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Qikiqtarjuaq wants more visitors from national park

Gabriel Zarate
Northern News Services
Published Monday, May 18, 2009

QIKIQTARJUAQ/PANGNIRTUNG - Parks Canada has released its draft management plan for Auyuittuq National Park, but not everyone is satisfied with its contents.

"The community members had certain expectations such as the jobs, guides, patrols and infrastructure in the community such as an office building for the park," said Qikiqtarjuaq's economic development officer Harry Alookie.

NNSL Photo/Graphic

The proposed zoning divisions of Auyuittuq National Park. Zone I means no visitor access, Zone II means no motorized visitor access, Zone III means limited motorized visitor access. - image courtesy of Parks Canada

Alookie said that in the park's more than 30-year history, Qikiqtarjuaq has not received much in the way of economic benefits. Most visitors to the park enter from Pangnirtung on the other side, unless they are hiking the entire route through Akshayuk Pass. Because of the lack of demand, the park office in Qikiqtarjuaq has only one seasonal staff member.

Even that traffic between Pangnirtung and Qikiqtarjuaq has been curtailed since erosion destroyed the Windy Lake bridge in the park last year. Travel through Akshayuk Pass is still possible by staying on one side of the Weasel River, but the cabins are all on the other side.

Maryse Mahy, district planner for Nunavut's national parks, said Parks Canada wanted to wait and see what happens to the region this summer, to evaluate if the erosion is too severe to risk building another bridge.

Alookie said the community's opinions seemed mixed on the idea of more visitors in the northern part of the park. Many in the community go to the park for hunting and fishing and are uncomfortable with the possibility of tourists on their traditional lands.

One of the proposals in the draft management plan is to divide the park into three zones. Areas designated as Zone I would be off-limits to visitors. Part of Nedlukseak Fiord is scientifically considered one of the most undisturbed parts of the park, and the north shore of Maktak Fiord is site of some ancient artifacts. Both would be marked as Zone I.

Areas designated as Zone III would be opened up more to visitors. The three large fiords south of Qikiqtarjuaq: Maktak, Coronation and North Pangnirtung Fiord, and a small section of southernmost Akshayuk Pass would permit visitors on snowmachines or motorboats, as long as they are led by a local guide.

Everything else will be designated Zone II, which would keep the current restrictions where visitors cannot use motorized vehicles.

There are additional seasonal restrictions on visitors to Maktak and Coronation Fiord because Inuit use those areas for berry-picking and narwhal-hunting at certain times of year.

North Pangnirtung Fiord, meanwhile, is being considered as a potential place for cruise ships to visit, according to Mahy. She said that possibility was still unresolved until Parks Canada heard more local opinions about it.

Inuit retain unrestricted access to the park for hunting, gathering and fishing, but they cannot sell the products commercially. Alookie said some people in Qikiqtarjuaq were frustrated they could not sell the Arctic char from the park's lakes.

Mahy emphasized the draft management plan was still subject to change.

"This is a draft," she said. "We're putting it out there for comment."

Anyone wishing to provide input can do so through the Parks Canada field offices or the regional headquarters in Iqaluit. The office has an Inuktitut interpreter, and all the relevant consultation documents are available in Inuktitut, English and French.

The draft management plan is the product of consultations between the park and the communities including hamlets, hunters and trappers organizations, schools and the general public. The committee which drafted it is composed of people appointed by Parks Canada and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association.

Once the community and public consultations are finished a new draft plan will be drawn up. That plan will need approval by the committee, Parks Canada, the Nunavut Impact Review Board and the federal Minister of Environment before it comes into effect.