GN persists in banning bear hunt

IQALUIT — As Nunatsiaq News went to press this week, the Nunavut government announced that it still won’t let Noah Kadlak kill a polar bear with a spear.

According to a news release issued late in the day Feb. 7, Sustainable Development Minister Olayuk Akesuk is still “not satisfied that the interest of public safety could be adequately protected.”

Kadlak, of Coral Harbour, appealed three years ago for permission to hunt a polar bear in the traditional method. His request was repeatedly denied by the governments of both the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. took the GN to court to defend Kadlak’s hunting rights, and on Jan. 4 Nunavut Justice Robert Kilpatrick ruled that banning the hunt would violate Kadlak’s Inut hunting rights as set out in the Nunavut land claim agreement.