Kivalliq hunters want compensation for snowmobile repairs

DENISE RIDEOUT

The Kivalliq Wildlife Board is demanding that hunters and trappers be compensated for the money they’ve spent on repairs to snowmobiles damaged by contaminated gas supplied by the government of Nunavut.

“I’m asking Inuit leaders and government leaders to come up with a program to compensate hunters and trappers for their losses during this harvesting season,” said David Alagalak, president of the Kivalliq Wildlife Board.

Alagalak said hunters and trappers in the region were alarmed by how often their snowmobiles’ pistons, carburetors and crank shafts were breaking down.

Throughout the winter, they complained to the Kivalliq Wildlife Board that they were running into problems with their machines. Alagalak said the situation was riskiest for trappers, who must travel long distances by snowmobile to check trap-lines.

Getting the machines fixed was often costly, Alagalak said, and many hunters simply couldn’t afford to pay for the repairs. For those hunters, times were tough because they weren’t getting meat for their families or bringing in any income from the sale of furs, he said.

“This winter I noticed the spirit of hunters was very heavy,” Alagalak said. “It’s sad. Whole families were affected.”

Hunters in the Kivalliq and Baffin regions, as well as local politicians, told the Nunavut government they suspected it had shipped in a bad supply of gas.

All along, the government’s response was that the gas had been tested before it was shipped and that it met all regulatory standards. Then, in March, further tests revealed the gas was missing a chemical that helps keep engines clean.

The Kivalliq Wildlife Board says it took too long for territorial ministers to take the hunters’ concerns seriously.

“The action of the government wasn’t fast enough. A lot of hunters felt they were discriminated against,” Alagalak said.

In an interview on May 3, just hours after the Nunavut government announced that the gas supply in the Baffin and Kivalliq regions is responsible for the snowmobile break downs, Alagalak said the Kivalliq Wildlife Board wants to see hunters and trappers compensated.

“I’d like to pursue a proper allowance to hunters and trappers in our region who suffered greatly in the harvesting season,” he said.