NTI will fight federal court turbot ruling

MICHAELA RODRIGUE
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. says it will fight a recent federal court ruling that denies the Nunavut claim to a greater share of the Canadian turbot quota in the Davis Strait area.

The Federal Court of Canada ruled against NTI and in favour of the federal minister of fisheries and oceans when it decided that the turbot quota allotted to Nunavut does not contravene the Nunavut land claim agreement.

The Sept. 30 ruling upholds a federal government decision to allocate 27 per cent of Canada’s total allowable turbot catch to Nunavut fishers from 1998 to 2002. NTI wants 80 to 95 per cent.

Nunavut fishers are allocated 1,500 tonnes of turbot out of Canada’s total allowable catch of 5,500 tonnes.

NTI now plans to appeal the decision to the federal court of appeal.

Ottawa said the Nunavut allotment has increased from 100 tonnes to 1,500 tonnes over the past 10 years. During the same period Canada’s total quota dropped from 12,500 tonnes to 5,500.

But NTI argues Nunavut fishers deserve a greater proportion of the catch than because Nunavut is adjacent to the waters of Davis Strait

“Their quota is not high in comparison to other fishers’ quota and since it only amounts to 20 odd per cent of the entire quota, we feel its much lower what we feel adjacent fishers should be allocated,” said Laurie Pelly, director of legal services for NTI.

NTI says the allocation violates principles set out in the Nunavut land claims agreement.

The land claim agreement says the government will recognize the “importance of the principles of adjacency and economic dependence . . . and shall give special consideration to these factors when allocating commercial fishing licences.”

But in his ruling, Judge Pierre Blais said the fisheries and oceans minister did give special consideration to the agreement when, in a letter, he rejected the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board’s (NWMB) recommendation to gradually increase Nunavut’s allotment to 80 per cent by 2000.

And Blais said the land claim agreement does not force the minister to give Nunavut fishers absolute priority over other fishers.

“The [Nunavut land claim] agreement does not preclude the minister from appreciating other considerations as well,” Blais wrote in his decision.

NTI, however, says fishers who live beside fishing areas in other provinces and territories usually receive the bulk of any Canadian quota.

“Based on how that has been interpreted by other jurisdictions by Fisheries and Oceans, [Inuit] should be entitled to 80 to 95 per cent of the resource,” Pelly said.

The federal government argued it has already promised Nunavut 50 per cent of any future increases to Canada’s total allowable catch.

But NTI dismisses any future increases as unlikely.

The federal government also said it would be unfair to take fish allotment away from the southern fishers who developed the fishery and now depend on it.

“The minister had to consider other people who may have interests as well as the economic needs and dependency of the people of Nunavut territory,” says a DFO submission to the court.

In his ruling Blais said there is little proof that Nunavut Inuit fished the area prior to 1978.

But NTI argues it was federal policies that kept Nunavut fishers from developing the fishery.

Ben Kovic, the chair of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, also spoke out against the decision and said his board will try to “convince the federal government that its present position is contrary to the NLCA and simply unjust,” Kovic said in a press release.

NTI has 30 days to appeal the decision to the Federal Court of Appeal. Should they lose their appeal, NTI could then apply to the Supreme Court of Canada to hear the case.

“We would hope that we might engage in a fruitful discussion with NWMB and DFO to sit down rather to continue this litigation, and to come to an agreement on what would be an acceptable share for Nunavut fishers,” Pelly said.