Inuit hunters demand scientists change the way they study wildlife
An unprecedented step taken
The signing of an Agreement-in-Principle on the Nunavik Regional Government
The government of Quebec, the government of Canada and Makivik Corporation have just taken an unprecedented step by signing the agreement-in-principle on the creation of the Nunavik Regional Government. Giving tangible form to Inuit aspirations, the agreement-in-principle marks a move toward the assumption of greater responsibility by the Inuit communities. This agreement-in-principle builds on the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.
The first step of a broader process, the agreement-in-principle proposes the creation of a new form of public regional government adapted to the needs of Nunavik. This regional government will be headed by an Assembly made up of 21 members, including an executive council composed of five members elected by the population of the entire region. The future institution of Nunavik will hold the jurisdictions and the powers of the three amalgamated organizations: the Kativik Regional Government, the Kativik School Board and the Nunavik Health and Social Services Board. The jurisdictions and powers notably concern the education, health, public security and transportation fields.
“The agreement-in-principle signed [December 5th] is at the heart of our desire to promote, as never before, the socioeconomic development of the Inuit communities. It aims to build an efficient government institution truly adapted to the needs of Nunavik. First and foremost, it testifies to the continuation of the profound ties of friendship that exist between Quebec and the Inuit,” indicated Quebec Premier Jean Charest.
“In conjunction with the governments of Canada and of Quebec, it is by maximizing our efforts and by pooling our resources that we will be able to more effectively advance the regional priorities of Nunavik and significantly improve the living conditions in our communities.
“I am confident that together and in the wake of the amalgamation of our public institutions and the creation of a new government, we will succeed in building a better Nunavik for the greater good of our communities and our children,” stated Mr. Pita Aatami, President of Makivik Corporation.
“The Government of Canada has made a commitment to improve the quality of life of the Inuit. We also want to see to it that the Inuit can make their own decisions concerning the preservation and development of their distinctive culture,” indicated the Honourable Chuck Strahl, Federal Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Canada and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians. “It will thus be possible to establish a climate that is conducive to economic growth and self-sufficiency, a climate which, in turn, will increase the standard of living and will continue to improve the quality of life of the Inuit of Nunavik.”
Benoit Pelletier, Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, emphasizes that the agreement is a demonstration of the complementarity that henceforth exists in the relations which the Government of Quebec maintains with the Inuit and Aboriginal communities. “Quebec is today the result of the combined forces of all the peoples who make up the province. Together, we must see to it that our peoples have the necessary tools for their self-fulfillment and participate in the consolidation of our collective identity.”
Finally, it should be emphasized that the future regional institution will respect the authority of the Quebec National Assembly and of the Parliament of Canada.
Inuit hunters demand scientists change the way they study wildlife
By Bob Weber
Inuit hunters are demanding that scientists change how they study Arctic wildlife from polar bears to caribou to whales, saying current methods handle too many animals – injuring and even killing some and leaving others with chemical residue that taints their meat.
“This work is very intrusive,” said Glenn Williams, a former wildlife officer and consultant to Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. “It doesn’t appear that the methods of research are keeping up with new trends and new technologies.”
NTI, the group that oversees the Nunavut land claim, passed a unanimous resolution recently calling on the federal and territorial governments to stop all such research. They want meetings held to discuss alternative study methods.
Williams says over the last three years, polar bears in the Davis Strait were tranquilized 2,371 times. About half the entire population of 2,100 bears was at one time chased down by helicopter and shot with a dart containing a small explosive charge that drives the drug into the bear.
“When you get shot with one of these darts, there’s a substantial amount of bruising,” said Williams. “Man, it looks like it hurts.”
NTI also pointed out that of 20 female caribou captured and fitted with radio collars in 2007, at least six and perhaps eight have since died. Last summer, NTI says, federal government researchers drowned six belugas while affixing satellite tracking tags to their backs.
Andrew Derocher, an international polar bear biologist at the University of Alberta, said researchers are already doing their best to tread lightly, turning more often to aerial surveys and genetic studies from snagged hair samples.
He’s sympathetic to demands for more use of traditional knowledge, pointing out that it is now routine to incorporate such experience into research designs. But he said capture-and-tag methods give scientists some of their most revealing data, information essential to managing populations facing pressure from both man and nature.
“You can get by with much less information if you’re prepared to harvest at a lower rate,” he said.
Steve Ferguson, a federal marine mammal researcher, says the methods of Canadian scientists and their relationships with Aboriginals stack up well internationally. But both could still improve. “There has to be more dialogue and more work with northern communities,” he said. New technology will get less and less intrusive all the time, he added.
Part of the conflict is cultural. Southerners think it normal to handle food animals; Inuit consider it an insult to the animal.
There is also concern about traces of drugs left in animals that may be eaten later. NTI says Agriculture Canada has advised hunters not to eat animals for a year after they have been tranquillized.
“If you go to a restaurant down south and there’s a hair in your soup, what do you do with that soup?” asks Williams. “Do you pick the hair out of it and just eat the soup?
“Probably not. It’s the same feeling that Inuit get when they catch an animal that has a sign that it has been handled.”
Nunavut environment minister Patterk Netser suggests the NTI protest is motivated by hunters unhappy over the territo
ry’s decision to reduce bear hunting quotas, a decision based on scientific information.
“That has a lot to do with it,” he said. “I’ve been under extensive scrutiny over my decision to reduce the quotas.”
Netser characterized NTI’s position as “ranting and raving.” He conceded such opinions are both longstanding and widely shared – last spring, the Qikiqtaaluk Wildlife Board protested over pictures of a whale that appeared to be suffering from the satellite tracker on its back – but Netser said the territory has no plans to change its research methods.
“We’ve made a decision to continue to do what we’ve been doing.”
The melding of traditional knowledge and western science is a work in progress, said Derocher.
“We're keen to look methods of reducing invasiveness all the time. We all have the same long-term objective.”