Nunavut Tunngavik dumps on DFO while awaiting narwhal ruling

NTI said this week they expect the Federal Court of Canada to rule on their application for a judicial review on Canada’s narwhal tusk export ban “in the near future.” (FILE PHOTO)

While awaiting a court decision on the federal government’s ban on the export of narwhal tusks, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. took a shot at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans this past week over a new DFO proposal to consult affected communities on the issue.

NTI’s latest complaint objects to a plan by DFO officials to hold consultation meetings in six affected communities later this month to talk about narwhal issues.

But NTI says that’s not good enough. They want DFO to visit 17 affected communities, the organization said in a statement issued May 4.

The fight started in early December 2010, when DFO decided not to issue a special type of report called a “non-detrimental finding” on the export of narwhal parts from four newly-created narwhal management regions in the eastern Arctic.

Narwhal have been listed since 1979 on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Under the CITES agreement, Canada must show that allowing the export of an Appendix II species is not detrimental to the survival of the species.

This means Canada’s decision not to issue non-detrimental finding on the export of narwhal parts effectively amounts to an export ban throughout Nunavut.

NTI, whose officials denounced DFO’s move as soon as they learned about it this past Dec. 8, have since brought the issue to court.

This past Jan. 6, NTI applied to the Federal Court of Canada for a judicial review of DFO’s narwhal tusk export ban, alleging the department’s handling of the non-detrimental finding issue was unlawful and breaches three different sections of the Nunavut land claims agreement.

“It is a very strong reaction, but we need to send a clear message to DFO that Inuit will fight for our rights when our land claim is not being respected,” said James Eetoolook, an NTI vice-president, said May 4 in a news release.

NTI also alleges:

• DFO seeks to circumvent the Nunavut land claims agreement by using the narwhal tusk export ban to limit the harvest of narwhal without having to to go through the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board;

• DFO failed to include Inuit representatives in discussions leading to its NDF decision, which NTI says is a breach of the Nunavut land claims agreement;

• by impairing the economic value of narwhal, DFO is indirectly attempting to force a reduction in the harvest of a species that Inuit have the legal right to hunt.

In an affidavit filed in support of the application for judicial review, Gabriel Nirlungayuk, NTI’s director of wildlife, said narwhal tusks have fetched prices ranging between $1,000 and $2,000.

“Inuit harvesters who sell narwhal products typically use the cash that they earn to buy fuel and to buy food to support their families,” Nirlungayuk said in his affidavit.

Right now, the total hunting quota for narwhal across all Nunavut regions is 724, Nirlungayuk said.

NTI said they expect to hear from the federal court on their application for a judicial review “in the near future.”