This was a very disturbing result that we had seen this past winter. I am actually going to take a bit of time to read out the whole response here, because I think that it's very important that the public hears and understands what we are doing.
ENR actively monitored the Bathurst caribou management zone, or mobile zone, throughout the winter 2019-2020 harvest season. The monitoring includes checkpoints at McKay Lake and Gordon Lake and regular ground and aerial patrols. Given an increase in harvesting on the winter road, ENR increased its presence and monitoring activities.
In late March, renewable resources officers determined that more than 80 caribou were illegally killed in the mobile zone, and wasted meat from 12 more caribou were found outside the zone. ENR officers conducted field investigations which resulted in eight ongoing investigations. Because they are active legal investigations, I cannot provide any further detail at this time on those eight cases.
In response to illegal harvesting, I worked with Tlicho Grand Chief George Mackenzie, Lutsel K'e Dene First Nations Chief Darryl Marlowe, and other Indigenous regional leaders to issue a joint statement. In this statement, we reinforced the need for responsible harvesting of caribou in this time of rapid herd decline. The government will continue to work closely with its co-management partners to implement a range of measures to support the Bathurst, including the implementation of the mobile zone.
Mr. Speaker, I have to thank the staff of ENR. They have worked really, really hard on the mobile zone, even in difficult times. I have to say that I was very disappointed to hear some of the stuff that they had to go through, but we are working with our co-management partners to address this.