Minister approves northern moose, elk hunt

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This article was published 26/06/2024 (502 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba will proceed with a big game hunt in the north this year.

Some non-Indigenous hunters worried they would be shut out because of an unexplained delay in the June 21 draw for moose and elk licences and the demand by northern First Nations that the province cancel it.

“We had a slight pause in the big game draw so we can reassess some of the available data in some areas,” Natural Resources Minister Jamie Moses said Wednesday.

“Nothing is being cancelled.”

Northern chiefs, who met with the minister last week, asked for hunting to be off-limits to non-Indigenous people, in areas where moose — an important source of food for Indigenous communities — appear to be in decline.

“We need to establish the right of first priority to ensure that our food needs are met before licensed hunting tags are issued,” Misipawistik Cree Nation Chief Heidi Cook said Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak issued a news release asserting First Nations’ treaty right to top priority to harvest game and fish for food.

“The First Nation right of top priority flows from the Crown’s treaty promise that nations ‘shall have right to pursue their avocations of hunting and fishing throughout the tract surrendered’,” Grand Chief Garrision Settee said in the release.

Chris Heald of the Manitoba Wildlife Federation said all groups must share the resource.

“We fully support Indigenous rights to harvest,” but they don’t have “exclusive priority,” the senior policy advisor said.

The federation posted online that it will “take any steps necessary to defend our outdoor heritage and legally enshrined right to hunt in this province.”

The group is concerned it’s being left in the dark.

Heald said the minister hasn’t met with them or explained why the non-Indigenous big game draw was delayed.

Moses reportedly met only with northern First Nations to discuss the matter, he said.

“It’s not fair to meet with one group and not the other. It’s counterproductive to reconciliation,” he said. “In an ideal world, we should all be at the table.”

Fourth-generation hunter Melanie MacCarthy, who is president of the Manitoba Lodges & Outfitters Association, said she was entered in the June 21 big game draw and is also concerned about the delay, and whether non-Indigenous hunters are being left out.

“What is currently happening is laying a foundation for further division in our province,” said MacCarthy.

“That’s the last thing we need. We’ve been put through so many years of division — this is not where we need to go.”

Moses said his department is listening to Indigenous communities and non-Indigenous stakeholders “to make sure we get the decision right.”

He said they’d release hunting data from the area and big game licences on or before July 12. He did not say whether the province would reduce the number of licences in the draw.

Cook, who is from Grand Rapids, said she was happy with MKO’s meeting with the minister last week. She said Moses listened to their concerns about the province needing to do a better job of monitoring the moose population to protect it.

“It seems like the government is at least listening now to the concerns and contemplating taking some kind of action to address those conservation concerns,” the chief said.

“If we hunt until they’re all gone, then nobody’s going to hunt. There’s no moose hunting licences if there are no moose,” Cook said.

Heald agrees the northern moose population must be monitored more effectively.

“Without data, how are you making any decisions? Nobody wins if the last one’s shot,” Heald said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca