By Barbara Crown, Editor
Last month, we reported on a development in
Canada that Canadian correspondent Ken Nowicki felt would have a serious impact on some game species in some areas of Canada. The Canadian Federal Court gave Métis people (mixed-race indigenous and European), the same rights as First Nations (Indians). Those rights, according to Nowicki, would include unregulated subsistence hunting. The news of that court decision broke right before the Safari Club International convention. Our report in the
February issue of
The Hunting Report and the Email Extra bulletin we sent out before the convention has disappointed (and perhaps drawn the ire of) at least two Canadian outfitter/guide associations - the
Guide Outfitter Association of British Columbia (GOABC) and the
Canadian Federation of Outfitter Associations (AFOA), located in Quebec.
In a letter signed by both GOABC Executive Director Scott Ellis and President Mark Werner, they say, "At this stage it is an enormous leap to conclude that this is a 'devastating ruling for wildlife, sheep, elk and mule deer' and that 'this decision will quickly result in a depletion of quality and quantity of trophy animals and might even result in huge restrictions on quotas and seasons…'
"Prior to the Daniels case, some of BC's 59,000 Métis held hunting licenses. Even if the courts deemed that Aboriginal hunting rights extended to Métis, it would really only affect the percentage of Métis that currently hold hunting licenses. It is illogical to conclude that a torrent of Métis who did not hunt in the past will suddenly start hunting if the license requirements change. We request that
The Hunting Report issue a retraction on these statements.....
