New Iqaluit dog bylaw ready for town council

MICHAELA RODRIGUE

IQALUIT — Almost two years after an Iqaluit child was mauled and eaten by a pack of sled dogs, proposals for a new dog control bylaw will finally go to Iqaluit Town Council for debate.

When six-year-old Leah Tikivik’s body was found amongst a pack of sled dogs staked to the sea ice near Iqaluit on March 15, 1998, the incident sparked an outcry from some Iqaluit residents, who called for tougher controls on dog teams.

The incident also prompted the creation of an ad hoc committee to bring forward new rules to manage dogs in Iqaluit.

Town councillor Lynda Gunn, the chair of the committee, said this week that she will present her findings to Iqaluit’s development, works and public safety (DWPS) committee on Feb. 2.

“I’ll wrap this up with the lawyers by drafting a proposed amended bylaw,” Gunn told members of the DWPS committee at a meeting this week.

Gunn plans to receive legal advice on the recommendations before she presents them to committee. Her presentation may include one or two proposed bylaws for council to choose from.

Last June, the chief coroner for the Northwest Territories, Percy Kinney, released his own recommendations for changing Iqaluit’s dog bylaw.

But still, no new bylaw has emerged emerged to reconcile the views of dog team owners and parents, after the two opposing groups presented conflicting recommendations. Gunn then conducted her own research.

She spoke with Greenland’s home rule veterinarian, who helped draft new dog team legislation, the Northwest Territories’ chief coroner, hamlet officials in other communities, and elders.

She will meet with lawyers this month to discuss any outstanding liability and jurisdictional issues the proposed bylaw may create.

Now Gunn says she will present both sides of the debate and add her own recommendations based on her research. She says it will then be up to council to decide what regulations should be included in the new bylaw.

“In essence I felt the dog ad hoc committee needn’t meet anymore. It couldn’t get clear approval from either side. It ends up being the legal advice, advice from the elders and the HTA (hunters and trappers association) that will help council make a choice,” Gunn said.

In June, Kinney recommended that any dog kept within town limits, or within 500 metres from town, be staked, penned and mu led.

He also recommended that dogs kept between 500 and 1,000 metres from any structure on the edge of town (including the sea ice) be staked and mu led, and that dogs kept beyond 1,000 metres from the edge of town be staked.

Local dog team owners, however, recommended that dogs be kept close to their owners in designated dog team areas. They argue dogs will be better socialized if kept close to people.

Gunn’s final recommendations, and recommendations from members of the ad hoc committee, won’t be released until the next DWPS committee.

Gunn would not reveal the contents of the final recommendations, but during initial consultations she suggested keeping dog teams staked 600 metres away from the community.

Gunn held two meetings with the ad hoc committee two months after Leah’s death. Other meetings were held during the following year, but Gunn said it various personal problems stalled the completion of her work.

But she said the recommendations should be ready by February.