Josiah Kadlutsiak honoured for long service

SARA ARNATSIAQ

Can you imagine doing the same job for more than 20 years and getting a long-service award for it?

On Feb. 28, Josiah Kadlutsiak of Igloolik, who served as a wildlife officer for 21 years, received a long-service award as well as farewell gifts for his many years of service.

Kadlutsiak started as a wildlife officer assistant in August 1981, where his main responsibilities were to maintain snowmobiles, qamutiit and outboard motors. Since the community of Hall Beach did not have a wildlife officer, he and the wildlife officer also oversaw Hall Beach.

When an Inuk wildlife officer assistant resigned his post, Kadlutsiak was asked if he could step in. He agreed. Naturally, since he’d been assisting the officer, he already knew how to do the work and was offered the position.

In 1999, Kadlutsiak became a full-fledged wildlife officer.

The most difficult challenges he faced during his tenure were when people broke the law or when people in outpost camps saw polar bears come into their camps when it wasn’t hunting season.

When that happened, they would scare the bear away, but if they couldn’t, the bear had to be shot for safety reasons.

It was during these difficult situations that decisions had to be made, Kadlutsiak said. Decisions that followed the law and considered the safety of people had to be made, so he would ask the Hunters and Trappers Organization to make the decisions.

The other memories that are not as pleasant for Kadlutsiak are animal carcasses left out on the land by hunters. The hunters knew that leaving a carcass was against the law, but they did it anyway, and not having any way to find out who did it was frustrating.

When government policies came and quotas were introduced, Inuit did not like it. Kadlutsiak had to confiscate polar bear skins on several occasions as a result of bears caught during the off-season. The hunters were not happy with their skins being taken, but they also understood that he was doing his job.

He has witnessed Inuit practising traditional ways to follow government-made policies on wildlife, and how Inuit have managed to adapt to the changes.

“The policies regarding polar bears has been a constant issue, no matter how many changes it has been through,” he says. “The government has to update the policies regarding bears, but it will also have to consider the Inuit hunters when making changes to policies. A new policy is badly needed that would be acceptable to both sides, that’s the change that is really needed right now.”

Providing a little bit of money to outpost camp residents was usually a good experience for him, and making sure the money was used for its intended purpose. The wildlife office also provided assistance to the outpost campers other than money, so that used to give him satisfaction as well.

The sale of sealskin pelts was also stopped, and he saw the people suffering from that loss.

When he was alone in his office, people coming in to have their sealskins examined became an inconvenience when he had to keep up with paperwork at the same time. But when he wasn’t alone in the office, it was manageable.

During a recent meeting with wildlife officers in Iqaluit, Kadlutsiak received fishing nets, a gun case, binoculars and some bullets as part of his farewell gift from the minister of sustainable development.

“I was really happy because my colleagues were there, and this was probably the last time that I was to spend time with them, and to socialize with them. I was happy to have received the service award as well as the farewell gifts with my colleagues being there,” he said.

Kadlutsiak has decided that he’ll rest for at least a year, and plans to go hunting whenever he can.
In Igloolik, he is a member of the local emergency measures committee.

In the past, he was not always able to have a say in anything because he was a government employee, so he is aware that he’ll have more of a voice in the community.

Josiah Kadlutsiak is also a founding member of the Inuit Tapiriisat of Canada, now known as Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.