Nunavut MLA links online meat sales with overhunting of Kivalliq caribou
“We have seen many caribou carcasses that are just left there”
Rankin Inlet North–Chesterfield Inlet MLA Cathy Towtongie questioned Joe Savikataaq, Nunavut’s premier and environment minister, in the legislature on Feb. 27 about the overhunting of caribou in the Kivalliq. (File photo)
Nunavut’s MLA for Rankin Inlet North–Chesterfield Inlet is again raising concerns about the overhunting of caribou in the Kivalliq.
“I am passionate about protecting the caribou of the Kivalliq,” Cathy Towtongie told the legislature on Thursday, Feb. 27.
She directly linked the overhunting of caribou in the region with online sales of meat, citing a report from 2018 tabled last June in the Nunavut legislature on wildlife management programs in the territory that indicated that “some of the greatest threats to the long-term viability of Kivalliq caribou herds include development effects, such as roads, internet sales of caribou meat and the associated increased harvest.”
She said, “The selling of caribou through the internet is a very new thing, and you know that our right to sell caribou meat just may mean that the caribou will be depleted.”
She also shared her experience of having “seen many caribou carcasses that are just left there. They [hunters] just look for fat on them and if there’s no fat, they leave them out there. That is wrong.”
Joe Savikataaq, the premier and environment minister, agreed, saying “Anyone who kills a caribou that has nothing wrong with it and the meat is good, the hunter has to take it home and use that animal.”
He added, “If anybody sees a hunter leaving caribou behind, they have to notify the conservation officer so that it can be investigated. It is wrong to just kill caribou.”
“When caribou carcasses are left behind, it is breaking the law.”
Savikataaq reminded Towtongie, however, that Inuit beneficiaries have the right to sell what they harvest.
He said, “The government cannot stop that. It is protected under Inuit rights.”
Towtongie said that she had tried to take direct action by trying to identify hunters who had left carcasses on the land.
“I took pictures of two whole caribou, just their tongue [gone], to test the Wildlife Act. I put out a reward that I would pay personally if I could get the names of the hunters who did break the wildlife law. I never got anywhere.”
She asked Savikataaq what options he has under the Wildlife Act to implement measures to save the Kivalliq caribou herds from overhunting.
Savikataaq replied that the option is a total allowable harvest, as exists in other parts of Nunavut.
“We have the same tool for the Kivalliq, but it is a very blunt instrument. It puts a total allowable harvest on all the Inuit that harvest that caribou.”
He added that “currently right now there is not enough information that would indicate that the Qamanirjuaq herd needs a total allowable harvest.”
Savikataaq noted that this is a complex situation, as Nunavummiut are not the only Indigenous group who harvest the Qamanirjuaq herd. The herd is also hunted by Dene in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories.
He added that if the caribou are in decline and a study by the Government of Nunavut showed that a quota system was needed, then that would happen.
“If the caribou are being depleted and the government does a study, a quota is imposed if necessary, but before we get to that point, Inuit can sell what they catch. It is their right.”
Kill everything in site , for the all ol mighty dollar, then blame the mining companies and global warming.
Why blame Mining companies ? It’s the unemployed hunters who do these!! Easy cash!!. A lot of good Inuit work in the Mining Industry who gain experience in different kinds of trades. Making them provide for their families. Just my thought on this comment I read here.
Actually, poor wildlife management and arrogant ‘its my right’ hunters have decimated herds. Up to $450 for a caribou on FB. Everyone loves caribou meat, until it’s all gone extinct.
You wanna protect the Caribou? Do what the nwt govt has been doing the last few years kill off their predators wolves, make Inuit hunter a way to put food on the table, nwt been Kling off wolves last few years prices from 900+ this year 1200-2000just to shoot the wolf… You wanna protect the Caribou start off with a program to kill off wolves. You guys get false intell from so many non hunters who talk lot of crap about the real hunters who hunt, we don’t waste our catch only time a carcass is left behind is when it’s too skinny and looks sick, and that happens alot when the govt is buying meat (meat plant) stuff only gets like that with tuktu when the meat plant opens… And how I see it today most people are jealous of money, us hunter make a good dollar when the meat plant opens we can make up to 2500 for 10 caribou for one trip and most govt workers are jealous, cuz we can make 10k Ina week, and that’s only from meat plant the govt is another reason Caribou decline example this year 700+ tuktu shot for meat plant in Rankin inlet, just in 2 weeks 700+tags filled in, what you guys have to say about the meat plant? Is it worth it? Sale meat to our people for a dollar 10times more he bought it for? I can say alot more but I’d put out a book..
So you want the government to put a bounty on wolves.
FYI :900 x1600 (I split the middle of 1200-2000) = $1.4 million.
So I must be missing something here, help me out. Is your plan that the government should be giving hunters millions, so they cnmake thousands huntng caribou?
So you want the government to put a bounty on wolves.
FYI :900 x$1600 (I split the middle of $1200-2000) = $1.4 million.
So I must be missing something here, help me out. Is your plan that the government should be giving hunters millions to kill wolves, so they can make thousands hunting caribou?
You would think Cathy (ex-NTI pres) would know that NTI should be the ones trying to update the Nunavut Agreement to take into account new ways things are done.
I hope NTI is not just waiting to be asked to do something… they should also be concerned and start talking about the best way forward to ensure caribou are around for ever, with out taking away Inuit rights.
Maybe selling wildlife in Nunavut should need a license? but what ever happens do not interfere with the sharing of wildlife. That is at our core.
I report sell/swap at least once a week, often two or three times, because of the illegal sale of wild game meat. I take pride in this and will continue until the rules are followed.
Illegal?
At this time if a person is Inuk then selling online is not illegal.
Waisting meat on the land is illegal no matter who you are.
They completely graze over other topics that need discussion/ action. 90 percent of extirpations are linked to European colonization and the following industrialization of necessary wildlife habitat. The premier recently made an announcement that they will no longer support creating protected areas and want “responsible” development without ever considering what the community’s want. It appears as though previous allegations made that the GN is run by bureaucrats is true.
A typical legislative assembly sitting: talk about assumptions and then tell everybody what you shouldn’t do.
It’s out of control,I fear a hunting ban down the road ,NTI should have put more thought when they started talking about hunting rights for its people I along with
all hunters in the north harvest country food for domestic use and that’s worth
protecting .
We are over hunting for sure, I see this in my community and other communities, to make a quick buck.
It does need to be regulated to protect the herds for future harvesting, at some point down the road I can see a season for hunting tuktu in place the way it is going right now.
It has to get worse before anything is put in place to help maintain the numbers.
Rhetorical, Does a caribou belongs to a single group, seeing that the caribou travel long distances over multiple jurisdictions? I have enjoyed caribou meat, but do not hunt. Should the people who hunt, eat, and sell caribou’s meat be required to start rearing caribou. If people are not willing to replenish the caribou herd then they will never be enough caribou for everyone, including human and predators. Culling wolves so human can have more caribou meat is asinine. What are the ecological effects of culling wolves so greedy human can have more?
Fewer wolves means less wolf predation of caribou which in turn more caribou survive. That is the ecological impact.
For Pete’s sake at least this question in the house was better than all the media coverage where Cathy brings up bingo winnings being taken out of social service checks.
Do we really need to encourage those on social assistance to waste money on gambling? And for the Minister responsible, do we as a government really need to waste resources on changing legislation so that folks on social services can continue to waste what little money they have on gambling knowing they can keep their winnings? Do that make sense to you ? That we encourage them to gamble? And out of the other side of our mouths we can talk about providing counseling for those with gambling addictions.
I cant get over the logic here.
Higher some better advisors then the ones you have.
The HTOs have the ability to limit the beneficiary right to sell wildlife.
They need to find their courage and start managing their member’s hunting rights and looking after the wildlife.