Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The weather of the past few days might not make you think so, but the Northwest Territories is entering the high-risk fire season once again. I know the department is on the case. It's gratifying to see regular fire updates and know that our best folks are on the job, monitoring the situation and ready to take action when required. In fact, some of our fire teams are helping our Alberta neighbours as we speak.
Mr. Speaker, when conditions become dangerous, our system allows authorities to call a fire ban, but it's been brought to my attention by concerned constituents from the Ingraham Trail that there's a loophole in that system. Currently, a fire ban provides authority to ban any open fires inside the boundaries of a territorial park, but not everybody is in the parks, Mr. Speaker. So if there's a fire ban, campers outside a territorial park do not have to abide. My constituents report that frequently, if fires are banned at the Reid Lake campsite, for example, campers just go down the highway along the banks of Cameron River and light a fire there.
Mr. Speaker, the Forest Act was due to be updated during this Assembly, and this loophole may have been addressed, but for good reason that legislation is being delayed until the 19th Assembly. That said, in Alberta, a fire ban means no fires, anywhere. In the Yukon, same thing. So why not here?
Mr. Speaker, people are the leading cause of forest fires. That's the case no matter how much we spend on public education. Just in the past couple of weeks I've seen a handful of reports on social media about people finding abandoned open fires burning at the Yellowknife River Day Use area. Constituents who drive that road every day see this unsafe situation numerous times along the trail. They are deeply concerned about their homes and their family's safety. If people aren't going to be responsible, Mr. Speaker, we need to equip our fire professionals with the tools they need to enforce safety.
Clearly, Mr. Speaker, there must be something we can do before something disastrous happens. Some mechanism is needed to enforce a fire ban on all public lands, not just those within park boundaries. Thank you Mr. Speaker.