After 10-year wait, Nunavut’s new wildlife regulations come into force

Nunavut wildlife act’s new fee schedule.

Visitors to Arctic Haven lodge in the Kivalliq watch caribou pass by Ennadai Lake earlier this year. Under Nunavut’s new wildlife act, a wildlife observation license will cost visitors $25. (FILE PHOTO)

After more than 10 years of waiting, the Nunavut government has announced long-awaited Wildlife Act regulations to replace earlier rules inherited from the Northwest Territories that date to the 1980s.

Starting July 1, 10 sets of new wildlife regulations came into force across Nunavut, including changes to license fees, new reporting requirements for wildlife-related businesses, and new licensing requirements for companies involved with wildlife viewing or filming.

They are attached to the “new” made-in-Nunavut Wildlife Act, which the legislative assembly passed in 2003 and proclaimed into law in 2005 without the attached regulations that contain most of the actual rules that hunters have to follow.

That meant that for the past 10 years, Nunavut officials have been implementing the “new” law with old regulations.

However, the Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., without explaining the 10-year-delay, are still bragging about the new rules.

July 1 marked “an important milestone for wildlife management in Nunavut,” said Nunavut’s environment minister, Johnny Mike, in a news release.

“We are implementing these regulations to uphold Inuit harvesting rights,” Mike said.

He also suggested the new regulations are less onerous than the old ones.

“These new regulations are largely deregulatory and will remove a number of unnecessary provisions left over from the previous Wildlife Act adopted from the Northwest Territories.”

“The implementation of the regulations empowers Inuit and incorporates the traditional customs and practices of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit in the official laws of the new Nunavut Wildlife Act,” NTI vice-president James Eetoolook said in the same news release.

The new regulations, developed with input from the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., are designed to be fully compliant with the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.

According to a GN-NTI backgrounder distributed with the announcement, they include:

• assignment regulations: pursuant to the NLCA, Inuit and hunters and trappers organizations (HTOs) can assign harvesting rights or a share of their total allowable harvest to individuals or businesses. These regulations establish a system and structure for these assignments to be tracked and registered;

• conservation areas regulations: in place to maintain current regulations for all conservation areas in Nunavut. No new areas are being established, and there are no new restrictions that apply to existing areas;

• fee regulations: these establish the fees for all licenses and permits issued under the Wildlife Act. The department of environment researched fees charged by other Canadian jurisdictions to determine new fees based on national averages. (See the new fee schedule at right.) The cost for a license or permit will now be split into a base charge that goes to a general revenue, along with a surcharge that will go into the Natural Resources Conservation Trust Fund. The surcharge replaces the current trophy fee, which will be eliminated;

• game harvesting and possession limits order: this establishes daily hunting limits, annual hunting limits, and possession limits for non-Inuit harvesters of certain wildlife species. These limits are the same as those in existing regulations;

• Harvesting regulations: these establish the specific rules that apply to wildlife harvesters, including equipment restrictions; species-specific restrictions such as the prohibition on harvesting certain polar bears; humane kills; emergency kills, and trap restrictions pursuant to the Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards;

• licences and tags regulations: these regulations establish the types of licences, permits and tags that the GN can issue. They also establish the administration and application processes, implement the right of first refusal provisions of the NLCA, and establish consultation and notice obligations for certain licences and permits;

• open seasons order: this establishes open and closed seasons for the harvesting of wildlife. In current regulations, there are closed seasons for the harvesting of most wildlife species for non-Inuit, and for some wildlife species for Inuit. The order removes the closed seasons for almost all species for all harvesters. The only exception is for Arctic wolf, which will have an open season from September 1 to May 31;

• repealed wildlife regulations: this order repeals 26 sets of existing regulations. The only existing regulations that will remain are the Polar Bear Total Allowable Harvest Order and the Prescribed Matters Regulations;

• reporting regulations: in place to maintain record keeping and reporting for license holders. These regulations also specify the samples and evidence that is used to determine the age and sex of wildlife; and,

• summary conviction procedures regulations: this amendment modifies the same regulation under the current act, establishing the fines and surcharges that will be levied for violations of the wildlife act and regulations when the department chooses to issue a summary offense ticket.

The new act makes as many offences as possible “ticketable” offences to keep violations out of court, which is more costly and time consuming, the GN said. Fines and surcharges collected in relation to offences will be paid into the Natural Resources Conservation Trust Fund.

Nunavut’s Wildlife Act was first approved by the legislative assembly in 2003 and brought into force in 2005.

The new regulations were developed through a working group consisting of representatives from the GN, NTI, the Nunavut Wildlife Marine Board and the three regional wildlife organizations.

“The implementation of the regulations empowers Inuit and incorporates the traditional customs and practices of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit in the official laws of the new Nunavut Wildlife Act,” said NTI vice-president James Eetoolook in the same news release.