Makivik Corp takes Nunavut to court over southern Hudson Bay polar bear quota
Makivik says Nunavut and and federal environment ministers varied Nunavik board's decision
Nunavik's Makivik Corporation has launched a court challenge of the polar bear quota in southern Hudson Bay.
In its lawsuit filed in the Nunavut Court of Justice, Makivik Corporation — which represents the Inuit of Northern Quebec — says a recent decision by Nunavut and federal ministers on the quota is unfair to Nunavik hunters.
Nunavut and Nunavik Inuit and Quebec and Ontario Cree harvest bears from the southern Hudson Bay population, which is stable. Nunavut's environment minister has oversight of wildlife management in the region.
Up until 2011, Nunavik did not have a harvest management plan for polar bears.
A voluntary agreement on hunting levels was reached in 2011, followed by a second voluntary deal in 2014. That agreement expired in November 2016.
The federal government asked the Nunavik Marine Region Wildlife Board in 2012 to come up with a hunting quota. The NWRMB submitted a decision in July 2015. After its initial decisions were rejected, the NMRWB submitted a final decision in December 2015. In October 2016 both the Nunavut and federal environment ministers varied the NMRWB decision, lowering the decided quota.
"Polar bears are a culturally important species for my people and we have harvested them in this region for millennia," stated executive vice-president Adamie Delisle Alaku in a news release.
"In order to protect our rights and interests, Makivik Corporation feels it has no other option but to petition the courts so as to ensure that Nunavik Inuit receive the fair and equal treatment that is their right under the Nunavik Inuit Land Claims Agreement."
The Government of Nunavut has not filed its defence yet.