NUNAVUT
Polar bear management and the plight of caribou were hot topics of discussion during a meeting of environment ministers in Ottawa, Feb. 13.
Of special note, from the Nunavut perspective, were the shared sub-populations of caribou and polar bears with other Canadian jurisdictions.
"This gave us an opportunity to have informal discussions around the management of these types of population," said Mike.
He said Quebec has similar caribou issues as Nunavut. Quebec had hundreds of thousands of caribou "not so long ago." That province now counts approximately 14,000 caribou, demonstrating a great loss. Mike also points to the ongoing wolf cull in B.C.
"As you know, the Government of Nunavut is directly involved with the caribou on Baffin Island," said Mike.
"There is a great concern with caribou right across the country. We're talking about sustainable wildlife management on this one, and conservation. It is very important for all parties involved to get a good handle on caribou management. That's why co-ordination and collaboration is important, to deal with caribou. But not only caribou, other wildlife and management of harvesting.
Federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq hosted the meeting, with the goal of further enhancing collaboration between the federal government's efforts in conservation, wildlife and biodiversity and that of its provincial and territorial counterparts.
"The meeting was positive and long overdue," Aglukkaq told Nunavut News/North after the meeting.
"There is a broad recognition that with animals there are no boundaries. It's the nature of our country. We cannot operate in silos. Animals do not understand provincial and territorial boundaries. The fact of the matter is we need to collaborate and share management practices and lessons learned."
Mike agrees
"It's always important to get involved in conservation and wildlife and biodiversity. These are all important issues for this territory. It's very important for the GN to have a voice and to participate in these discussions," he said.
The sustainable management of polar bears is always a topic of concern across jurisdictions, said Mike.
"We expressed our concerns with duplication between Canada's work under the federal species at risk act and wildlife management plans developed through our co-management system. We are hoping that discussion, begun at this last meeting will lead to better co-ordination. There needs to be better collaboration between the two processes."
According to Aglukkaq, that's one of the goals for a meeting which, it's hoped, will be the first of many regular gatherings in the future.
"There was agreement to come back and meet, instead of waiting 10 years," she said. "Someone said it's been 20 years. This meeting was an opportunity for us to better co-ordinate our conservation, wildlife and biodiversity efforts at all political levels."
