Parks Canada eyes limited non-beneficiary firearms use in Nunavut parks

Parks Canada plans to allow more people to carry firearms within national parks with polar bear populations.

The federal agency is proposing changes to who can carry firearms in nine northern parks to “ensure that all visitors have a safe and positive experience,” said Peter Kent, the federal minister responsible for Parks Canada, in a July 7 release.

Four of those parks are in Nunavut, including Auyuittuq, Sirmilik, Ukkuiksalik and Quttinirpaaq national parks.

Currently, only beneficiaries of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement are permitted to carry firearms in the territory’s national parks.

The proposed change would extend that right to bear monitors, guides, researchers, Inuit commercial sport hunting guides and national defence personnel.

Parks will present those changes to a number of public consultations that begin next month in Nunavut communities adjacent to the territory’s four national parks.

Many outfitters in Nunavut agree that carrying a firearm is essential to protecting the clients they guide – but using it should always be a last resort, they say.

Charlie Qumuatuq, a Pangnirtung-based guide for 9 years, takes about 40 people on guided tours of Auyuittuq national park every year.

In that time, Qumuatuq said he has never encountered a polar bear.

That’s likely because park wardens do regular ground and air surveillance and inform visitors ahead of time if a bear has been spotted, he said.

But in parks that are more remote, such as Quttinirpaaq park at the tip of Ellesmere Island, Qumuatuq said there are few staff and resources in place to prevent polar bear interactions.

“More polar bears are being sighted every year — not just in Pangnirtung, but in other Nunavut communities,” he said. “I believe having a rifle is a must for guides.”

The less experience a park user has in the polar environment, the greater their need for protection, Qumuatuq said.

Iqaluit guide Matty McNair says that, although firearms are important to have, they should be used with caution.

“I worry people would use the gun before they evaluated if a bear was curious or aggressive, rather than using other ways of scaring the bear away,” she said.

McNair said Parks Canada should make bear spray and bear bangers available to visitors, since they cannot be brought into the territory by plane.

McNair says she has never encountered a polar bear in a Nunavut park during her 20 years of guiding.

Although she’s not currently permitted to carry a firearm in national parks, McNair she has been asked to travel through parks with a dismantled and locked rifle, with Parks Canada’s permission.

Now, the agency says the changes will help ensure the safety of visitor to northern parks.

“Increased interest in Canada’s North has resulted in an increased potential for visitation in northern national parks,” reads the Parks Canada website.

“The impacts of climate change on sea ice may result in changes in the density and behaviour of polar bears on land in these parks. These factors bring an increased risk of dangerous human-bear encounters.”

But, like many guides in the territory, Parks says firearms should be used as a last resort.

“Parks Canada will continue to strongly encourage park users to apply precautionary methods, avoidance and other forms of deterrent for protection from bears,” the agency said.

As part of the new National Parks of Canada Wild Animals Regulations, the agency is also proposing to “expand the scope of regulations to protect all wild animals and their dwellings.”

Parks Canada will begin its Nunavut consultations in the Kivalliq region next month.

Consultations will be held in Baker Lake, Chesterfield Inlet, Coral Harbour, Rankin Inlet and Repulse Bay from August 15-29:

• in Pangnirtung and Qikiqtarjuaq from Sept. 12 to Sept. 16;

• in Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay Sept. 20 to Sept. 28 and;

• in Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord Oct. 3 to Oct. 8.

Visit www.parkscanada.gc.ca/consultations-animals for more information.