Federal Justice Minister Allan Rock unveiled part of the new gun licensing fee structure, providing it to the NWT government the same day.

“The (territorial) justice department... is looking at the documents and will seek clarification from the federal government on a number of points,” said Sue Enge, a territorial government spokeswoman.

She said issues such as the definitions of “sustenance hunter”, “acquisition of a firearm” and the proposed “gradually increasing” fee structure are some of the items being studied.

The territorial government also wants to know how much money it will get from Ottawa to implement the new legislation that officially went into effect last January, said Enge.

A response from Ottawa is expected in about two weeks, she said.

Fees increase over time.

In Friday’s announcement, Rock outlined a fee structure that would require gun owners to pay $10 for a five-year possession licence for all firearms they already own. That fee would rise to $60 by 2001, the last year of a phase-in period.

It would also cost $10 for owners to register any number of non-restricted firearms, provided they do all at the same time. This fee would rise to $18 by 2003.

What Rock didn’t announce is how much it will cost firearms owners to register newly purchased or acquired firearms, and how exemptions would figure into the regulations.

Sahtu MLA Stephen Kakfwi, who was territorial Justice minister when the federal bill was passed by Parliament late last year, lobbied hard against its implementation.

“I think Rock... will have an impossible task, a very daunting task by implementing a bill that’s designed for Toronto,” he said at the time.

Under the new legislation, aboriginal and non-aboriginal sustenance hunters will be exempt from the fees for new firearms licences and gun registration fees.

But exemption is expected to be based on income, and that part of the legislation has yet to be clearly defined.

It could be a hardship for some of the estimated 16,000 hunters in the Northwest Territories. It has by far the greatest number of resident hunting licences per capita of any region in Canada.

The federal government will introduce full regulations in Parliament this fall.

Ottawa wants to begin licensing in 1997 and firearms registration in 1999.