Mr. Speaker, in relation to the proposed national park reserve in the Mealy Mountains region of Labrador, with regard to (a), of the original feasibility study area, which was approximately 21,000 square kilometres in size, areas totalling 10,300 square kilometres to the north, east, west and south were not included.
With regard to (b), the portion of the former study area—which lies generally to the west of the border of the proposed national park reserve between the shoreline of Lake Melville and south to a point near a tributary of the Kenemou River, and which includes a portion of the Mealy Mountains plateau and the Kenemou River valley—was excluded because the Province requested a park that was smaller in size. Portions of this area are also under consideration for land selection as part of the proposed Innu land claim agreement.
With regard to (c), the additional reasons for exclusion of other areas are that the Province is establishing a provincial waterway park along the Eagle River of approximately 3,000 square kilometres, and there were approximately 600 square kilometres of land excluded because they were Inuit lands as part of the Inuit land claim agreement.