Nunavut man faces two charges of illegal caribou hunting

A GN map showing locations of caribou, signs of caribou, and skidoo tracks observed during aerial survey in late February and early March 2014. In early 2015, when it became clear that caribou were disappearing on Baffin Island, the GN ordered a total moratorium on caribou hunting in the Baffin region, followed in August by a modest quota. (MAP COURTESY GOVERNMENT OF NUNAVUT)

An Igloolik man is facing two charges after he allegedly hunted caribou on Baffin Island last year when a government moratorium was in effect.

Michael Irngaut, 24, faces two charges under the Nunavut Wildlife Act for harvesting a caribou on Feb. 15, 2015, when there was a temporary ban on Baffin Island caribou harvesting.

Irngaut last appeared in court on May 30. He’s been charged with sections 69 and 85 of the Wildlife Act — harvesting contrary to a regulation or order, and being in possession of a dead wild animal unlawfully harvested.

Court documents say Irngaut got the caribou near Neergaard Lake, northeast of Igloolik on Baffin Island, and that, nine days later, on Feb. 24, he was found in possession of the caribou.

According to an affidavit, Robert Franklin Arsenault of the Government of Nunavut’s environment department served Irngaut with a summons on July 31, 2015, at the Igloolik Conservation Office.

Convictions for individuals under the Nunavut Wildlife Act can produce fines ranging up to $500,000, six months in jail, or both.

The GN banned caribou hunting on Baffin Island on Jan. 1, 2015 while officials grappled with a sharp and worrisome decline in herds in north and south Baffin.

Recent GN aerial surveys suggest fewer than 2,000 caribou in South Baffin and so few in North Baffin that it is difficult to count them.

In May 2014, after the last aerial survey of Baffin caribou showed that herds had been decimated, Drikus Gissing, the environment department’s director of wildlife management, described the situation as, “one of the biggest conservation issues Nunavut has ever had to deal with.”

On Aug. 26, the GN lifted the ban, instituted a modest quota of 250 male caribou, and gave the Qikiqtaaluk Wildlife Board the responsibility of divvying up the tags among Baffin communities.

Environment Minister Johnny Mike said in the legislature June 9 that only 183 of those tags had been used since last August.

Uqqummiut MLA Pauloosie Keyootak asked Mike whether those individuals who hunted female caribou — there were 14 in total— would be charged, because only males are permitted under the current quota.

Mike said people would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Irngaut’s case is expected back in court Aug. 8 at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit.