'You are taking the food from my fridge': Indigenous hunter shoots down regulating night hunting

When Elissa Gabriel needs to feed her large family she heads out with her husband to go hunting — sometimes at night.

As an Indigenous hunter she says the debate around night time hunting isn't addressing the important part the practice plays for her family and many others.

"You have to consider the families that are out there providing for their families. You have to think about what I have to go through," she said.

"If you take something from me, you are taking something from my whole family. If you take that night hunting from me you are taking the food from my fridge."

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On Tuesday, reeves from across southwestern Manitoba are meeting with Manitoba's Minister of Sustainable Development Cathy Cox to ask for more restrictions on night hunting. They say the practice is both dangerous and irresponsible.

Gabriel lives in Winnipeg but is from Grand Rapids, located about 430 kilometres north. As a person who hunts at night, she said safety always comes first.

"It's also having that good judgement. Just making sure that there are no houses around, there are no other hunters around," she said. "When you are out there you have to have clothing that would identify that you are a hunter."

Night hunting is illegal in Manitoba for non-Indigenous hunters but the Constitution Act (1982) says that First Nations with status have a right to hunt for sustenance uses, provided those areas don't have any restrictions.

Gabriel said she's more likely to hunt at night during regular hunting seasons when non-Indigenous people are also out on the land.

"They mainly just occupy some of the places that we would usually go. So, in the evening that's when we go out and use the moonlight," she said.

Gabriel said she may also use the controversial "spotlighting" technique, where a hunter shines powerful lights on prey. It is legal for Indigenous hunters and she said it's to ensure that the she hits the target.

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For Gabriel and her family — including seven children, a nephew and an extended family throughout the province — hunting isn't just about sport, she added.

"There's not that many people from my family that are able to go hunting that have the privileges of having a vehicle, having the money to buy the gun and the shells and having the time, as well, to go out and provide the meat for the family. So that's my role," she said.

While there are some people who are being unsafe hunting at night, Gabriel said it's not her practice.

"We respect the land, we respect people out there —other hunters that are out there that are hunting safe. That mutual respect goes a long way," she said.