ITC to teach hunters about new trapping rules

DWANE WILKIN

The Inuit Tapirisat of Canada expects the European Council to support an international agreement on humane trapping standards next month that would avert a ban on wild-fur imports.

The move would also signal an important victory for aboriginal communities across northern Canada.

“Things are looking extremely positive at this point,” said Peter WiLliamson, ITC’s research and special projects co-ordinator. “This agreement will save the fur industry.”

Workshop in Iqaluit next month

Williamson said ITC plans to get a head start implementing the terms of the agreement by holding its first environmental workshop with Inuit hunters and trappers in Iqaluit from February 8-11.

Canadian Inuit have been at the forefront of efforts to persuade European politicians to reconsider a 1991 trade regulation that sought to ban the import of pelts and products from 12 fur-bearing species harvested by North American aboriginal people.

In the face of opposition from Canada, the U.S. and Russia, the EU delayed implementation of the ban last year while negotiations on humane trapping standards were undertaken.

Eight of the 13 species listed in the proposed ban are harvested by Canadian Inuit and Inuvialuit.

“It’s a big victory because the Europeans have been trying to dictate standards in Canada, the U.S and Russia, but haven’t applied the same standards to themselves,” Williamson said.

Among other things, the International Agreement on Humane Trapping Standards would subject European fur-harvesting practices to the same scrutiny EU countries have been trying to impose on North America for six years.

“If Europeans aren’t able to meet the standards themselves, it will be very hard for them to turn around and try to ban the import of furs, even if it takes longer to develop new traps,” Williamson said.

The agreement, which has been initialed already by Canada, Russia and the U.S., calls for a gradual phasing out of steel-jaw leghold traps and greater co-operation between the signatories in the development of more humane devices.

Under the deal, padded leghold traps would still be allowed, but steel-jaw traps would be prohibited after four years.

The agreement also sets forth minimum efficiency standards for traps designed to kill specific species; killing or “conibear” traps will have to achieve their end swiftly ­ within 45 second for ermine, 120 seconds for marten and 300 seconds for all other species.

Arctic fox not covered

Arctic fox would not be subject to trapping standards.

The European Commission supports the agreement and is recommending approval by the EU’s Council of Ministers prior to their next meeting at the end of February.

ITC has led lobbying efforts in Europe on behalf of Canada’s first nations to demonstrate the social and economic impact such a fur ban would have on native communities.

Inuit are still feeling the effects of a 1983 EU ban on seal fur, which destroyed the international sealing industry and deprived more than 1,200 hunters of an important traditional source of income.

A 1995 study of the northern fur harvest, prepared for the Haida people of B.C.’s west coast, estimated that the EU’s proposed ban would affect 73,000 aboriginal hunters across Canada.