The right to harvest
Amarok to set up assignment procedures

Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 07/99) - Madeleine Redfern would never assign her inherent right to harvest wildlife to her non-Inuk spouse.

That's because she not only has the economic means and abilities to go out and hunt by herself, but she also has a brother and an uncle who both hunt and regularly put meat on her table.

"Inuit strongly believe in the family and the extended family and in providing and sharing for each other. My brother and uncle have always provided country foods for my family," said Redfern, a beneficiary of the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement. She is also a member of a committee recently struck by the Amarok Hunters and Trappers Association in Iqaluit to deal specifically with the issue of Inuit assignment.

In that the responsibility for managing assignment was delegated to the hunter and trapper associations and the regional wildlife organizations under the land claim and the implementation contract, the task of setting appropriate policies and procedures for assignment falls onto their shoulders in their respective hamlets and regions.

To that end, in Iqaluit, the committee of six people was formed and they're now in the process of trying to secure funding to hire a consultant who will begin to develop a set of assignment guidelines that are relevant for their community.

Assignment as a concept was originally developed as a means of allowing Inuit elders or other Inuit not able to harvest wildlife for themselves to assign their harvesting rights to another Inuk or to a non-Inuk spouse to ensure a food source. But the HTA, in a letter addressed to several wildlife and Inuit organizations in Nunavut, said that of the recent increase in requests for assignment rights, several appeared not to be based on consumption needs. Rather, they seem based on the desire of non-Inuit to hunt species beyond what they are entitled to under the land claim.

"There's always been provisions for non-Inuit to hunt, especially with the general hunting licence," said Sytukie Joamie, manager of the Amarok HTA.

"But first and foremost, what we have to do as an HTA is protect and promote the Inuit. At the same time, we have to establish a procedure for others to receive rights."

Joamie explained that there had been many cases of non-Inuit trying to secure the right to hunt polar bears or other large game because they were more interested in the sport and the glamour of the hunt than in the need for food. The issue of non-Inuit hunting large game also raises several cultural issues and some feel that the majority of Qallunaat may not understand or respect the significance and spirituality involved in Inuit taking certain animals.

"The harvesting of certain species are based principally on their cultural and traditional aspects, on the cultural and traditional significance," said Redfern.

While the consultant and the committee have a tremendous amount of work to do over the next few months, Redfern said they hoped to have the new processes developed by the fall in time for them to be ratified by the HTAs' membership at their annual general meeting.

Until that time, applicants will continue to fill out a generic and temporary assignment form -- not developed by the HTA -- that provides wildlife officers, who enforce the Wildlife Act, with the documentation to know who has and does not have harvesting rights. When the new procedures are in place, assignees and assignors will have to reapply under the new system.

Marcel Mason, an Iqaluit resident who was assigned 50 per cent of his Inuk wife's harvesting rights for the maximum period of one year, said he definitely planned to reapply once the new process was ratified.

"I don't have any problem with that. Of course I'll reapply," said Mason.

With country food forming an integral part of his family's diet, Mason said he's always hunted to provide for his immediate family and that when they lived in Iglulik with his wife's relatives, he regularly contributed to the extended family's meat cache.

Mason said he and his wife often hunt and fish together, but that his rights did not entitle him to go after some of the big game species.

"My wife and I sat down and we decided that I would not go after animals that had a quota. I'm hunting responsibly."