When you see wildlife, who do you call? The answer depends on whether it’s an emergency or not.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) has recently had an influx of non-emergency calls to wildlife emergency lines. This increases the workload of on-call officers in the field and may result in delays in response to real emergencies.

We are urging all residents to consider their situation before calling wildlife emergency numbers and be aware of the right numbers to call.

What is a wildlife emergency?

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Mr. Speaker, I would like to address the House about the Environment and Natural Resources search of the Łutsel K'e camp on September 13th. Many people have asked for more information about how and why a search was conducted at the camp near Artillery Lake. As this search was a matter before the courts, we could not provide more information.

On October 24th, the search warrant used for this search was quashed.

The Northwest Territories has a wide range of wildlife species, and their close proximity to communities can result in contact and potential conflict with people.

Everyone shares the responsibility of ensuring wildlife is not attracted to communities. Not feeding wildlife is an important step in preventing encounters with people. Don’t leave human or pet food where wild animals can access it, and make sure garbage is properly stored.

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Mr. Speaker, today I would like to provide an update on the 2022 wildfire season. Wildfires are a natural and important part of the boreal forest. They help keep ecosystems healthy, and they burn off excess fuels, like dead and dried out foliage, that builds up within the forest, which can lead to more extreme fires.

Waste Reduction Week starts this Sunday – and the Northwest Territories is joining the celebration.

This year, the Government of the Northwest Territories is encouraging awareness about waste reduction practices, drawing attention to successful community-led waste reduction projects, and supporting various community events planned by Ecology North.

Themes

Daily themes for this year’s Waste Reduction Week include:

Biodiversity monitoring partners across the NWT are getting a closer look at wildlife as the Government of the Northwest Territories’ Biodiversity Monitoring Program expands.

Remote cameras and audio recorders are now being used in protected areas in the NWT – bringing more monitoring into hard-to-reach areas.

Indigenous governments, Indigenous organizations, and guardianship programs are playing a critical role in the execution, and have been involved in every step of the planning process for this expanded initiative.

A single case of animal Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) has been confirmed in the Northwest Territories.
The case was in a herring gull found in Yellowknife’s Niven Lake neighbourhood. The bird was submitted by an individual to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources North Slave Regional Office in mid-June. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency indicated the positive result in September.

The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) is announcing a new air quality monitoring project. This project will allow residents to join local governments and the GNWT in collecting air quality data in their area.

The attached is being distributed on behalf of the Government of Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories.

The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) and the Government of Yukon have renewed their commitments to manage and monitor shared waters in the best interests of Northerners.

Today NWT Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Shane Thompson and Yukon Environment Minister Nils Clarke signed an updated transboundary water management agreement for the Peel/Mackenzie Delta Basins and a new agreement for the Liard Basin.

These agreements install a long-term, collaborative commitment to: