Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 06/99) - The NWT Wildlife Act is about to change.

The last major changes to the current act were made in the late 1970s and since then the North has changed.

"The act is outdated," said Doug Stewart, who is the director of wildlife and fisheries with the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development.

"There have been changes to the North in such areas as land claim settlements, interest in the commercial use of wildlife and various commercial developments such as sale of wild meat or outfitting."

Stewart said in the late 1970s, the only place there was outfitting was in the Mackenzie Mountains.

Now there is a lot of outfitting organized through local hunters and trappers associations for barren-ground caribou and for caribou in the North Slave area.

"We've had interest in expanding outfitting into other caribou herds such as the Beverley herd out of Lutsel K'e and Fort Smith," Stewart said.

"The act is outdated in that it was not set up in anticipation of this kind of activity."

The act sets out quotas, consultation with communities, and restricts who can hold outfitting licenses.

Another significant issue is commercial hunting.

In the past 20 years, there has been a growing interest in developing markets for wild meat outside the NWT and the act is set up to restrict the sale of meat.

"The act creates inefficiencies in the way carcasses are handled and the requirements for meat to be marked so it can be identified as to where it came from," said Stewart.

As a result, the act hinders commercial hunting on a large scale such as when Northerners want to take a large number of animals out of a herd. The muskox harvest on Banks Island is such a commercial venture.

"The NWT also has some of the lowest penalties for infractions under the act of any jurisdiction in Canada," said Stewart.

But penalties may not necessarily change.

Stewart said in the next four to five months, officials at RWED will consult with land claim organizations, renewable resource management boards, band councils, hunters and trappers associations and the general public about how to change the act.

RWED will look for suggestions from people about how they would like to see the act change before pulling the ideas together and returning to the groups to get more feedback, Stewart said.

The new wildlife act itself will not be likely be tabled in the NWT legislature until the fall of 2001.

While RWED is in the communities doing their consulting about the wildlife act, Stewart said they would also consult on changes to endangered species legislation.

Stewart said RWED is preparing some information pamphlets based on responses they have already received to give people some background.

These pamphlets will be available in mid-December.