Canada has to do a better job of consulting First Nations on the coming ban on leghold traps, says the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada.
The country’s 1,200 Inuit trappers use mostly leghold traps to catch Arctic fox and other animals, said Eric Loring, environmental coordinator for the Inuit Tapirisat.
But information about the ban isn’t filtering down to the trappers, he said.
Loring said he doesn’t even know if it will be illegal to own a leghold trap, or merely to use one. “That’s the thing. There needs to be better consultation.”
Loring’s comments are significant because the Inuit Tapirisat has a seat on the Fur Institute of Canada’s Aboriginal Communications Committee. The Fur Institute is the non-Native agency hired by Indian Affairs for several million dollars to inform trappers about the changes and develop new “humane” traps.
The Inuit, Assembly of First Nations and Métis National Council say the Fur Institute is doing a poor job of informing Natives.
“I don’t think Native people are adequately represented by the Fur Institute,” Loring said. “The problem is they have an old government voice. They don’t really have an idea what Aboriginal organizations are trying to do.”
Loring did applaud Ottawa for helping the Inuit fight the European seal-products ban a few years back. But he chided Ottawa for not consulting Natives when it agreed to the leghold-trap ban in the first place in 1997. He said proper consultation is vital at this stage of the game.
Alison Beal, the Ottawa-based Fur Institute’s executive director, insisted that the institute is collaborating with national Aboriginal organizations to inform Natives.
“Oh, yeah,” she replied when asked if there was cooperation. “Nobody has said don’t do it. One’s hopeful that we’re working cooperatively.”
Indian Affairs official Smokey Bruyere acknowledged Natives were never consulted on the leghold ban. “We didn’t have time to do that. How much time is it going to take to have those meetings across the country?”
