Hunters shoot down proposed wildlife regulations

GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS

Hunters and Inuit representatives have won a back-room battle against the government of Nunavut to delay new wildlife regulations, as politicians cancelled key consultation meetings this week.

The cancellations mean the government had to backpedal on what hunters described as an ambitious, even unrealistic plan to enact new regulations under the Nunavut Wildlife Act on July 9.

No new target date was released before press time this week.

Until now, hunters were criticizing the government for rushing to enact the regulations on that date – Nunavut Day – without giving them more time to review the newly drafted rules.

The government abandoned their timeline because it didn’t want to pay the political price of dismissing the hunters’ request, according to Sytukie Joamie, a board member of Iqaluit’s Amarok Hunters and Trappers Association.

“Wildlife issues are something that are too important to us on a day to day basis,” Joamie said. “It’s too important for the government to ram… this one through.

“Time will tell if the government gets passing marks on this one.”

Environment Minister Olayuk Akesuk confirmed in an interview that the government would not be sticking to its original schedule for consultations on the drafted wildlife regulations.

Government officials were going to hold meetings on May 16 in Iqaluit, followed by meetings in Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay. Two representatives for hunters from each community were expected to attend.

The government backed off from their planned timeline, after facing fierce opposition from Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., regional wildlife organizations, hunters and trappers organizations, and the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.

A draft of the regulations show NTI has denounced several proposed changes to the rules governing hunting in Nunavut. They include total allowable harvest numbers, or limitations, on hunting muskox, wolverine and grizzly bear – which have reportedly been removed for separate negotiations.

David Aksawnee, a hunting representative for the Kivalliq region, said they needed to delay consultations, mainly to give unilingual Inuit enough time to read the changes, and prepare their comments for the meetings.

Aksawnee said copies of the proposed regulations were available in English in late April.

But Inuktitut copies weren’t available until earlier this month.

Aksawnee said the government also didn’t take into account how difficult it would be to gather hunters for meetings in the spring, when many are out hunting.

“We have to do some more work on it to make sure it fits the whole of Nunavut,” said Aksawnee, chair of the Kivalliq Wildlife Board.

“We’re going to be using these [regulations] for generations to come.”

Government officials and hunters contacted by Nunatsiaq News declined to comment earlier this week about new dates for the meetings, saying that they were still discussing the new schedule.

NTI officials also said they wouldn’t comment on the drafted regulations until public consultation meetings begin.

The proposed regulations come from years of negotiations between NTI, the NWMB, the GN and the three regional hunting groups.

The Nunavut Wildlife Act passed third reading in December 2003, replacing 1978 legislation inherited from the government of the Northwest Territories.

But the government still needs to complete consultations on the 22 sets of proposed regulations before the Act comes into effect.

The regulations outline who is allowed to hunt, how much they can hunt, and how they have to report their harvest.

A draft of the regulations show NTI isn’t happy with all the pending changes. A section called “Notes” says NTI objects to various proposed regulations, such as administrative changes to how HTOs regulate assignments of hunting rights from Inuit to non-Inuit.

Another sensitive area is total allowable harvest orders, similar to quotas under the previous wildlife management regime. Hunters who have seen the proposed regulations feel the government isn’t giving communities enough input in establishing limitations.

NTI also rejects the proposed regulations to change limitations for non-Inuit resident hunters. Currently, non-beneficiaries can hunt up to five barren ground caribou per year.

The proposed regulations would only limit non-Inuit to possessing five harvested caribou, at any time.