The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we missed anyone in the gallery, thanks for being here with us. It is always nice to have an audience as part of our proceedings. Masi. Item 7, acknowledgements. Colleagues, at this point in time, we are going to call for a short break.

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The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Colleagues, we left off at item 7, acknowledgements. Now we are on to item 8, oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Herbert Nakimayak Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier on, I spoke about the amount of salmon being caught in fish nets across Nunakput, and my questions are for the Minister of ENR. Mr. Speaker, my first question is: has the department responded to communities who are experiencing higher than normal salmon catches this season? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is currently a University of Manitoba Department of Fisheries and Oceans Salmon Research Project addressing the issue of salmon being captured in the Canadian Arctic in more places and in seemingly higher numbers than ever before.

Locally, in our office, there is an assistance program, CIMP, with community members taking any salmon that local residents wish to provide to the research program. The project actually is to see why there is starting to be large numbers of salmon in the Canadian Arctic. There are year-to-year changes in the harvest levels which are likely related to changing environmental conditions in the salmon population. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Herbert Nakimayak Nunakput

Earlier on, the Minister made a statement about funding for community-based projects, and this sounds like a project that can increase capacity in the region. Mr. Speaker, this increase has salmon has been occurring for a few seasons in higher numbers, but this year has been quite noticeable. My question to the Minister is, will ENR partner with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, hunters and trappers committees in the Northwest Territories in tracking these invasive species?

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

We work with a DFO researcher who leads the Arctic salmon research project in partnership with the local and resource boards to track salmon in the Arctic. The Member is absolutely correct. The NWT CIMP that I announced before actually supports the project and has promoted research through its regular, northern research bulletins.

Herbert Nakimayak Nunakput

I appreciate the response from the Minister. What about the Arctic char, the coney, the whitefish and the herring, and other fish species that we rely on in the Arctic? They make up a high percentage of food and nutrients for Nunakput residents. This can be looked at as a threat to our food security, not just in Nunakput, but all communities across the territories. My question is: what will the department do to ensure the planning for community-based monitoring of these species, as well as other type of species that are now entering our waters, for the fall season as the ice will set in and the nets are put under the ice in the communities across the Northwest Territories?

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

As the Member mentioned before, there are a lot of changes that are going on, and we have heard that about a lot of species that we have seen in some places that they are not used to being seen there. The Arctic Salmon Research Project is actually looking into what the appearance of salmon means to the native fish species. The lead researcher regularly reports back to the community, and my understanding is the project does rely on some of the salmon that is turned in by community fishers, and my understanding, again, there are a couple of different value gift cards that are available to community members who turn in a full salmon or a salmon head. I think there is more information that could be obtained as to what that consist of and, if the Member wants or if the community doesn't have access to that information, I will be sure that they get it.

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the honourable Minister of Finance on the state of our fibre optic telecommunications infrastructure. Has the government done any planning to investigate improving our redundancy, so when a fibre line is cut, in particular to my community of Yellowknife, but when a fibre line is cut, it doesn't knock everything out of there? Are there more options to keep the systems going so that they don't cause that massive interruption to businesses and households? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Finance.

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have raised concerns both with redundancy, with the provider Northwestel and with CRTC, and we continue to work actively with industry partners to explore viable and affordable redundancy measures. I think, with some money that has been made available by the federal government in improving northern broadband, I think one of the industry partners, Northwestel, has accessed on that money to possibly run a redundancy line down the Dempster Highway to serve that area. I take the Member's point that there needs to be redundancy looked at for this part of the Northwest Territories, and we will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure that that work is ongoing.