Thank you, Mr. Chair. This Disaster Compensation program with the $15,000 is for natural disasters such as floods as the Member mentioned. I just want to touch on another program that is in place to assist harvesters as well. That is the fire disaster compensation program as well. That program starts with $100,000. As far as the number of claims recently from the Beaufort Delta area, we would have to get back to the Member with those numbers. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. For the exact numbers, we would have to get back on the numbers. The dollars for local wildlife communities or local authorities flows directly from our regional office to those co-management processes or, in non–land claim areas, to the local authority there. In some cases, they have hunters' and trappers' councils or associations. In others, the local band councils or the Metis councils are the local authorities, so those dollars flow from the regional office to those organizations. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The fur pricing program, or the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program, is certainly a renowned program that started way back in the 1990s and I know a lot of jurisdictions in Canada certainly appreciate the program that we have in the Northwest Territories where the GNWT guarantees a price for our harvesters on the different species. I recently returned from a convention, the Fur Harvesters Association Convention. We are absolutely going to continue the program, and we're actually looking at ways of enhancing the program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources continue to work with ITI, with that documentary-type stuff that's going on in the Hay River area. When I mentioned looking at other ways of enhancing our program, I think we want to explore in other regions. We can take advantage of, as the Member identifies, our approaches and how the tools that our trappers in the Northwest Territories use to harvest humanely. We started this many, many years ago on a Trap Exchange Program. It all goes back to humane trapping standards set nationally and internationally, and we're certainly a leader in the Northwest Territories in that area. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The fur pricing program has a revolving fund with the amount that we see identified there of over $400,000. It's not over-subscribed at this point. There is the odd time where it is slightly over-subscribed, but again we look internally at covering that. For the most part, it's a guaranteed price for the harvesters and, when the harvester gets the returns from the auction, a lot of that money flows back into the program. We watch it quite closely. We base our advance prices to the trappers on market prices and try to find that balance where we guarantee a price to the trappers for the species. However, we want to make sure that we don't get over-subscribed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The process is primarily done internally. We do, as I mentioned, assess the market prices, and the advance amount that we provide to the harvesters is usually close to market price. There is the understanding that markets do fluctuate and, for the most part, the fur that's sold that meets the advance price, and goes back into the revolving fund. Any fur sold that's over the advance price, the trapper will receive those benefits. If fur is sold below the advance price that we give to the trappers, that's where the Government of the Northwest Territories absorbs those costs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.