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Mr. Nadli. Nothing further. Committee, I recommend that we continue with the detail for conservation, assessment and monitoring before going back to the activity total for that division. And I think if we do that for every division it might make more sense. If there's any questions on the active positions on page 85. Questions or comments? No. Seeing none. Well, it appears we're done that division, so back to page 83, conservation, assessment and monitoring, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $7,828,000. Agreed?
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
The Chair R.J. Simpson
Moving on to corporate management. The operations expenditures summary is on page 87, but we will proceed to discuss the detail starting on page 88. Any comments on page 88, corporate management, grants, contributions and transfers? Ms. Green.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Julie Green Yellowknife Centre
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In his opening remarks, the Minister said that one of the focuses of the department was to improve food security by encouraging local food production. Could he tell me in what segment of the budget I would find that referenced? Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Campbell
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On food security, our plan is to develop a country food strategy and what we're doing is not using a budget out of a specific activity, but to use money that's throughout the region under the traditional economy program that was given back to Environment and Natural Resources last fiscal year. Also with that funding we are working with others on partnering to gain more resources towards developing the country food strategy, which, again, the end result will be hopefully more opportunities for the residents of the Northwest Territories to take advantage and use more of the country foods in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Julie Green Yellowknife Centre
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the deputy minister for that explanation. Are we talking about providing the tools to people to access hunting and fishing and gathering and other sources of country food? Is that the thrust of the program? Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Dr. Kelly
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The intent is to work with our partners in the NWT as well as some of the others who have interest in this type of work and come up collaboratively with a country food strategy and work with the different divisions within ENR who have interest in this subject matter. There's already ongoing discussions related to that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.