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DEH CHO - Public interest was limited as a committee seeking input on the Species at Risk Act made two stops in the Deh Cho.

Members of the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure held public hearings in Fort Simpson on April 2 and in Fort Providence on the following day.

Members of the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure, including, from left, Jackie Jacobson, Bob Bromley, Glen Abernethy and David Krutko, stopped in both Fort Simpson and Fort Providence to collect public input on the Species at Risk Act. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

The hearings' purpose was to gather public input for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources before the act is brought before the legislative assembly in Yellowknife for a third reading.

The four members of the board who travelled to Fort Simpson were left to talk amongst themselves as they waited, unsuccessfully, for more than a half hour for anyone to attend. The turnout in Fort Providence was slightly larger with three people in attendance.

Despite the small numbers the hearing in the hamlet was actually a really good meeting, said Glen Abernethy, the MLA for Great Slave.

"They had a lot of good questions," said Abernethy.

The purpose of the act is to protect species at risk in the territory and assist in their recovery. The act sets up processes for how to identify and list species. It also allows for the implementation of measures to protect species and their habitats.

The questions in Fort Providence were consistent with comments the committee members heard in the other eight communities it visited, Abernethy said.

They include a concern about whether aboriginal rights will be respected in the act and queries about why the territory needs this legislation.

The act has been 10 years in the making. It's the territorial government's way of upholding commitments it made when it signed the Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk in 1996. Along with all of the other provinces and territories in Canada, the NWT committed to providing legal protection for species, which includes setting up a way to assess and list the species.

The NWT is one of the last places to develop an act, said Abernethy. Until the NWT implements the act, federal provisions - which are more restrictive because they apply nationally - govern the territory.

The act will allow the territory to make decisions based on the realities of the NWT, Abernethy said. The territory will also be able to provide protection for species that may be at risk here but aren't in the rest of Canada.

"It gives us a little more control of what's happening in the territory," he said.

During the process to create the act, which began in 1999, the territorial government sought out input from land claim groups, communities and co-management boards to make sure that aboriginal groups and governments participated, he said.

During the hearings most people have said that the act is long overdue, said David Krutko, the MLA for the Mackenzie Delta. People are seeing changes and want to be proactive in protecting species in the NWT, he said.

"People are aware of the issues and questions that are happening with global warming and the introduction of new species," Krutko said.

The input gathered from all the public meetings, including the one in Fort Providence, will be taken back to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The act is then expected to be brought forward in the May and June session of the legislative assembly where it will be debated and discussed before hopefully passing its third reading, said Abernethy.