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NUNAVUT - The federal government is considering adding polar bears to Canada's list of "species at risk."

Canada's Species At Risk Act ranks animals from "not at risk" to "extinct." Polar bears don't have any classification, but the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, the organization that makes the species-at-risk recommendations to Environment Canada, has assessed them as "special concern," just above "not at risk."

The federal government may list polar bears as a species at risk. - NNSL file photo

Some Nunavummiut disagree with the assessment.

"The fact is that the polar bear population is increasing," said Lootie Toomasie, chair of the Nattivak Hunters and Trappers Organization in Qikiqtarjuaq.

"The population is increasing just so much; we don't go out and spend weekends out on the land. This didn't used to happen in the old days. We used to be able to spend time on the land without being concerned about polar bears but now we have to be concerned 24 hours a day. It used to be only certain places and certain times but now it can be anytime, the population is increased so much."

Documents from the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada state the group made its assessment based on a possible decline in the polar bear population in Baffin Bay and Kane Basin. New information on the harvest numbers in Greenland revealed more polar bears were killed per year than were previously thought, so scientists believe the population is being over-harvested.

The group also cited a global decline in sea ice due to climate change, reducing the polar bears' habitat, and possibly driving the animals closer to one another.

Toomasie disagrees with the committee's assessment and the reasons behind it. "Scientists only look at their own opinions but we don't have opinions," he said. "We have fact, because we're the ones that live up here."

In response to the recommendation, Environment Canada will consult with relevant provincial and territorial governments, wildlife management boards, aboriginal governments and other groups, including communities in Nunavut.

If the polar bear becomes listed as "special concern" the government will be required to prepare a management plan within three years.