The first draft of a new Inuvialuit Harvesters Support Program will be going out soon to participating communities for feedback.

The IRC board, working closely with the Inuvialuit Game Council of the Joint Secretariat in Inuvik, has been putting the finishing touches on the document.

"There's no crushing urgency. We expect to be dispensing the money by the fall of '98 -- we expect August or September. We expect to hand out $200,000 annually," says Roger Connelly, chief operating officer with the IRC.

"We crunched our numbers and now with annual interest rates, we don't want to run unless there's a significant amount in the fund."

Last year, about $720,000 was placed in a trust fund for the program. Similar amounts will go in this year and next. With the GNWT matching the funds dollar for dollar, that should bring the total to $4.2 million by 1998 when the program starts, says Connelly. The interest would be used for the program.

Authority would rest at the community level and the IRC would monitor it.

"The draft suggests funding larger hunting and trapping supplies, not things like food," says Connelly.

But the particulars could change once community consultations are completed, he added.

The draft suggests hunters can apply through their local hunters and trappers committee by the fall of 1998.

Other programs of this nature are already operating in Nunavut and by the Gwich'in, although the funding structures vary.

Nunavut has been operating their fund for several years. Some regions in the West have chosen to tackle the program on a community-by-community approach.

There's an agreement between Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the GNWT for five years. During that time, each puts $15 million into a trust for a total of $30 million, says Bert Dean, manager of the Nunavut Hunters Support Program.

The last payment into the trust came this year. Dean says the program could go on for years since it's funded mostly by the interest.

There have been close to 700 hunters involved in the program over the past three years, he says. Two million dollars is paid out each year for the program.

The Gwich'in started their fund three years ago and there's more than $4 million in the trust fund, with GNWT-matched funds, according to Dolly Carmichael, vice-president of the Gwich'in Tribal Council and interim chair of the Harvester's Assistance Program for those enrolled under the Gwich'in land claim.

The interest pays for the program, operated twice a year -- in spring for muskrat-fishing season and the fall.

"There's assistance with gas, supplies, traps, tents, chisels, axes and limited amounts of groceries -- staples -- and parts for repairing their motors (ski-doo and boat)," Carmichael says.

The Gwich'in define a full-time harvester as someone who spends more than four months a year living on the land. Part-time would be less than four months, but more than two.

Carmichael was surprised at the response. "We had 118 hunters last fall, some part-time and some full-time. This spring-summer there were 60 to 70 applications."