“Major management failure” at HTO and wildlife offices: report
“It’s what everyone’s always known”
GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS
Nunavut needs a central wildlife bureau to clean up a mess that has left the territory’s hunters frustrated for years, complaining about Inuit organizations that aren’t able or don’t know how to handle their wildlife responsibilities.
A report released last week paints a bleak picture of the regional wildlife organizations, and hunters and trappers organizations around the territory, prompting Nunavut’s land claim organization to start pushing for an umbrella group to handle the myriad problems with RWOs and HTOs.
The report says that RWOs and HTOs are over-burdened with responsibilities that weren’t anticipated when the Nunavut land claims agreement was being drafted, and have suffered “major management failure.”
Major failures include lack of accountability to beneficiaries, who claim they know little about how the groups are spending money or making decisions, the report says.
Miscommunication, or sometimes, complete lack of contact between groups, has also left HTOs unable to enforce non-quota limitations on certain animals, as ordered by the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. ordered a review of the organizations earlier this year, in efforts to tackle long-standing problems that were brought up at Nunavut-wide wildlife meetings.
The result is Structural Issues and Options for Wildlife Management by Inuit in Nunavut, a 40-page report based on interviews and research by Aarluk Consulting Inc.
In the report, the authors warn that Nunavut wildlife management groups, NTI and regional Inuit associations need to improve their communications because the current set-up is causing “overlap” and “confusion.”
Gabriel Nirlungayuk, director of NTI’s department of wildlife, said in a recent interview that the report confirmed problems that wildlife officials expected to find.
“It’s what everyone’s always known,” Nirlungayuk said before a presentation at the NTI annual general meeting in Rankin Inlet last month.
Nirlungayuk is confident that RWOs will work with NTI to create a territorial secretariat for wildlife management, as recommended in the report. The report calls the future secretariat “an Inuit-controlled service provider,” accountable to NTI. Three other options included: keeping the status quo, or giving more administrative power to NTI or regional Inuit associations.
Nirlungayuk promised that the centralized office would not be a power-grab on the part of NTI, which would oversee its creation.
“I don’t think they’ll be letting go of power,” Nirlungayuk said of the other organizations. “But I think they realize that there’s some problems with the way the status quo is.”
He added that it was too early to know how much the new office would cost, who would pay for it, or where it would be located.
The report suggests that a central office will help under-funded RWOs and HTOs with their administrative and accounting duties. The consultants found some of these groups weren’t keeping proper accounts, and lacked necessary bylaws to enforce wildlife regulations.
According to the report, a central office would help the groups set territory-wide standards in delivering services like the hunter support program, as well.
The report recommends that a central secretariat stick to administration, plus providing training to the regional and community-level groups in policy development, as well as professional development for employees. Extra training would aim to stop the constant turnover of HTO employees, who often go to higher-paying jobs with the government of Nunavut, the report says.
Other organizations would have clear roles, such as NTI representing beneficiaries on territorial, national and international wildlife issues. The NWMB would serve, in part, as an impartial research hub.
The Wildlife Policy Advisory Committee, which consists of the three RWO chairs and second vice-president Raymond Ningeocheak, would give policy advice. However, the report notes hunters are currently unhappy with WPAC, accusing them of not having “direction” in their policy-making.
Under the report’s guidelines, an overhaul of wilderness management will sort out:
who will be in charge of licencing guides;
who will be in charge of fisheries issues;
who will regulate old and new outpost camps;
and who will oversee the disposal of emergency kills.
The report suggests such changes would renew hunters’ confidence in their beneficiary, hunting and wildlife organizations.
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