Volunteer committees act as parks watchdogs
Kirsten Murphy
Northern News Services
Iqaluit (Apr 02/01) - Nunavut's three recently designated national parks are in good hands.
They're being monitored by park management committee members who attended a three-day orientation session in Iqaluit last week.
The committees, each with six members, are watchdogs for Sirmilik, Auyuittuq and Quttinirpaaq National Parks. The committees were formed when the Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreement (IIBA) was signed between the Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA) and Parks Canada in 1999.
All three areas were officially proclaimed national parks in February.
QIA appointed nine members -- three to each committee -- from Arctic Bay, Grise Fiord, Pond Inlet, Pangnirtung and Qikiqtarjuaq.
Parks Canada appointed nine people, from many of the same communities, as well as Resolute Bay and Quebec City.
"We are the people living in those communities and we are the ones impacted," said David Qamaniq, a Pond Inlet resident and a Sirmilik Park committee member.
The volunteer committees act as advisors to park wardens and Parks Canada.
The IIBA stipulates hiring quotas, park use and ecological preservation -- conditions monitored by each committee.
Qamaniq said preserving Inuit rights to hunt in the parks will likely take precedence in the communities of Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay.
"We want to harvest in those areas. There had been some concern, but (the agreement) made it so the people can still hunt with the park in place," he said.
This is the first time all three committees representing all three parks sat down together.
"It's been amazing. I'm really pleased with the enthusiasm," said Elizabeth Seale, workshop chair and Nunavut's field unit superintendent for Parks Canada.
Sirmilik National Park's chief warden Carey Elverum met committee members for the first time at the orientation session.
"One of the first things we'll do is identify areas of concern," Elverum said, of working with his committee.
