Erasmus' comments come as Northerners adjust to the Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards, which Canada signed recently, along with Europe, the U.S. and Russia.

The agreement saves the European trade route for Canada's fur industry, but it changes how some Northerners trap animals.

All traps now in use are being reviewed. And changes could come in March 2001, if the traps fail.

Trappers can still exchange steel-jawed leg-hold traps, which are now outlawed on land, for a free quick-kill trap from the GNWT.

The trade-in program has operated since 1989 and is being phased out, largely because all the banned traps have been exchanged.

The agreement sets standards for all trapping devices, phasing out most leg-hold traps and enforcing humane standards on the rest when trapping 19 species.

For example, animals must now die within five minutes of being caught.

"We use the quick kill," said Coral Harbour trapper James Arvaluk. "There's a big opening, about a foot, in order for the fox to take the bait. That triggers the trap to snap his head off."

Years ago Arvaluk used leg-hold traps.

Canada has agreed to prohibit all jaw-type leg-hold traps on land for seven species -- beaver, market, otter, fisher, ermine, muskrat and badger.

Further, Canada has also agreed to prohibit the use of conventional steel-jawed leg-hold traps on land for another five species within 46 months of ratification.

Some of the older traps can still be set underwater, but only if the animal dies quickly.

Europe has been the main market for Canadian furs since the early 1600s and currently buys about 75 per cent of Canadian wild fur exports.

Without the new agreement, European animal-rights activists could have inflicted devastating blows to the Northern fur industry. Hunting and trapping provides up to 60 per cent of all income in many Northern aboriginal communities.