Government representatives from the Northwest Territories will be touring northern Saskatchewan this week to discuss barren ground caribou.
Supper will be provided at the first stop tonight in Hatchet Lake, as well as tomorrow and Thursday in Fond Du Lac and Black Lake. The Dene Nene Land Corporation, which is hosting the event, is hoping members of the community come and share their input on how to best manage caribou populations.
Topics of discussion include listing the caribou as an at-risk species by the federal government and speaking on how to best manage hunting protocols tied to the animals.
The topic of wildfire management is also expected to come up.
“There’s a lot of developments that are happening, there is a lot of factors, forest fires and environmental changes that are happening,” said Dene Nene Land Corporation President, Ron Robillard. “I think that those are some of the things that are going to be discussed.”
Despite the meetings happening in Saskatchewan, Robillard told MBC News that representatives from the provincial government will not be attending.
“There’s only representation from the territorial government that will be traveling to the communities. I think it would be good too if the province of Saskatchewan was present as well,” remarked Robillard.
Discussions are open to the public and are scheduled to run from 7 p.m. – 10 p.m. each day.
(PHOTO: Barren ground caribou. Photo courtesy of facebook.com/denenenelandcorp)