Fisheries committee  We have had some discussions on the guardianship program, and there is a lot of value to that. As I said earlier, Wayne, the Inuvialuit through their management boards with the Government of the Northwest Territories through our environmental and natural resources division are all quite aware of some of the impacts that some of the decisions might have.

Fisheries committee  I'm not sure how much of an impact all the tourists coming to Tuktoyaktuk may have on their traditional activities. The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation have very strong management boards and they take great steps in protecting a lot of the management under their watch, so it may have some....

Fisheries committee  Through the territorial government, they've been working on their economic opportunity strategy trying to come up with plans for different types of revenue generation in a lot of the communities, but people will try to develop a lot of local economies. There's not much to be said for trapping anymore and the economic benefits it will bring.

Fisheries committee  From our perspective, we value our marine areas in the Northwest Territories, in the Beaufort Delta. Over the years since oil and gas was first discovered in the Beau-Del, the people living in the Beaufort delta have done a fine job of balancing the economic opportunities with the traditional lifestyle we've had and continue to have.

Fisheries committee  Thanks, Michael. We had hoped to be down there in person, but we are in business planning right now and things are quite [Inaudible—Editor] here. We appreciate this opportunity to present by video conference. On our discussions with the IRC, we haven't really been able to sit down with them yet to review some of the work they have done and how it might work with some of the work we hope to get done.

Fisheries committee  I am.

Fisheries committee  In the southern part of the Northwest Territories, there are a number of developed mines, so they're doing the work there. I know a few years ago in the community of Paulatuk, which is in the Inuvialuit settlement region, they were doing some exploration for diamonds as well. I'm not sure how that work went because they had not reported on anything, but they said there were some positive signs there and we were hoping they were to develop it.

Fisheries committee  Offshore oil and gas drilling would be the biggest creator of revenue. We don't have a fishing industry off the Beau-Del coast. They tried a pilot project a few years ago. They brought in a boat and tried to do some private fishing. I'm not sure what the results were. It was a private enterprise.

Fisheries committee  Yes, I did.

Fisheries committee  I can do that. I am asking you today to take the first step in beginning to repair what could and should be a strong relationship between the federal government and the Government of the Northwest Territories. This step is to ensure that there is northern indigenous involvement in key decisions that impact northern lives, including traditional activities.

Fisheries committee  The moratorium is supposed to be in place for five years, and I think we are a year and a half into it right now.

Fisheries committee  My understanding was that once the moratorium was put in place, everything stopped, and then it would be reviewed after five years.

Fisheries committee  There's no work going on presently, just because of market demands. When it shut down, though, we did see the impacts on our community, especially in the Beau-Del, where people have worked in the industry for pretty well their whole adult working life. There was a real impact on people in the communities.

Fisheries committee  We have oil and gas deposits up here. We have natural gas in the Beau-Del in the trillions of cubic feet that we can't get to market. It's all trapped in the ground. There was talk a few years ago of building a pipeline for shipping. By the time the joint review panel concluded their two years' worth of review in five years, the price to build a pipeline had made it economically unfeasible and the market was down as well, so they didn't proceed with it.

Fisheries committee  In summary, for your purposes today, I need to leave you with two thoughts for your consideration. First, the GNWT has concerns with Bill C-55 as drafted, specifically the increase in unilateral authorities given to federal ministers. Second, the NWT, although cold and remote, is a real place with 44,000 people living in it in 33 communities, who right now are living with the cumulative impacts of your decisions.