It's Makivik v. Nunavut and Canada over polar bears
Suit alleges governments did not consider traditional knowledge of Nunavimmiut in allocations
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Monday, February 13, 2017
NUNAVIK
Makivik Corporation, Nunavik's Inuit birthright organization, is fighting Nunavut and the federal government to court over the harvesting of South Hudson Bay polar bears. Two claims were filed in November 2016.
"Within the Nunavik Inuit Land Claims Agreement we have rights to harvest and we should be given a fair share of that shared resource," Adamie Delisle Alaku, executive vice-president responsible for Makivik's Renewable Resource Department, told Nunavut News/North.
According to court documents, Minister of Environment Joe Savikataaq informed the organization by letter received Nov. 1 that three Nunavik communities, and the Cree of Quebec and Ontario, would share a total allowable harvest of 23 South Hudson Bay polar bears. Sanikiluaq would be allowed 25.
Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna sent a similar letter.
Makivik is seeking to quash the decision both at the Nunavut Court of Justice, where the matter will appear in April, and at the federal court level.
"Sanikiluaq gets its 25. It has been getting 25 for close to 40 years. For them it's a no-brainer. And then we are left with the peanuts, so to speak. My three communities have to share 23, including the Crees."
The Cree of Quebec and Ontario alternate a one and two quota from year to year, for a total of three of the 23.
Alaku notes the population of Inukjuaq alone, at 1,688, is very close to double the size of Sanikiluaq at approximately 850.
"Then you have Umiujaq (455) and Kuujjuaraapik (626). So it's very hard for us to come to an agreement when I have so many hunters that are unable to hunt polar bears all of a sudden."
Nunavik's land claims is younger than Nunavut's and came into effect in 2007.
"Nunavik does not have polar bear quotas. We have a different management system - under the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement we have a guaranteed harvest level. A quota system has not been initiated like the other regions - like Inuvialuit, Nunavut and Nunatsiavut - which have been using quota systems for years," said Alaku.
Makivik alleges that the governments of Nunavut and Canada did not take the traditional knowledge of Nunavimmiut into consideration.
"Our take has been substantial, but has always been sustainable. Meaning our traditional knowledge says that if we attach a 4.5 per cent scientific formula - that you must not go beyond this to sustain a population of 100 bears or 900 bears - we have proven that that is wrong."
Also, Alaku says, the polar bears are in very good condition.
"Contrary to the media portrayal of the skinny bear that's clinging on to the last piece of ice, that they're going to be extinct in the next 50 years. We're catching healthy bears. There's a lot of bears. I'm not saying we can catch 80 every year. But if three communities have to scramble for 23, that reduces a lot of the take."
The Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. declined to comment, though Alaku says he has spoken with NTI vice president James Eetoolook.
As of 2012, the South Hudson Bay bear population was estimated at 951 individuals.
