Federal summit on bears invites polar opposites

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A polar bear mother and her two cubs are shown in Wapusk National Park on the shore of Hudson Bay near Churchill. (JONATHAN HAYWARD / THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES)

But the gathering will happen behind closed doors, with media barred from attending and the official list of speakers under wraps.

Jim Prentice, the federal environment minister, set up the gathering to hash out protection plans for the polar bear, whose numbers in Canada are placed at between 12,000 and 15,000 by the World Conservation Union. It is estimated that declines in the sea ice needed for bears to hunt could cause populations in the Arctic to drop by two-thirds by 2050.

Of Canada's 13 bear sub-populations, "eight of them are either declining, depleted, or showing all the ecological signs of stress," said Peter Ewins, WWF Canada's director of species conservation, who will speak at the round table.

Fur could fly at Friday's gathering, where talk of waning sea ice, declining bear numbers and overhunting could be dismissed by Nunavut representatives. Polar bear hunting is allowed in the territory, and Inuit groups say their traditional knowledge gives them a better understanding of bear populations, which they've argued are healthy.

The Frontier Centre for Public Policy, a Winnipeg-based think-tank, has organized its own lecture today with Mitch Taylor, a biologist who has argued polar bears can adapt to environmental changes. Taylor co-authored last year's Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) report, recommending a "species of special concern" status for polar bears. That report was criticized by Canadian scientists for not going far enough.

Environment Canada has not released an agenda for Friday's session or said who will take part. Spokeswoman Paula Franchellini said participants are still being confirmed.

Prentice's spokesman, Frédéric Baril, said the summit is "primarily a discussion between key stakeholders," and that media are welcome to attend a press conference afterward.

One Canadian polar bear specialist wonders why there are no polar bear researchers on the agenda.

"The federal government has people who work on this question, and yet they're not being asked to present their view," said Andrew Derocher, chair of the polar bear specialist group run by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Derocher was invited to the round table, but only as a guest, he said.

Speakers at the event will reportedly include COSEWIC chair Jeff Hutchings, Harry Flaherty of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, Gabriel Nirlungayuk of Inuit land claims group Nunavut Tunngavik and Manitoba Conservation Minister Stan Struthers.

Ewins hopes the gathering can generate a co-ordinated conservation plan for polar bears, more federal resources for research and greater precautions in northern development.

Derocher said he's glad the bears are important enough to warrant the round table, but fears a major threat to the animals might be missed.

"You have to be cautiously optimistic. It's not very often we get the minister of environment for Canada sitting down at the table with other provincial ministers to discuss a single species," Derocher said. "But the long-term solution for polar bears is really dealing with climate change, and that's not going to be on the agenda for Friday's meeting."

lindsey.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

What kind of protection do polar bears get in Canada?

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada lists bears as a species of "special concern," one of the lowest-risk designations. Some scientists want to see that status upgraded to the "threatened" designation that was given to polar bears in the United States last year. However, that move drew the ire of Canadian Inuit groups, who said it would harm their local economies.

In Manitoba, polar bears were designated as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act last year.
 

How are Manitoba’s bears doing?

 Not so well, according to a recent study. A three-year study that ended in 2006 found 935 bears in the western Hudson Bay area, compared to roughly 1,200 bears counted in the mid-1990s.

 What about the rest of them?

Canada has 13 sub-populations of polar bears, and not all of them face the same threats. Some populations are in decline, but others haven’t shown serious changes. WWF Canada director of species conservation Peter Ewins said that’s be­cause melting sea ice could take decades to affect bears that live further north, so conservation efforts have to consider regional differences.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 15, 2009 A6