Fisheries Committee on Feb. 1st, 2007

[Raymond Ningeocheak]

Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.

I agree with what Mr. Stoffer said earlier. We need to work together with our government to get results.

We have worked with a Conservative government in the past. In 1993, the Nunavut land claims agreement was given approval by the Government of Canada, and at the time that was a Conservative government. Today we're back with a Conservative government.

But under the Nunavut land claims agreement, there are some obligations that the governments have failed to fulfill. It has taken five years to achieve results with the governments.

We are willing to work with the governments, as you know, and we have signed agreements in good faith with the Canadian governments. But working with the government is sometimes very slow; it takes too long. Waiting five years for implementation of certain land claims objectives is too long. We are willing to work with the governments.

I'm not saying that the Conservative government alone, which signed the Nunavut land claim agreement with us in 1993, is at fault. I'm saying that the way the government gets around to doing things takes a bit too long for the average Canadian today; I'm talking from my experience in implementing the land claims agreement. Do not take it personally, if you are the Conservative government.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gerald Keddy]

I think we all understand that government takes a long time.

Mr. Anawak.

[Robin Anawak]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Stoffer, within our organization at least, and I'm pretty sure this pertains to our regional colleagues as well, there is a willingness and a want to work with DFO. Unfortunately, one of the problems we have is capacity. At ITK, within our environment department, there are basically three of us who deal with wildlife issues in all Canadian regions. That includes species at risk—polar bears are all over the news these days—and it includes marine species, and that includes sealing. If I told you our budget for working on wildlife issues, you would probably laugh at me.

As I said, there is a willingness, but we do not have the capacity to engage DFO in the way we would like to.

Everyone here understands, and we understand, that sealing is an important issue for Canada. We do our best with what we have. There is a willingness there, and I'm sure in the regions, as Gabriel said, there's a willingness as well. It's hard to match what DFO is doing with our own resources.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gerald Keddy]

We appreciate some of the constraints you face, and also some of the issues that face DFO. It's our intent to try to work through as many of those as we can.

Mr. Manning.

[Fabian Manning, Conservative, Avalon, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to our guests for your presence here today.

Being from the island of Newfoundland and the big land of Labrador, I understand the importance of culture and heritage. I want to say a heartfelt congratulations to all of you, young and old alike, for your great efforts in maintaining your culture and preserving your heritage. To do that takes sustainability and a way of life, and I guess the purpose of your being with us here today is to ensure that we get the message about how important it is to be able to sustain the way of life you now have.

One of the comments of Mr. Ningeocheak was about education, that education is the key. There is no doubt in my mind that your short time with us today has educated us all greatly. Certainly, if the Government of Canada of any political stripe—past, present, and future—does not work together with you to help maintain your way of life, it's a shame on all of us, in my view.

In one comment you made, you referred to your mittens as “cuffs”, and we still use that term—we still have cuffs—in Newfoundland also.

You mentioned your arts and crafts industry as secondary to the seal hunt itself. As I look around at the young people here today, I see some wonderful products. What does that industry mean to your communities in dollar value? You mentioned what the seals themselves mean, and I realize that you use the seal 100%. But the arts and crafts industry in your communities must mean so much. I'd just like to know exactly what it means in dollar value.

[Raymond Ningeocheak]

Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.

I'd like to direct that question to our director of wildlife. As an elected representative, I deal with policy, but Mr. Nirlungayuq will be dealing with this, as he works directly with the issue.

Thank you.

[Gabriel Nirlungayuq]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Manning, for those questions.

We alluded to it earlier. We exported 6,000 skins last year, but those are very low. As you can appreciate, sealskin prices are coming back. Historically we have exported more than that. Just for raw seals alone, bar graphs here show that in 1975 exports were in the neighbourhood of about 50,000 skins. That is a big contrast to what it was before the crash of the product. The added value of the skins is in the millions. Whether you're selling it to whoever wants to buy it off the market or to people who are actually using it, I don't have the exact figures, but they are in the millions of dollars.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gerald Keddy]

Go ahead, Mr. Manning.

[Fabian Manning, Conservative, Avalon, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much. It is important for us to realize that it is not just the seal hunt itself; it is the secondary processing that means so much to your communities, the survival of those communities, and therefore the survival of your heritage and culture.

You mentioned, Robin, that about 20 years ago some young people from your communities travelled to Europe to present some of the craft products. Is that correct? Did I take you correctly?

[Robin Anawak]

That was about 10 years ago. It was in a class very much like this. It was the same program. It was 1996.

They did display some crafts, but the primary reason they went there was to discuss the sealing issue. The crafts--they were able to show off their clothing, but they wanted to engage the Europeans in a dialogue to make them understand why sealing is so important to us.

[Fabian Manning, Conservative, Avalon, NL]

What I'm trying to get at, and maybe you can help, is that delegations have gone from Canada since and before. I hear from you that your people have not been part of those delegations to the extent you would like them to be. Has any effort been made, apart from here today? I just want to ascertain the efforts that have been made by your people with the Government of Canada in the past and in the present to be part of that.

I truly believe, after your presentation here today, that your presence as part of those delegations would add to the message that we try to bring. Your presence would be very important. I'm just wondering what efforts you have made and what the results of those efforts have been.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gerald Keddy]

Go ahead, Mr. Ningeocheak.

[Raymond Ningeocheak]

Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.

I'd like to respond to Mr. Manning's question.

When you referred to the trip that was made 10 years ago to Europe, yes, a trip did take place 10 years ago. I remember it. The Nunavut Sivuniksavut students reported to NTI later on what they had discussed when they went on their trip. They talked about the culture of the Inuit, our hunting, and our conservation. The young people from the Nunavut Sivuniksavut program have represented us very well as ambassadors.

Yes, we would like to be able to go to other countries to promote our lifestyle and our concerns, but, again, we don't have the money. Give us the money and we'll go.

Mr. Chairperson, once again, we have never been asked what our concerns are about the sealing industry and the ban. We have never been consulted on how it was affecting our lives when it started to go downhill.

I want to assure you that there is a willingness on our part to work with you as a government for the interests of our people. When we sit down together with a group of people and we agree to work in a partnership, I take that in good faith, and I look forward to working with you in the future, the very near future, to resolve some of these issues that affect us as Canadians.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gerald Keddy]

Mr. Manning, and then Mr. Lunney has a quick question.

[Fabian Manning, Conservative, Avalon, NL]

I've only been here--elected--in Ottawa for one year, but from the committees I've been involved in, this committee, fisheries and oceans, crosses party lines when it comes to their strong support for the seal hunt. I'm sure other members have mentioned that also. So I think your message has been received loud and clear. In whatever language we choose to speak here today, I think the message is the same, so I welcome that.

I would just follow up with one last question, if I could, back to Robin. Maybe you don't want to share it with us, but what would your budget for wildlife issues be?

[Robin Anawak]

My own budget to work on species at risk is $190,000 over two years, which, may I add, hasn't been received yet. We submitted our proposal several months ago, and we're nearing the end of the fiscal year and we haven't seen a dollar. That is the only funding I or my mentor receive to work on any of these wildlife issues. Most of our funding to pay for the work we do comes from our core funding. It's not supposed to, but that's the only place we can get money to do the work.

Wildlife is very important to us, so $196,000, which hasn't been delivered, for me and my colleague to work on wildlife issues is it.

[Fabian Manning, Conservative, Avalon, NL]

You have to work magic.

[Robin Anawak]

Yes. Well, I didn't have to fly here, thank God.

[Fabian Manning, Conservative, Avalon, NL]

Thank you for your presence here today.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gerald Keddy]

How about we deliver that message?

Mr. Lunney, you have a quick question, a final question.

[James Lunney, Conservative, Nanaimo—Alberni, BC]

Yes. It's more a comment.

I want to just thank you all very much for your presentation today. It has been very, very eloquent and persuasive. I think you're convincing. I don't know how you managed to bring so many young people along with you today, because we know how terribly expensive it is to travel from the north. And also, for Mr. Raymond Ningeocheak, a 15-hour trip to come here and not have any rest before you appear.... We appreciate very much your presence today.

Many of the members around the table here come from coastal areas, but my colleague Randy Kamp and I come from the west coast of Canada. I believe I can speak for members around this table, but I want to say that it's not an issue that we feel the people from Newfoundland should have to face alone, when it comes to the sealing issue. It's not an issue that the people from Iles-de-la-Madeleine should have to face alone or that the people from Nunavut should have to face alone. This is an issue that we need to address as a nation.

I want to suggest to you that there is strong support around this table, but we feel that your presence with us today actually brings great strength to Canada's argument and position about why we do what we do in this nation and why we don't need to apologize to the Europeans, but we do need to stand up together.

I'm glad to hear that word “together” come out in the discussions here. I did hear a suggestion that you need to go, and we would like you to go, but I think this isn't that you should go alone. You should go as part of a delegation. We'd like to make sure that you go together, with all the resources we have, to make our story as convincing as possible.

Thank you very much for coming to make your story so clear to us today.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gerald Keddy]

I'm going to take that as a statement and not a question. Thank you, Mr. Lunney. I think it was well put.

I would like to thank very much our witnesses for travelling here and for your discussion today.

I have one final point that needs to be raised, and that is the fact of the Greenland Inuit. They are a group of people who have direct ties to Europe, to Denmark. I don't know what the association is or how we can use that connection of one group of people, but I think it's a tie and a toehold in Europe that we've not utilized enough. I wonder if you guys have thought of that, if you have expanded on that, and if you're working on that already.

Go ahead, Mr. Ningeocheak.

[Raymond Ningeocheak]

First, Mr. Chairperson, I would like to thank you for the time you've taken to listen to our presentation today.

When we talk about sealing, that is just one component we deal with on a full-time basis, implementing the Nunavut land claims agreement. If you look at the Nunavut land claims agreement, you will see that article 5, which is the biggest part of the agreement, deals with wildlife. Wildlife has been very important in our lives, and it's been taking up all of our time.

When I talk about wildlife, I also am referring to other outstanding issues that we have to resolve, such as polar bears and quotas. Scientists and biologists are always coming out with new announcements every week that caribou species may be depleting, and other fish stocks may be depleting. They make those assumptions and they make those grandiose announcements about our wildlife, and we are never consulted or involved in the study of these species. People never come to us to ask for our traditional knowledge of wildlife and management. We want to participate in decision-making.

To go back to where I'm coming from, in 1971 ITC, which is now ITK, came into effect. I remember spending two weeks at Carleton University when a group of Inuit were crafting the bylaws or the vision of the Inuit Tapiriit of Canada. We were there for one reason: to work together as a collective of Inuit people to fight for our self-determination. That's where I'm coming from today, and that's where I've always been.

Again, I wish to state again, we have traditional knowledge when it comes to our wildlife and we need to be involved in policies when it comes to making decisions about wildlife in Nunavut.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gerald Keddy]

Thank you.

Mr. Nirlungayuq.

[Gabriel Nirlungayuq]

This is a quick attempt to answer your question on our collaboration with the Greenland Inuit. Unfortunately, they're in a different country, part of the Danish kingdom. We had an incident where they were attempting to ban products from Canada. We used our advantage, if you will, being another part of the same Inuit culture and pleaded with them, saying you're going to affect your own kind, if you will.

You're right, we haven't utilized that link. I think I can safely say that, being of the same culture, there are possibilities for us there.

Thank you.