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Lawyers, bureaucrats wrangle over GN hunting law

“It’s going to be enforced by people who are not Inuktitut-speaking.”

JOHN THOMPSON

Lasalosie Ishulutak from Pangnirtung spoke at this week’s Nunavut Wildlife Management Board meeting about the importance of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, which his parents taught him as he grew up in an outpost camp. He was the sole member of the public to attend on Tuesday. (PHOTO BY JOHN THOMPSON)

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In forceful disagreement with them are representatives, largely Inuit, from regional wildlife organizations and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., who face them from another table across the room.

This odd situation played out on Monday afternoon for four hours, during part of a special meeting held by the Nunavut Wildlife Manage­ment Board.

The proposed regulations, put forward by the Government of Nunavut, would make breaking four tenants of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit while hunting against the law. They are:

• Iliijaqsuittailiniq/ Kimaitailinik, which prohibits malice against wild animals;
• Sirliqsaaqtittittailiniq/ Naklihaaktitihuiluhi, which states that hunters must avoid causing unnecessary suffering to wild animals while hunting;
• Ikpigusuttiarniq Nirjutilimaanik/Pitiaklugitnekyutit, which means all wildlife should be treated with respect; and,
• Pilimmaksarniq/ Ayoikyumikattakhimanik, which means that hunting skills must be improved and maintained through experience and practice.

Just how these IQ regulations will be enforced by conservation officers, who may not speak Inuktitut, is what concerns Gabriel Nirlungayuk, NTI’s director of wildlife. He describes the possibilities of misinterpretation as “pretty scary.”

Even some Inuit hunters in attendance themselves were unsure what some rules meant. One representative of a regional wildlife organization wondered if he would be forced to waste expensive ammunition on target practice, to prove he was improving his skills, or face a penalty from a conservation officer.

Nunavut’s Wildlife Act, which came into force in July 2005, currently includes 13 IQ provisions, including the same four to be introduced as regulations.

Glenn Williams, a wildlife advisor with NTI, said that the proposed regulations only further water down what the IQ principles represent.

“This crude, simplistic translation has been taken another step further, and it’s been put into law, where it’s just one word,” said Williams. “And it’s going to be enforced by people who are not Inuktitut-speaking.”

Williams also warned that these laws could also be enforced by RCMP officers and federal fisheries officers, who also may not have an appropriate understanding of Inuit culture.

“Who decides what malice is? Who decides what unnecessary suffering is? And who decides what is treating wildlife with respect?” asked Williams.

GN officials responded that the proposed IQ regulations were developed because residents demanded them during community consultations for the Wildlife Act.

Rather than pass these rules into territorial law, NTI and the RWOs prefer allowing individual hunter and trapper organizations to create their own IQ bylaws. They say that would give communities the option of deciding whether hunters who break IQ principles should face an elders committee, rather than stand in front of a judge.

“The judge would not be Inuit, and would not hold the knowledge,” said Nirlun­gayuk.

RWO representatives suggested that conservation officers should first consult with HTOs before charges are laid.

But that’s unlikely to happen, said Steve Pinksen, the department of the environment’s director of policy planning and legislation.

“The government is not likely to give up its enforcement responsibility,” Pinksen said.

About 60 Nunavummuit are typically charged every year with wildlife act violations each year, said Pinksen. Of those, about 10 usually make it to court.

Not everyone opposed the proposed IQ laws. Some elders in attendance said they were happy that traditional laws were finally being given recognition. They said younger hunters no longer followed the old ways, and need more training to properly hunt.

NTI representatives countered that hunting education should be provided by HTOs, not by conservation officers.

Discussions on the IQ regulations and other proposed rules took place during a public meeting this week, but any decisions made by the NWMB will be kept secret until its recommendations are reviewed by the appropriate federal and territorial ministers, who are given a chance to either accept or reject the board’s decision.

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