HTO supports effort to get business running
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Baker Lake (Nov 15/00) - The Baker Lake Hunter and Trappers Organization is stepping aside and letting the guides take over.
David Aksawnee, president of the organization, says it was decided Thomas Kudloo's group should co-ordinate caribou sport hunting efforts at last week's meeting.
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"That group still has a lot of work ahead of it, with the paperwork that has to go through the government to obtain the proper permits."
Aksawnee says while the HTO is staying away from caribou hunting, it's looking into other sport-hunting options, such as a muskox hunt.
The organization is looking at a possible partnership with a southern company to promote the hunt.
The HTO has had problems with the company Kudloo is currently negotiating with -- Canadian North Outfitting Inc. -- but is keeping its options open, he says.
"If Jerome Knap (president of Canada North Outfitting Inc.) still wants to deal with our HTO, we can still deal through him or there's the possibility we can do it on our own.
"The first step is to promote and advertise the hunt so we can let others know what we are doing. We haven't decided if it would be better for us to partner with a southern firm or take it on as a local project.
"This type of project doesn't happen overnight."
There are eight members on the HTO board of directors, and the organization views the entire Baker community as its membership, says Aksawnee.
He says although the board fully supports the caribou hunt efforts, it remains to be seen how supportive the Nunavut Government will be.
"The HTO will help Mr. Kudloo and his group in any way we can in getting their licence, permits and the tags they require. We'll be working on that over the next few months.
"As for our own project, we'll have to ask the government for tags and then the NG will tell us how many tags we can get for a muskox quota for a sports hunt."
