NUNAVUT JOINS BQCMB

The new kid on the Canadian block is now the newest board partner

The government of Nunavut has signed the Beverly-Qamanirjuaq Barren Ground Caribou Management Agreement, joining users and the governments of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories in co-managing the nearly 800,000 Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou.

Nunavut is represented by David Kritterdlik of Whale Cove, George Kuksuk of Arviat, and — new to the board — regional biologist Mitch Campbell of Arviat. All three were appointed in October by Peter Kilabuk, minister of Nunavut’s Department of Sustainable Development.

“I look forward to my future association with the board and the important work they do for caribou management,” Kilabuk told Caribou News in Brief.

Kritterdlik and Kuksuk were already BQCMB members before division of the NWT earlier this year. Both had been re-nominated by the Keewatin Wildlife Federation, and represent largely Inuit communities in the Keewatin.

Campbell came to Arviat more than a year ago from the Newfoundland provincial government’s Department of Forest Resources and Agrifoods in Goose Bay. Kritterdlik, the BQCMB’s chairman, is pleased that Nunavut has come on board, and with the security that development symbolizes.

“We need to be looking at more long-term future of the board than just going from year to year.” People from other regions in Nunavut, such as the Baffin and Kitikmeot, have already commented that an ongoing organization is needed to deal with caribou issues.

The BQCMB now has 12 members, eight representing traditional users and four representing provincial and territorial governments.

AROUND THE RANGE

Fire away the suggestions

This November, public meetings get underway in northern Saskatchewan communities as the provincial government consults with residents to find out what changes they want made to fire-fighting policies. BQCMB member Tim Trottier urged the board to recommend wiping out the primary and secondary zone system that is in place now, because it gives top priority to valuable timber, found in the south and the primary zone. The board’s recent report, Protecting Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou and Caribou Habitat, identifies priority zones for caribou habitat protection, plus the board’s 1994 fire management reports recommend a number of changes.

By mid-September, Saskatchewan had experienced 725 fires this year, down from last year’s 1,235 fires for the same period. There were 168 fires in the NWT in 1999, down from 399 the previous year.

Southern opposition to wolf harvesting remains strong

Saskatchewan Dene plan to take NWT’s Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development (RWED) up on its offer to conduct an information session on the controversial wolf hunting issue in an Athabascan community. BQCMB member Jimmy Laban, who asked for the workshop following negative media coverage and public protests over the 1998 commercial wolf hunt by some Saskatchewan hunters at Rennie Lake, NWT, hoped a workshop could be held by the end of November. Letters of protest are still pouring in to RWED, says Fort Smith’s Sam Ransom. Athabascan hunters need to know about the anti-wolf harvesting sentiments of southerners, he adds, and what the repercussions could be to the fur industry, because by discussing these issues, residents will be better equipped to “respond to the rights of people to harvest wildlife.”

Thinking big

Outfitter and wildlife biologist Alex Hall of Fort Smith has a dream: to build on the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary and the Queen Maud Migratory Bird Sanctuary in order to create the largest protected area on Earth. The BQCMB has recommended both the governments of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories support the idea, given its caribou management and conservation appeal. BQCMB member August Enzoe says the Lutselk’e Wildlife, Lands and Environment Committee is planning to examine the proposal at its November meeting.

Resource management for the South Slave

BQCMB vice-chairman Bas Oosenbrug was invited to speak about the role of the board and its relationship with aboriginal organizations at a South Slave Interim Resource Management Assistance workshop slated for Oct. 19 in Fort Smith. The workshop was organized on behalf of Indian Affairs and First Nation and Métis groups in the mineral-rich South Slave region, which includes not only the range of the sizable Bathurst herd, but part of the Beverly herd as well.

BQCMB meeting

Winnipeg welcomes board members to their next meeting, set for Nov. 26 – 28 at the Viscount Gort Hotel. Plans to stage a September meeting at Damant Lake, NWT, a traditional area on the caribou range, were waylaid because of budget restrictions. However, the board will discuss the possibility of getting to Damant Lake in the year 2000 at their Winnipeg meeting.

BREAKTHROUGH!

Court case on hold as task of resolving Dene hunting concerns in Nunavut gets underway

Summer brought good news for people in Lac Brochet, Brochet and Tadoule Lake as former Indian Affairs minister Jane Stewart, Sayisi Dene First Nation chief Ila Bussidor and Northlands Band First Nation chief John Dantouze signed a Memorandum of Understanding to start settling issues regarding asserted treaty and aboriginal rights of Manitoba Dene hunting inside Nunavut’s borders.

By the beginning of September, Indian Affairs negotiator Nigel Wilford and Dene negotiators Ernie Bussidor of Tadoule Lake and Jerome Denechezhe of Lac Brochet (who is also a BQCMB member) had rolled up their sleeves and drafted a workplan. The group was scheduled to do another working session Oct. 27-28.

Because of the Memorandum of Understanding, a court case launched by Manitoba Dene in 1993 that called for moving the border of Nunavut closest to Manitoba and Saskatchewan 200 kilometres north has been put on hold. Dene wanted Nunavut’s border pushed out of their traditional hunting grounds north of 60. If negotiators can’t reach a settlement, though, the Manitoba Dene could continue their legal action against the federal government.

The court case is against the federal government, not Nunavut, because the federal government signed treaties in 1906 and 1910 with the two Dene bands, and then negotiated overlapping Dene lands under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (NLCA) with the Inuit of Nunavut in 1993. Dene allege that hunting rights outlined in Article 40 of the NLCA don’t jive with their previously defined treaty rights.

BQCMB chairman David Kritterdlik, who has made resolving the Dene hunting rights dispute his top priority, pressed the issue this spring in a meeting with Nunavut MLA Hunter Tootoo, chairman of the Nunavut government’s Ajauqtiit committee, and its co-chairman, MLA Ovide Alakannuark.

The committee is responsible for issues related to the Nunavut government’s obligations under the NLCA. However, in an interview with Caribou News in Brief, Tootoo emphasized that only Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI) is responsible for overseeing implementation of the claim.

(NTI is also pushing for solutions on wildlife overlap areas disputed by other aboriginal groups. At the August meeting of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, NTI 2nd Vice-President Raymond Ningeocheak said that settling caribou and wolf issues with Saskatchewan was one of five priority issues earmarked by NTI.)

Tootoo says after speaking with Kritterdlik, “I wrote a letter to the minister (Minister Peter Kilabuk of the Department of Sustainable Development), asking if he would take the lead role in initiating some type of agreement,” not only with Manitoba, but with neighboring Saskatchewan and NWT as well.

Pat Best, executive assistant to the minister, says the government of Nunavut hasn’t had an opportunity yet to explore the co-management issue further, and may not be able to do so until the department is fully staffed.

FINLAND CONFERENCE

The name’s Prancer: Joe Tetlichi, chairman of the Porcupine Caribou Management Board (foreground) and his BQCMB counterpart, David Kritterdlik, became acquainted with some reindeer at a farm outside the city of Rovaniemi, Finland (below), a country where “it’s Christmas every day” thanks to a nearby Santa Claus Village, says Kritterdlik. He and Tetlichi were in Rovaniemi in February 1999 as part of an international conference on the human role in reindeer/caribou systems. Canadians and Alaskans appeared to have the world’s only remaining caribou hunting societies, though — most conference participants were interested in herding, not hunting. Still, “we did talk a lot about some common issues,” says Kritterdlik.

COLLARING OF BEVERLY HERD STALLED

Elders from Lutselk’e have told officials from NWT’s Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development (RWED) that they don’t want Beverly caribou to wear satellite collars.

For now, this ends a proposed collaring project that had won over support from Athabascan Dene in Saskatchewan and a promise of $154,000 in funding from different agencies and government departments. However, the offer of money from the West Kitikmeot South Slave Society, RWED, the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, and the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board may no longer be on the table after this year.

Using interpreters, several Lutselk’e elders spoke with RWED officials in early July in a meeting that was originally scheduled with Lutselk’e Chief Felix Lockhart and members of the Lutselk’e Wildlife, Lands and Environment Committee (WLEC). As it turned out, the chief, most band councillors and members of the WLEC were out of town and unavailable for the meeting.

The elders voiced their fears plainly.

“They (were) kind of scared, like, might be an effect on the caribou by collaring,” such as starvation or other consequences down the road, says WLEC chairman Charlie Catholique. “These collars are not made for caribou to put on its neck like that.”

Also, “like in olden days, didn’t really used to have that before. Even without a collar, they still go a long ways for caribou, try to track caribou down.”

Catholique says people in Lutselk’e have been told that wildlife managers want to collar the Beverly herd because it will be easier to track them as migration routes change. He also recognizes the collars would save hunters money.

“Without a collar, you can go a long way to search by plane in the air.”

Athabascan Dene from Saskatchewan support collaring the Beverly herd, however. BQCMB member Jimmy Laban of Black Lake says Athabascan Dene have asked to meet with the WLEC and elders to review the collaring issue. By early October, Saskatchewan Dene had not yet received a reply.

But Laban was still hoping for a meeting by March, 2000. “If nothing comes up, the money will go somewhere else.”

PROJECT PROVES TK CAN FIT WELL WITH SCIENCE

When Tadoule Lake’s Geoff Bussidor and four local high school students questioned Dene elders about the caribou habitat of a small nearby area earlier this year, what they learned did more than simply help the students plot a highly detailed map.

Their findings proved that traditional knowledge (TK) can be collected and added into the BQCMB’s important caribou habitat data base. The elders’ knowledge of caribou distribution, migration routes, water crossings and seasonal habitat use could all be mapped. What’s more, the pilot project has created a method for gathering TK that can be used in other communities.

The $5,000 project was funded by the BQCMB. Calm Air provided transportation to Thompson, where Manitoba Natural Resources donated the use of their offices’ computerized Geographic Information System.

Stephanie Thorassie, Stephen Thorassie, Cynthia Clipping and Cedar Cheekie of Peter Yassie Memorial School took notes while Bussidor, the project co-ordinator, asked elders questions in Dene. (Charlie Kithithee, Alex Kithithee, Sam Yassie, David Duck Sr., Ronnie John Bussidor and Fred Duck were the elders inteviewed.) Bussidor also translated responses into English for those students who didn’t understand Dene as well.

It was a learning experience for everyone.

“I liked actually going to the elders and them telling us about the past and about our ancestors,” said Stephanie Thorassie, “and helping us learn about the people we were.”

Between answering questions, “they told short stories and it was pretty interesting,” added Stephen Thorassie. The students found the elders easily opened up to youth who were keen to know more about the past.

Bussidor had also ensured that, by speaking to the elders in their own home, at times convenient to the elders, the interview process was a comfortable one.
Jimmy Laban (left) and Joe Martin listen while Manitoba’s Cam Elliott outlines the students’ mapping achievements during the BQCMB’s May meeting in Arviat

Descriptive language

The way the elders phrased things in the Dene language was intriguing too, Clipping thought.

Bussidor says the fact that elders even name various water crossings was news to officials with Manitoba Natural Resources.

Thai gha nilinini, for example, means “where the river crosses the esker.” Once the research and mapping was completed, the students, who each earned a honorarium, presented a summary of their work to their classmates. From start to finish, the project was an enjoyable experience for the Tadoule Lake students.

A job, says Clipping, that she “wouldn’t mind doing again.”

CARIBOU MANAGEMENT SCHOLARSHIP FUND

The BQCMB’s Caribou Management Scholarship Fund is encouraging applications from students proposing research on Canadian barren-ground caribou until Jan. 31, 2000. Students from one of the communities on the Beverly/Qamanirjuaq range get top priority. For more details, contact: Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies (ACUNS), Suite 405, 17 York St., Ottawa ON K1N 9J6. Phone: (613) 562-0515, fax: (613) 562-0533, e-mail: acuns@cyberus.ca. Their web site is: aix1.uottawa.ca/associations/aucen-acuns

CD-ROM MAPS OUT KEY CARIBOU HABITATS

An expanded, map-rich version of Protecting Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou and Caribou Range will be out on CD-ROM soon after the board’s November meeting. Board members will view the finished product beforehand.

With 75 maps of the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou range, 30 tables summarizing sources of data, a water- and ice-crossings rating system, and the entire 52-page report published in January 1999, the CD-ROM is a tiny yet powerful tool. It’s intended to help land use planning, protected areas planning and other types of resource management planning, as well as impact assessment work on the caribou range.

Maps sum up all satellite-monitoring data, caribou life cycle survey data, and data about water and ice crossings used by caribou. Several maps capture caribou distribution and movements for each life cycle period. More detailed maps are devoted to timeframes with the most data, such as the calving period.

BRACING FOR WACKY WEATHER

Over the next 40 years, the world’s climate will change drastically because of global warming. Since deep snows, summer temperatures and the timing of the spring melt all affect herd numbers, changes to the weather call for a new offensive plan in tackling caribou herd management.

That’s where biologist Don Russell of the Canadian Wildlife Service and a Porcupine Caribou Management Board member, Gary Kofinas, an adjunct professor with the University of British Columbia’s Institute for Resources and Environment, and Brad Griffith of the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, are hoping to help. They want to share their experience with regional monitoring and assessment of the Porcupine caribou herd in the Yukon/Alaska area, a system that incorporates local and traditional knowledge.

Using traditional knowledge and scientific research to manage the herds is one of the BQCMB’s top priorities. Earlier this year, a BQCMB-funded traditional knowledge project conducted in Tadoule Lake proved that traditional knowledge can be collected and added to the board’s important habitats data base.

Russell, Griffith and Kofinas have received funding under the Canadian government’s Climate Change Action Fund for a two-year project that would see them working with the BQCMB and the communities to get monitoring started for either the Beverly herd, the Qamanirjuaq herd, or both. Working with communities to gather locals’ knowledge is pivotal.

The trio also wishes to draw heavily on existing information about the herds, such as the BQCMB’s recently released report, Protecting Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou and Caribou Range.

The goal is to leave wildlife managers and people living on the herd range with the tools to continue monitoring — and help them better manage — the caribou herds as wacky weather changes the face of the North.

Kofinas stresses that they will take their lead from residents and the BQCMB when it comes to the overall project, and won’t go in with a “ready-made plan.” With the Porcupine herd, caribou users, managers and scientists together agreed on indicators of change that they should keep an eye on. It’s likely people connected to the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq herd will want to do the same, benefitting from the knowledge of how things went with the Porcupine herd.

Russell, who plans to speak to board members about the monitoring project at the November meeting in Winnipeg, hopes the BQCMB will become the “client” on the project. That means Russell and his colleagues would report progress to, and obtain direction and advice from, the BQCMB. A broader goal is to refine the analysis techniques for an international market.

PEOPLE AND CARIBOU

Nunavut’s first minister of Sustainable Development, the department overseeing wildlife management in Canada’s newest territory, is Peter Kilabuk, a former Renewable Resources patrol officer, Parks Canada park officer and municipal bylaw enforcement officer. Nunavut’s new Institutions of Public Government, including the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, work with Kilabuk’s department. . . . Elsewhere, other new political players include Robert Nault, who replaced former federal Indian Affairs minister Jane Stewart in August. . . . Manitoba and Saskatchewan’s recent provincial elections fuelled changes at the ministerial level too. Buckley Belanger has taken over from Lorne Scott as minister of Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management. And the shift from a Conservative to NDP government in Manitoba also paved the way for Oscar Lathlin becoming minister of the Department of Conservation, a new entity that replaces Manitoba Natural Resources and Manitoba Environment. Glenn Cummings was previously minister of Manitoba Natural Resources.

Among the handful of guests at the BQCMB’s May meeting in Arviat was Keewatin Wildlife Federation (KWF) president David Alagalak, who said he was glad to speak to the board since his community, Arviat, depends heavily on the Qamanirjuaq caribou. He also made an enthusiastic suggestion that the board expand to include management of the Wager Bay herd, as well as herds on Southampton and Coats islands. Alagalak said he could imagine a single caribou management board for all herds in the future. Also at the meeting was the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board’s director of wildlife Michelle Wheatley, who participated in discussions during the meeting.

Hard at work during the Arviat meeting was local photographer Pierre Koomuk, who snapped some of the shots that appear in this issue of Caribou News in Brief.

The BQCMB’s Saskatchewan government representative, biologist Tim Trottier, will continue to sit in on board meetings even though he’s on a year-long leave of absence from his job with Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management until September 2000. Meanwhile, biologist Michael Goodyear, a former resident of northern Manitoba who majored in boreal ecology while studying natural sciences, is filling in for Trottier at the office, and he’ll attend BQCMB meetings too.

The old saying in New York is “if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.” Well, in a sense, the BQCMB briefly “made it” in New York — not New York the city, but New York the state. Norm Simmons, the former director of wildlife management in the NWT who helped to negotiate the intergovernmental caribou management agreement in 1981, singled out the BQCMB for praise as a model of pre-land claims co-management during a slide show on successful co-management that he presented during the 1998 Wildlife Society Conference in Buffalo, New York last September. Research scientists, educators, communications specialists, conservation law enforcement officers, resource managers, administrators, and students from more than 60 countries around the globe are members of the Society, and the conference drew close to 1,800 people. An audience of about 125 watched Simmons’ slide show with great interest. Simmons, along with colleagues Alasdair Veitch and Jan Adamczewski, is now working on a major paper along the same lines, to be published in the scientific quarterly magazine, Wildlife Society Bulletin.

Anne Kendrick, a former BQCMB Scholarship winner, is working on an interdisciplinary PhD on caribou co-management at the University of Manitoba’s Natural Resources Institute. Meanwhile, Fort Smith’s Jayda Mercredi, a third-year environmental studies pupil at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, has written a paper on the history of the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq herds, the need for the caribou management board, and the developmental factors that may threaten the herds. The industrious Mercredi, daughter of BQCMB member Richard Mercredi, is also waiting to receive her native studies degree from the University of Saskatchewan. Mercredi, who plans to return to the North, believes “any development that occurs should take place responsibly and consider the effects on the people, their lifestyle and the environment.” With native studies and environmental degrees in hand, she hopes “to give something back to the place I grew up, the North.”

Prolific Ottawa filmmaker George Mully, who produced the board’s 1996 video, The Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board: A Model for Co-Management, died earlier this year at the age of 73. The tireless Mully had enough energy to put people decades younger to shame. While shooting a 1995 meeting in Winnipeg, he and his assistant, Angus Kaanerk Cockney, labored till close to 2 a.m., adjusting lighting and setting up equipment. The two were back on the job for 9 the next morning.

Copies of the BQCMB’s video are still in demand.