INUVIK - For dog mushers in Inuvik the word "traditional" means many different things, none of which is cruelty to their teams.

More than 30 people showed up at the Midnight Sun Complex last week for a public hearing on updating the 50-year-old Dog Act. The hot topic was whether the word "traditional" should be defined or taken out of the act all together.

Seven-year-old Jazelle Pokiak has grown up dogsledding with her family, but proposed changes to the Dog Act states that a person must be 16 years or older to control a sled. - Kira Curtis/NNSL photos

The clause in question states dogs should not be without adequate food, water, shelter or veterinary care except in cases of "generally accepted local or traditional practices of dog care."

Mike Baxter, Inuvik welder and president of the Beaufort Delta Dog Mushers, spoke at the meeting to defend keeping the word traditional in the Dog Act.

"Abuse is abuse," Baxter said, adding that because there are so many different ways of raising and training dogs, it would be nearly impossible to define traditional, but that people who abuse their animals will do it regardless of what the act says.

"There will always be five or 10 per cent that don't really shape up and give everybody the black eye," Baxter said.

But Linda Eccles, manager of the Beaufort Delta Regional SPCA, said she has seen too many cases of horrific cruelty.

After listing off animal cruelty situations she has dealt with in Inuvik, Eccles said her concern is that keeping the word "traditional" in the act is too vague and leaves a loophole to claim tradition as an excuse for abuse.

Eccles said in the 10 years she's been bringing animal abuse cases to light, only one investigation has gone to court, and because the act was written half a century ago, the maximum fine is just $25 or up to 30 days in jail. She said she doesn't want a loosely-written act to let people off the hook.

Kam Lake MLA Dave Ramsay, who chaired the meeting, agreed with Eccles that the act should not leave an undefined section where someone neglecting animals could claim it is their traditional way.

"The Northwest Territories needs to instate comprehensive animal acts," Ramsay said.

But Baxter, along with Inuvik Chief Herbert Blake and Aklavik Mayor Billy Storr, said it is too hard to define how to raise and train a dog team.

As with race horses or greyhounds, trainers find the best methods that work for their team. Baxter said, as with horses, you have to keep your dogs healthy and happy or they won't live as long or run as fast.

"It's always been a close-kept secret, dog training and how you're feeding and whatnot, but the thing is, at the end of the day, is your dog healthy and does it perform?" said Baxter.

Baxter said no musher would stand up and argue the sickening cases Eccles has recorded are justified or should be allowed, but breaking down what is traditional in the Dog Act won't stop people from abusing their animals. He said it will only limit how mushers, who follow the rules, can train.

"Traditional ways as a loophole, to me, it was just something that somebody yanked out of a hat to gain sensationalism," Baxter said, adding the issue is a good dog owner will be a good dog owner anywhere in the world, and if someone abuses an animal, they should be charged.

"Changing the wording in the Dog Act will do nothing," Baxter said. "It's not going to change how we traditionally look after dogs."

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