Thank you. Mr. Blake.

Thank you. Next, under the Community Harvesters Assistance Program, I see a slight reduction since 2017-2018. This program struggles in larger communities, for example, Fort McPherson and Aklavik, with larger numbers. I know in McPherson, for example, we have over 50 applicants every year. By the time you get that many applicants, it is not very much that these people get to go out on the land to help with gas. The main thing is gas for people to get out and travel on the land. It would be nice if we could actually get an increase because, if you speak to the communities, it is pretty clear that they don't have enough funding to help everyone who is in the communities. It is available to everyone, this fund. It is not only land-claim organizations. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Dr. Dragon.

Thank you. Mr. Blake.

Thank you. That is great news. That Nutrition North funding would be an asset. I know that is one of the concerns that many of my communities have: sure, our stores make that funding, but we don't see it come down to the people. That is always the concern with communities. I am glad the doctor mentioned country foods. As you know, my whole riding, every fall, there is an opportunity with one of the outfitters who supply wildlife, sheep, moose, caribou, if we are able to get funding for charters.

In the past, Northwright has been good enough to do it for free, but because flight is shut down to Inuvik, now, we have to look for funding on a yearly basis. Would the department be open to a long-term agreement to ensure that, every fall, we don't have to be scrambling for this money and ensure that it is in place? It is not a lot of money we are talking about. Would the department be open to that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I share the Member's concerns about the Nutrition North program. We are glad that we are able to help many communities with the community assistance program. I think we have helped some communities get some different types of meat in when the caribou are not readily available. That is there. I think we have also helped with the Member's riding in paying for part of a charter last year, or paying for the charter. As far as a long-term agreement, it is application-based, but I think we have demonstrated in the past that we are more than happy to assist the community. I am not sure of the value of going into a long-term agreement. I think ENR, in most cases, will step up to the plate and help out the community. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Further, Mr. Blake?

No.

Thank you. Next, I have Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank my colleague from Mackenzie Delta for starting this line of questioning. A couple of things that I would like to touch on in this vein is that, in the line item of country foods, we see that this is contributions to support the engagement process in the development of the country food strategy. Can the Minister maybe explain a little bit with regard to the development of the strategy and, in particular, why it appears that, from 2017-2018 to now, there is a reduction of about $40,000 in this line item? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Dr. Dragon.

Thank you, Dr. Dragon. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that we are making the effort to combine the country foods and the traditional economy. The word that you used was a "robust" effort. Where in this budget, then, shall we find the resources that are going to go towards this combined effort? We have a country foods line item that seems to be depleting a little bit. Talking about traditional economy, we have a traditional knowledge line item that has also gone downhill a little bit. If we are going to put forward a really robust strategy with regard to the combination of traditional economy and country foods, where are we seeing the resources for that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Dr. Dragon.

Thank you, Dr. Dragon. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate that. That seems like a reasonable move to me. I guess I would just add at the end, and there is no need for a reply, really, but if we are going to make these kinds of changes, we should also be putting forward a very strong communication piece so that the communities are very aware of these changes and the accessibility of this new pot of funding. That is all that I have for corporate management. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Nakimayak.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On page 69, just getting back to some of my colleagues here, the on-the-land unit line there, the reduction, I have heard some of the reasons, but I am just looking at some other districts or other governments and self-governments around the circumpolar world. All of ENR's systems for mapping and tracking are very good. I am thinking from a community perspective. A lot of hunters sometimes go out on the land without a GPS or something to track, and a search costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. We have experienced them around this region here this past winter.

I am just wondering if there are any initiatives, since we see all these lines here for on-the-land, of maybe lending out some GPSs or things like that that hunters can communicate with. It is a part of traditional knowledge, and items like that could be very useful to the department just by lending that out, getting some data back from harvesters and where they are on the land. I just want to know what the Minister has to say about that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is actually a very good idea, and I think it is something that we are going to away from here and have a look at to see if there are opportunities for us to provide that. The Member said it exactly. It is very expensive to go out and search for people. There are times when the planes come from southern Canada, and that could be the difference between living or dying.

I think that the idea has got a lot of merit, and I can assure the Member that it is something that we will go away from this particular exchange with and see if it is one that we could implement. Thank you.