Quassa blasts Olayuk Akesuk for ignoring Inuit rights

DENISE RIDEOUT

IQALUIT — The Nunavut government is violating Noah Kadlak’s Inuit hunting rights by rejecting his plan to hunt a polar bear with a harpoon, says Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated.

NTI’s president Paul Quassa came out in full support of Kadlak’s hunting rights last week after the Sustainable Development minister, Olayuk Akesuk, announced it was too dangerous to allow Kadlak to go ahead with a traditional hunt.

“The point is we’re talking about Inuit rights,” Quassa said after learning Kadlak’s proposal had been denied.

“We certainly are astounded by the decision by the minister,” he said.

On Jan. 4 Justice Robert Kilpatrick of the Nunavut court ruled that the Department of Sustainable Development was violating Noah Kadlak’s hunting rights, as set out in the Nunavut land claim agreement, which is now enshrined in the Constitution.

Kilpatrick said public safety can be protected without imposing a ban on Kadlak’s hunt, and that the NWT and Nunavut governments went too far in imposing that ban.

After his ruling, Kilpatrick handed the decision back to Akesuk, who decided to ban the hunt anyway.

Kadlak also wanted to film the hunt with a documentary crew to show how Inuit used to hunt polar bears before firearms were introduced to the North.

Hunt too risky?

This isn’t the first brick wall Kadlak has hit in his attempt to film the traditional hunt.

Since 1997, the Coral Harbour man has been trying to get the special permission he needs to use a harpoon in the hunt. He got the go-ahead from the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, but both the Northwest Territories and the Nunavut governments have rejected the NWMB’s recommendations.

Despite Kilpatrick’s judgement, Akesuk is still citing safety concerns as a reason for not allowing the hunt to go ahead.

In a Feb. 7 press release, Akesuk said that before making his decision, he focused on several safety factors: Kadlak’s hunting experience, the experience of the dog team, as well as the dangers of hunting with a harpoon.

The proposed hunt already had safety conditions attached to it.

In 1998, when Kadlak applied for the special permission, the wildlife board approved the hunt as long as Kadlak was accompanied by a hunter carrying a gun, signed an indemnity form, and received written permision of his community’s HTO.

But in the press release, Akesuk said he “was not satisfied that the interest of public safety could be protected adequately.”

Quassa said Akesuk should rethink the safety issue. He said the department could easily add more safety conditions to the hunt, such as having several armed hunters on hand.

“Hunting by harpoon is nothing new. Hunting is always risky,” Quassa said. “Prohibition should have been a last resort according to the ruling.”

Akesuk said he considered all aspects of Kadlak’s proposal and even consulted elders for advice. He said he wanted to include Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, or traditional knowledge, in his decision. Akesuk said the elders re-affirmed his concerns about safety.

But Quassa blasted Akesuk for his meeting two weeknds with eleven elders, saying he misused the concept of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.

“We do not believe that IQ is well served by hastily organized meetings in which the other viewpoints of NTI or NWMB are not invited, but consciously excluded.”

While all the talk has been about safety, Quassa doesn’t believe the dangers of the hunt are the real issue.

The problem, Quassa said, is that the hunt will be filmed. He says the Nunavut government doesn’t want non-Inuit to see graphic footage of a polar bear being killed.

“There were other factors. One is the filming of the event and the other one is the concern of being inhumane,” he said.

Next week at NTI’s meeting in Arctic Bay, Quassa plans to talk to the board about what the organization’s next step will be.

“The buck is certainly not going to stop here just because the minister made his decision,” he said.

“NTI is going to always be there to protect the rights we acquired under these land claims.”

Nunatsiaq News was unable to reach Noah Kadlak for comment.