Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the beginning of the community consultations by departmental staff, I was hoping we would be able to come out with a written report and recommendations from these consultations by today. However, to date, we still have the one community which has not been consulted. I am hoping that we'll be able to go into the town very shortly and be able to complete our list of communities that have been consulted in this review. I hope that we will be able to come out with a report and recommendations from these consultations by the end of March. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that the department staff wanted to be sure that the people who are leaders in the various organizations in the town would have the opportunity to be able to make representations on behalf of their organizations. The staff then decided that they would wait for all, or if not all, then most organizations in the town to be available for this public meeting.

If this is the advice that the honourable Member is making about the consultations for the town of Fort Smith, then I have no problem with that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All the meetings that were held in the other communities in the western Arctic were all public meetings.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't know that a letter was written to the various organizations in the town of Fort Smith; however, I do know that department staff have made contact with the various organizations in Fort Smith and have asked when an appropriate time would be for a meeting to be held in the town. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the department officials have spent time in every community except Fort Smith, consulting with people in the communities to find out exactly what their concerns are with regard to our forest fire management program. The reason our staff have not been into Fort Smith at this point are the various groups in the town of Fort Smith have not indicated to the staff of the Department of Renewable Resources that they are ready to be consulted. I am hoping that very shortly we will be able to

meet in Fort Smith and be able to come up with a report on the consultation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

(Translation) The question that my colleague is raising, I have checked into. I gave him a written reply that the federal government Department of Communications would be able to look into this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I will.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that the person who has been working at the Hanging Ice Bison Ranch is a manager who has worked with bison in Alberta over a number of years -- in particular, in the Wood Bison National Park -- and has been dealing with bison for many years of his life. I think he is very capable of managing the ranch in Fort Smith.

As far as consulting with groups in Fort Smith, I believe that they have been working with the sustainable development committee in the town of Fort Smith. Whether any further contact with people in the community of Fort Smith has been made, I don't know. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To my knowledge, it has been limited to polar bears. Because of the vast area of land that the polar bears cover, I believe that the Northwest Territories is only one jurisdiction of many that they were going to visit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.