Environment committee  There are two means by which that takes place at present, and one is a work in progress. In the first instance, it's through wildlife management boards, which are, of course, established by land claims agreements. They have an equal responsibility for reviewing draft reports and ensuring that the information in them represents the best available information, which would include, from their perspective, an aboriginal perspective.

Environment committee  This is what I'm leading to for my second point. We have an aboriginal traditional knowledge, or ATK, subcommittee. It was established in 2001. It was only in 2007 that the ministerial appointments to the subcommittee were made. Since then, the subcommittee has made extraordinary progress, in my mind, to develop a protocol by which ATK would be obtained and incorporated in status reports.

Environment committee  With all due respect, that question requires some context. For species for which ATK is vital, I feel it has been relevant. This is an ongoing process. Can it be improved? Absolutely. Mr. Chair, I don't mind responding to the previous question from the member if it would help the committee.

Environment committee  I am personally unaware of specific instances.

Environment committee  No, I'm afraid I don't, because from COSEWIC's perspective, we don't deal with recovery issues, so I wouldn't necessarily be party to that information.

Environment committee  Well, it depends. There are four units. Two of them, I believe, are endangered, one is special concern, and I simply cannot remember what the status of the fourth one is.

Environment committee  What I'm suggesting, and what these two recommendations are meant to reflect, is that from COSEWIC's perspective vis-à-vis those sections of the act that pertain to COSEWIC, we feel that there's not a huge need for change. In large part, I think it's because the act was written in such a way that it was meant to reflect what COSEWIC had already been doing for the previous 25 years before the act came into play.

Environment committee  Sorry; what's the difference between a ministerial appointment and a political appointment?

Environment committee  Well, to my mind, a political appointment would be one in which you appoint an individual because of his or her political affiliations, the degree to which their activities or thoughts or opinions would be consistent with a particular political body of thought. A ministerial appointment would be one that is independent of those political affiliations.

Environment committee  Yes. I would add that they're perhaps analogous to judiciary appointments, which are prime ministerial appointments but not political appointments.

Environment committee  That's correct.

Environment committee  Of the six, one of them was me, three were new, and three were returning.

Environment committee  Oh, if we include David Green, it would have been four returning and three new.

Environment committee  There were six.

Environment committee  What are recovery teams? COSEWIC has no part in recovery teams. But essentially, recovery teams are groups of individuals that are put together to establish a recovery strategy, a plan for recovery, a mitigation of threats for the purposes of increasing the health of a species at risk.