Use IQ to defend wildlife management

Last week in the legislature, North Rankin MLA Tagak Curley said Nunavut must draw on the wisdom of elders in developing wildlife management practices and in carrying out research.

”For example, I see value in the government developing a database for our historic, traditional knowledge for use in management policies,” Curley said.

Curley said he sees threats to the cultural survival of Inuit when he looks around the circumpolar world.

He cites the decision to ban the importation of sealskins into Greenland as “a recent disturbing example.”

The proposal to list polar bears as an endangered species in the United States similarly threatens Inuit culture, Curley said.

“I urge the government to rigorously defend the integrity of our harvesting practices.”