Something is reducing moose numbers in the southern James Bay Territory and the Quebec government thinks it has an answer. It wants to ban Cree hunting of moose.
“That’s what they’re hinting at,” says Rene Dion, a biologist at the Cree Regional Authority. Dion attended a meeting of trappers in Waswanipi June 9 to discuss the falling moose numbers. Dion said the moose population has decreased by half in just five years. “It’s a crisis,” he said.
Crees have warned the Quebec government for years about the problem, calling on the government to stop issuing clearcutting permits in the southern part of the James Bay Territory and to restrict sports hunting by non-natives. At the meeting in Waswanipi, many trappers called for a five-year ban on all forestry and sports hunting starting with this fall’s season.
But so far Quebec has ignored the calls.
Now Quebec officials are pressuring Crees to restrict their own hunting of moose.
Crees may even be asked to stop hunting moose altogether. Quebec is worried that if it restricts only non-native hunting, it will be accused of showing favouritism to Crees, so it could apply the same restrictions across the board.
“Discussions are underway. There are several possibilities,” said an official of the Ministry of Recreation, Hunting and Fishing (MLCP) in Chibougamau. Asked if Crees may be told to stop hunting moose, he was evasive: “Not necessarily.” He said another official would call back with more details, but the call didn’t come before The Nation went to press.
Dion said the Cree right to harvest moose is enshrined in the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. “With all the faults of the James Bay Agreement, there are a few things in there that protect Cree rights,” he said.
In Section 24 of the Agreement, each community is guaranteed a minimum kill of moose per year. If trappers are unable to harvest this minimum, the Agreement says Quebec must restrict sports hunting because Crees have priority. Crees in the southern communities have been unable to get their quotas for years. Waswanipi’s quota is about 130 but only 90 to 100 moose were killed last year. Still, the government hasn’t acted to limit sports hunting or curtail forestry operations that have razed about 50 percent of the Waswanipi First Nation’s territory.
One Elder at the trappers’ meeting in Waswanipi told a haunting story of coming across 21 headless rotting moose carcasses butchered with a chainsaw. Moose heads are prized by sports hunters.
“Crees need the moose and the moose need the Crees in this case. If you keep hunting the way the sports hunters do, I give it four years and there’s no more moose in Zone 17,” said Dion. Zone 17 is the “buffer zone” created by the James Bay Agreement stretching from the 49th parallel to Matagami and Waswanipi. “We’re not only trying to save the population of moose but also the right of harvest,” Dion said.
The moose crisis will be on the agenda at several meetings this summer, including the annual general assembly of the Cree Trappers Association and the assembly of the Waswanipi First Nation July 11-13.
