Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Arviat (Mar 27/02) - The long process of laying down rules for assigning harvesting rights in the Kivalliq has begun.

That puts at least one wildlife official at ease. Janet Akat, regional liaison officer with the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board in Arviat, said last week recent steps taken would help develop regulations on the issue.

The concept of assignment was developed as a means of allowing Inuit elders or those not able to hunt for themselves to assign their harvesting rights to a non-Inuk spouse to ensure food is available.

Responsibility for managing assignment was delegated to hunters and trappers associations and regional wildlife organizations in the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement nearly 10 years ago, but little progress has been made to date.

Nunavut Tunngavik has started to rectify that problem by calling a series of meetings in regional centres and asking HTAs to consult the public in the smaller communities.

Akat attended the meeting in Rankin Inlet earlier this month on behalf of the Kivalliq Wildlife Board.

She said those in attendance raised a number of concerns, many of which raised the need for definitions.

"This may take quite a while, but at least it's started," said Akat.

"Maybe we don't need policies, but we need rules and definitions to govern us on assignment."

Akat said people are concerned about the length of time couples need to live together prior to assigning rights and who would be responsible for the assignee if a hunting accident occurs.

She said beneficiaries are curious about which species an assignee could hunt and whether there should be a residency requirement and a minimum number of years hunting experience.

Akat said the questions stem from a presentation by Robert Tookoome, a former NTI resource development officer.

Tookoome organized the meeting in Rankin Inlet, another in Iqaluit and is planning a third for Cambridge Bay next month.

A second meeting is scheduled for Rankin Inlet next month.

Tookoome said NTI wants to understand what Nunavummiut want before formulating rules.

"We wanted to hear from the beneficiaries on how the assignment of harvesting rights should be administered," said Tookoome.

"After that, we'll gather all the information and develop recommendations of standard policies and procedures for communities in Nuanvut to administer the assignment of rights," he said.

He said NTI will respect the wishes of each community and allow them to develop regulations appropriate to residents.

Tookoome, who has since left NTI, said the organization wants to have something in place by early fall.