That's in the West Moberly and Saulteau First Nations.
I want the committee to think about something. As we look at a western-style approach. Having been a deputy minister of environment and natural resources for the Northwest Territories government, I know that at times we got into very western-style conversations about caribou.
When we had the dwindling herds, one challenge of that conversation was getting into the situation where.... When you have a decrease in a population, typically the first western methodology is stop hunting right now. The push in that conversation is, “I'm Dene. I'm Denesuline. We come from the caribou eaters. Our relationships are with caribou.” There's a saying that we are caribou; caribou are us. If you look at putting in a methodology that cuts that relationship out, you're cutting out that cultural relationship between those two entities. From a western perspective, you get away with it. You publish a paper and you put it into the journals, and they will say that's what you do.
From an indigenous perspective, you've taken that cultural component out of our lives, yet we have to follow those rules because we're put on a moratorium for hunting. We can't practise that relationship. That cultural component, depending on where you go, is so integral to the relationship to the land. It's just not about that one species; it's about everything that the species walks on, eats or drinks. It's everything on the land.
It's just something to consider.
Marsi.