Environment Minister: ‘I don’t support a total ban’ on Baffin Island caribou

Meetings take place today and tomorrow in Iqaluit to discuss how to deal with the declining Baffin Island caribou.

An aerial survey in 2012 confirmed a drastic decline in the numbers in the South Baffin: a drop from 60,000 to 180,000 in the 1990s to less than 5,000.

In the legislature Friday, Arviat South MLA Joe Savikataaq put the question to Environment Minister Johnny Mike: "Is a total ban on caribou hunting on Baffin Island on the table?"

"No," replied Mike. "I don't support that recommendation."

That prompted Savikataaq, a former wildlife officer, to ask a follow-up question.

“With the hunting going at the same rate, is there going to be a restriction then or are we just going to continue hunting them as they are today?”

Mike went on to say that “the total ban on caribou hunting and whether it is part of the deliberations is something that I can’t reveal.”

However, he repeated that he does not support the idea of a total ban.

The Department of Environment, Qikiqtaaluk Wildlife Board and Nunavut Tunngavik are holding a workshop today and tomorrow with representatives from 10 Baffin hunters and trappers associations, elders and members of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.

Any restrictions on hunting the animals would be a first for Inuit on Baffin Island. 

Mike says it could take many years — even decades — before caribou numbers rebound.