Current Projects

The BQCMB is, at any given time, involved in the review of numerous projects that have the potential to impact caribou. The most recent is the Caribou Harvest Reporting Project.

Caribou Harvest Reporting

The BQCMB has been developing a caribou harvest reporting project since late 2016 in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut in partnership with several HTOs. The BQCMB is grateful for financial support from the Nunavut General Monitoring Plan and WWF-Canada.

BQCMB biologist Leslie Wakelyn has conducted two meetings in each of four Kivalliq communities that harvest from the Qamanirjuaq herd – Arviat, Baker Lake, Rankin Inlet and Whale Cove – to ensure the project is based on their suggestions. A harvest calendar and other interview materials have been developed and are being translated into Inuktitut.

The HTOs will hire local people to help recruit caribou harvesters to participate in the project, provide participants with information (in English and Inuktitut), and conduct two sets of interviews about their community’s harvest and observations about caribou.

The information will be collected anonymously and belong to the HTOs. The BQCMB will use summary information about Qamanirjuaq caribou harvest numbers to conduct its vulnerability assessment of the herd and to show how valuable the herd is to the communities and regions that use it.

Wakelyn explained that this is meant to be part of a multi-jurisdictional project that uses Qamanirjuaq harvest information from across the herd’s range.

Governments departments for all four caribou range jurisdictions – Nunavut, NWT, Manitoba and Saskatchewan – will be providing harvest data they collect from resident hunters, outfitted hunts and other commercial harvests where appropriate.

The Athabasca Denesuline and GNWT will provide summary harvest information for the relevant SK and NWT communities.

Draft Nunavut Land Use Plan

When finalized, the new Nunavut Land Use Plan will replace the Keewatin Regional Land Use Plan (approved in 1995) and will apply to all of Nunavut. The new Plan has been under development by the Nunavut Planning Commission (NPC) since 2005, and the BQCMB has been providing written input to the formal process since 2010.

Approved and draft plans are available on NPC’s website. A map shows the land use designations proposed by the 2016 Draft Plan, which is the version currently under review.

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We urge NPC to do the right thing and ensure that long-term protection for caribou calving and post-calving areas is provided in the Nunavut Land Use Plan.
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[button size=”small” style=”coffee” url=”/pdf/BQCMB-NPC_comments on 2016DNLUP_13Jan17.pdf” target=”” icon=”fa-file-o” popup=”” title=””]Download[/button] January 2017 – BQCMB Comments on 2016 Draft Nunavut Land Use Plan

January 13, 2017 submission from the BQCMB to the Nunavut Planning Commission (NPC) on the 2016 Draft NU Land Use Plan (DNLUP).

July 2016 – Revised 2016 Draft Nunavut Land Use Plan

[button size=”small” style=”coffee” url=”/pdf/BQCMB-NPC_comments on 2014DNLUP and technical sessions_4Mar16.pdf” target=”” icon=”fa-file-o” popup=”” title=””]Download[/button] March 2016 – BQCMB Comments on 2014 Draft Nunavut Land Use Plan and Technical Sessions

March 4, 2016 submission from the BQCMB to the Nunavut Planning Commission (NPC) on the Draft Nunavut Land Use Plan and issues that arose during NPC’s technical sessions in June and July 2015 and January 2016. This letter primarily summarizes input provided to NPC in previous submissions, and was the basis for the verbal presentations and comments provided at the Caribou Workshop in Iqaluit in early March.

[button size=”small” style=”coffee” url=”/pdf/Bennett-Tootooletter.pdf” target=”” icon=”fa-file-o” popup=”” title=””]Download[/button] December 2015 – Letter from the BQCMB to the Government of Canada

Letter from the BQCMB to the Hon. Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs and the Hon. Hunter Tootoo, Member of Parliament for Nunavut congratulating the new Ministers and introducing the BQCMB.

The letter reiterates the Board’s concern about the lack of protection for important barren-ground caribou habitats such as calving and post-calving areas, and the apparent disregard of federal Caribou Protection Measures in the Draft Nunavut Land Use Plan.

The letter also notes the impasse preventing progress in the Nunavut land use planning process, and calls for an immediate moratorium on the issuance of any new mineral tenures, mineral exploration permits and licenses, and development approvals on calving grounds and post-calving areas in Nunavut.
[button size=”small” style=”coffee” url=”/pdf/BQCMB-NPC_follow-up.pdf” target=”” icon=”fa-file-o” popup=”” title=””]Download[/button] August 2015 – Letter from the BQCMB to the NPC

Letter from the BQCMB to the NPC that includes recommendations about timing of the Public Hearing on the 2014 Draft Nunavut Land Use Plan and comments on proposed caribou workshop(s) and other key issues relevant to caribou. Issues of particular concern to the Board, which arose from review of the 2014 Draft Plan, proposals made by other parties in their comments to NPC on the 2014 Draft Plan, and discussions during NPC technical meetings from June 23-25 and July 14-16, 2015, included:

down-grading protection of calving areas with high mineral potential and grandfathering of all existing mineral tenures (including those on calving grounds) to allow for any exploration and development activities up to and including establishment of mines;
uncertainty about the future status of the Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary and plans for protection of caribou calving grounds contained within the current boundaries of the Sanctuary;
apparent lack of protection for key caribou water crossings on the Thelon and Kazan Heritage Rivers; and
lack of clarity regarding plans for designation of areas included in potential road corridors, including the Manitoba-Kivalliq road corridor through spring migration and calving areas used by the Qamanirjuaq caribou herd.

[button size=”small” style=”coffee” url=”/pdf/BQCMB-NPC_techmeetingsub-2014_DNLUP.pdf” target=”” icon=”fa-file-o” popup=”” title=””]Download[/button] June 2015 – BQCMB comments for NPC technical meetings on the 2014 Draft Nunavut Land Use Plan (DNLUP), held in Iqaluit in late June and mid-July, 2015

In the covering letter, the BQCMB acknowledged “the significant efforts made by NPC to offer protection for caribou habitat in the 2014 DNLUP and the substantive changes made to the 2012 DNLUP on this topic, including changes made in response to some of the recommendations made by the BQCMB.”

The letter stated that technical issues remained which should be discussed during the technical meeting so that necessary revisions to the DNLUP could be identified. Detailed information about the BQCMB’s long-held position on protection of caribou calving and post-calving areas and 11 technical issues related to the DNLUP’s proposals for managing caribou habitat is included with the letter.

[button size=”small” style=”coffee” url=”/pdf/comments_on_dnlup.pdfBQCMB-NPC_techmeetingsub-2014_DNLUP.pdf” target=”” icon=”fa-file-o” popup=”” title=””]Download[/button] February 2014 – BQCMB Comments on Draft Nunavut Land Use Plan

In February 2014, the BQCMB submitted extensive comments to the Nunavut Planning Commission (NPC) on the Draft Nunavut Land Use Plan. When finalized, the new plan will replace the Keewatin Regional Land Use Plan and will apply to all of Nunavut.

In its cover letter, the BQCMB stressed it is not against mining or economic development but believes it is essential that key important caribou habitats are protected. The Board’s position is that exploration and development must not be permitted in caribou calving and post-calving areas.

As part of its submission, the Board provided ample evidence that the protection of caribou calving and post-calving areas is extremely important to caribou harvesters and the organizations that represent them. Resolutions and other statements made by 11 organizations representing caribou harvesters, including all three of Nunavut’s regional wildlife boards, five Kivalliq hunters’ and trappers’ organizations and three Aboriginal organizations that represent harvesters outside Nunavut, were included as part of the BQCMB’s 44-page submission.

The letter also noted that the need for effective land use planning for Nunavut has never been greater, given the growing pressures placed on the land, the potential for accelerating exploration and development activity and cumulative effects, and the increasing vulnerabilities of caribou and other wildlife species.

The BQCMB’s view was that the options recommended in the 2012 Draft Plan did not adequately reflect the ecological, cultural and economic importance of caribou or ensure that land use planning supports the long-term future of healthy caribou herds.

The Board made 11 recommendations for revising the 2012 Draft Plan that focused on incorporating measures for protecting key caribou habitat, clarifying processes related to cumulative impacts and trans-boundary effects and describing why some provisions of the current r were not carried over into the new draft plan.

The Board also stated that it would participate in the final hearing on the final land use plan.