Species act worries Inuit hunters

MONTREAL — As federal lawmakers consider Bill C-5, a new act to protect endangered species in Canada, Inuit groups worry the proposed Species at Risk Act may undermine their rights.

Their unease is growing, due to the near certainty that Parliament will pass Bill C-5 by the end of 2001.

Concerns range from the nitpicking to life-altering — such as whether the bill’s wording is open to misinterpretation, or how this new law will affect Inuit hunters.

Right now, it’s up to provincial, territorial or — in the case of Nunavut — wild-life management authorities to take appropriate action when a species is listed as being at some risk of extinction.

But after Bill C-5 becomes law, a new ministerial-level council will be able to stop the harvesting of species at risk or prevent the destruction of their habitats. The bill also calls for enforcement measures or compensation in certain circumstances.

Bill C-5 is now at second reading before a parliamentary standing committee in Ottawa — the last major step before final reading and a vote on the floor of the House of Commons.

In separate presentations before this committee, the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board provided 15 similar and extremely detailed recommendations on how to make the proposed law more clear.

“You have to be quite explicit,” explained NTI lawyer John Merritt.

That’s because if you are vague, the busy committee members may not move to amend the text in the way you want, he said.

A delegation from Nunavik also went to Ottawa last week to offer an emotional appeal for some rethinking of the bill.

On hand were Kativik Regional Government’s chairman, Johnny Adams, the Makivik Corporation’s vice-president, Johnny Peters, Avataq President Robbie Watt, and Paulusi Novalinga, president of Nunavik’s hunting and trapping associations.

They wanted the committee to understand what will happen when some country foods become strictly off-limits to the region.

When it’s law, the Species at Risk Act could shut down the beluga fishery in Eastern Hudson Bay, where the Canadian Committee on the Status of Endangered Species, or COSEWIC, says beluga stocks are “threatened” with extinction, and in the Ungava Bay, where they’re thought to be “endangered,” or already near extinction.

“I don’t think we’re going to hunt the species to extinction. That’s not our way,” Adams said.

The speakers from Nunavik told the standing committee they want to make sure traditional knowledge isn’t ignored when species such as beluga are declared at risk.

If the beluga hunt is reduced or closed, they said they also want compensation.

As it turned out, their plea for compensation was premature, because the Species at Risk Act isn’t likely to become law before summer. How the money will be handed out isn’t clear, either.

The fears and demands expressed by Adams and the others highlighted the unease Inuit feel about the proposed law’s intent.

“Let us do our jobs” was the message that Larry Carpenter delivered on behalf of the wildlife management boards in the Inuvialuit settlement area and the North Slope region.

Inuit groups want to see amendments to Bill C-5 that would protect land-claims agreements from new interpretations. They want to make sure the power and authority of organizations created by these deals aren’t sidestepped or interfered with.

They’re also concerned about the composition of COSEWIC and the way it will recognize traditional knowledge.

Senator Charlie Watt, who attended the standing committee hearings, said it looks as if the federal government is trying to slip in another unnecessary layer of governance.

“Since the federal government has already worked out land claims with aboriginal people, why are they reinventing the wheel?” Watt said.

Watt said committee members were attentive to the concerns that Inuit raised, but this may not produce all the changes Inuit groups want to see.

“The members of the committee were listening, but whether they are going to change something, that’s a different story,” Watt said.