Pitseolak Alainga looks through the sight of his rifle near his hunting shack on the shore of Frobisher Bay. Alainga applied for his gun licence in November but is still waiting. - Kerry McCluskey/NNSL photo

Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (July 16/01) - The Canadian Firearms Centre says staff are working around the clock to ensure law-abiding citizens get their gun licences.

Tell that to Nunavummiut who say they are being forced to participate in illegal activities just to survive.

Under Bill C-68, all Canadians who own firearms are required to carry either a possession-only or a possession and acquisition licence as of Jan. 1, 2001. The Firearms Centre tried to deal with the flood of last-minute applications, but failed to process them all in time.

Centre staff maintain that 90 per cent of the estimated 2.3 million gunowners in the country, including Nunavut's 6,600, have made the effort to abide by Bill C-68.

But very few Nunavut residents have actually received their licences, and in a territory where rifles are tools and not recreational toys, the legislation is causing real hardship.

Hunters, for example, can't legally buy ammunition and because it is against the law to keep a rifle loaded in a tent, boat or snowmobile, people travelling on the land are in danger of being attacked by animals.

Jollie Enoogoo did his best to follow the law. During the mass registration held by Firearms Centre staff in Pond Inlet this February, Enoogoo applied for a licence.

"I asked how long it was going to take and they said May or June," says Enoogoo.

As of July 7, he had not received his licence.

"It's big-time frustrating. A few people got one, but not many. For a long time now, we've been waiting. These new laws are not good for arctic people," he says.

"I would like to tell the federal government that everybody uses rifles in the Arctic. You have to survive and get food and it's very expensive to buy groceries," he says.

Because it is against the law to buy bullets without a licence, hunters say widespread bullet bootlegging has developed.

"We don't want to break the laws, but we have to get food," says Enoogoo. "We use ammunition for food and to protect our families."

Pitseolak Alainga has run into the same roadblock. He applied for his licence in November -- more than a month before the deadline -- and has not yet received the certificate.

As a member of Iqaluit's Ranger patrol, Alainga is permitted to use a firearm and is given 200 rounds of ammunition through the organization each year. But he knows full well the difficulties the laws are causing Inuit.

"Most Iqalungmiut are still waiting for their licences," says Alainga, a well-known hunter and a member of the Amarok Hunters and Trappers Association.

While he is in favour of the safety issues the legislation promotes, Alainga is angry the federal government is turning hunters into criminals.

"There is lots of that happening. Even the best hunters around here, some of them haven't got their licences yet, so they go see their relatives to get ammunition," he says.

Repeated calls to Josh Mitsima, Nunavut's firearms officer, went unanswered and a trip to his office revealed the building was closed until July 11. The office was closed that day.

Chantale Breton, a media information officer with the Canadian Firearms Centre in Ottawa, says the vast majority of Canadians have received their licences. The centre has even reassigned staff to ensure the remaining people were dealt with quickly.

"We've pulled people off other duties and assigned them to the process," says Breton. "We are wrapping things up. We are trying to get them out as soon as possible. We're making every effort."

Breton says police are aware of the situation and will use discretion when enforcing the firearms law.