An organization the represents Northern Manitoba First Nations says the provincial government is failing to ensure that Indigenous hunters can harvest enough moose for their own consumption before issuing licences to non-Indigenous hunters.
Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, a political advocacy organization that speaks on behalf of two dozen northern First Nations, says it has written to provincial government officials about this issue three times in the space of nine months and has yet to receive a response.
An initial letter to Premier Heather Stefanson and provincial ministers was sent last Dec. 7, MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee said in a Sept. 16 press release. That was followed by another letter on May 30. On June 7, during a meeting with Indigenous Reconciliation Minister Alan Lagimodiere, MKO repeated its demand that First Nations hunters be given top priority for available moose once conservation goals have been achieved.
“Although Minister Lagimodiere directed provincial officials to ‘have a conversation’ with MKO about MKO’s demands, no such conversation with MKO has been initiated or requested by Manitoba,” Settee said.
MKO sent a third letter to the premier and ministers on Sept. 14, five days before licensed moose hunting in much of the MKO region begins Sept. 19.
MKO’s stance is that non non-Indigenous hunters shouldn’t be given licences to hunt moose in the areas of its First Nations until Indigenous hunters have had the opportunity to catch sufficient moose for First Nations’ members consumption.
Settee said it can be established through traditional knowledge and expert evidence that every moose not protected by conservation regulations could be consumed as food by First Nations.
The Public Interest Law Centre of Legal Aid Manitoba reviewed MKO’s legal opinion and says Supreme Court of Canada rulings dating back 30 years establish that First Nations are constitutionally granted top priority to harvest moose and that Manitoba issuing moose hunting licences to non-Indigenous hunters and the lottery system through which these licences are allocated is limiting First Nations’ right to hunt moose for food.
“Manitoba is vulnerable to a claim of unjustifiably infringing First Nations’ right to harvest moose,” said Public Interest Law Centre director Byron Williams and independent lawyer Natalie Copps, who provided analytical support on legal matters involving the law-making capacity of MKO First Nations.
