Feds announce new park funding

JOHN THOMPSON

The federal government will spend $2.4 million on Nunavut’s national parks to boost ecological monitoring and preserve Inuit traditional knowledge, Stéphane Dion, the federal environment minister, announced last week in a visit to Iqaluit.

The project will collect detailed information on the plants and wildlife that inhabit Auyuittuq, Ukkusiksalik and Similik national parks. These details will allow the government to better manage the plants and wildlife in those areas, Dion said.

A marine ecosystem monitoring program will be introduced in Auyuittuq National Park, “the land that never melts,” which stretches from Pangnirtung to Qikiqtarjuaq on Baffin Island’s east coast. The project has been touted as an example of the integration of scientific data with observations from elders on subjects like the changing pace of melting sea ice.

A similar program will be introduced at Ukkusiksalik National Park, “the place where there’s stone to carve pots and oil lamps,” found south of Repulse Bay, as well as at Similik National Park, or “place of many glaciers,” on the northern end of Baffin Island, which includes the Bylot Island bird sanctuary.

“All three initiatives recognize that Inuit have unique insights into Arctic ecosystems, and long-time ecosystem change,” Dion said.

The monitoring programs will better prepare the federal government to react to climate changes occurring in the Arctic, and ensure that Inuit traditional knowledge is preserved, he said.

The project will involve the University of Manitoba, the University of Quebec at Rimouski, and Memorial University, along with the Government of Nunavut and various Inuit organizations.

“This will ensure that future generations will be able to experience these special places, just as you and I experience them today.”

During his visit, Dion also announced that a federal employee will soon be based in Iqaluit to deal with the Species At Risk Act. He said the act is misunderstood by many in Nunavut.

“I think we need to do a better job to explain SARA, the species at risk act,” Dion said.

One common misconception, Dion said, is that an endangered species listing would ban the hunting of an animal. An endangered species requires a management plan, which would likely restrict hunting, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the animal will be off limits for hunters.

In May, the minister recommended that Peary caribou be added to the endangered species list. This announcement was met by threats of a lawsuit from Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., who argued it broke due process outlined in the Nunavut land claims agreement. Hunters in the High Arctic replied that the scientific data used to justify the listing decision is incomplete.

In late July, Dion reversed his decision to list Peary caribou under SARA, saying more consultation is needed. Dion defended this move during his visit.

“I will make my decision when I receive full information,” Dion said. “We need to have more consultation, and we need to take more into account for traditional knowledge. Maybe in the end of the day it’ll be the same decision, but it’ll be a decision made with more information.”

Unlike most species listed as endangered, the declining population of Peary caribou has been blamed on global warming, rather than habitat encroachment and hunting.

Warm weather in recent years has caused freezing rain to coat the tundra with a layer of ice. Unable to break through this ice to eat the plants beneath, caribou have starved.

After further consultation with the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, the decision ultimately rests with the minister. That’s a decision Dion said he’s comfortable making.

“If you can’t make a decision, you shouldn’t be a minister.”

While in Iqaluit, Dion stopped short of declaring Isabella Bay a bowhead whale sanctuary, but he did say the federal government plans to eventually make the proposed protected area a reality.

“Yes, we will plan to do that, and the announcement will come,” he said. When pressed for when that announcement might come, he said, “I have nothing to say for today, but we’re very optimistic.”

Clyde River first voted to create with the whale sanctuary in 1992. More recently, Inuit organizations like Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. suggested “political muscle” is needed to push the federal government into signing the Inuit Impact and Benefits Agreement for the proposed area.

Disagreement over the amount of cash to be given to Inuit in exchange for the sanctuary’s creation has delayed the IIBA.