Inuit Nunangat Regional Overlaps: Reciprocal Harvesting & Wildlife
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American Indian Law Journal Volume 9 Issue 2 Article 5 5-24-2021 Inuit Nunangat Regional Overlaps: Reciprocal Harvesting & Wildlife Management Agreements Christopher M. Macneill University of Denver College of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/ailj Part of the Administrative Law Commons, Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Energy and Utilities Law Commons, Environmental Law Commons, Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law Commons, Land Use Law Commons, and the Water Law Commons Recommended Citation Macneill, Christopher M. (2021) "Inuit Nunangat Regional Overlaps: Reciprocal Harvesting & Wildlife Management Agreements," American Indian Law Journal: Vol. 9 : Iss. 2 , Article 5. Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/ailj/vol9/iss2/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Publications and Programs at Seattle University School of Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in American Indian Law Journal by an authorized editor of Seattle University School of Law Digital Commons. Inuit Nunangat Regional Overlaps: Reciprocal Harvesting & Wildlife Management Agreements Cover Page Footnote C. Mark Macneill is a former Executive Director of the Kivalliq Business Development Centre, Rankin Inlet, Nunavut Territory, Canada, and is a part-time law student with the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Civil Law, National Program (LL.L. degree). His prior degrees include: an LL.M., University of Denver (Envir & Nat. Res. Law & Policy); LL.M., University of Miami (Foreign Lawyers Program – US & Comparative Legal Systems); LL.B., University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.; M.P.A., Carleton University, Ottawa, CA; and M.B.A., St. Mary’s University. He is one of five winners selected in 2007 for the annual national law student writing competition hosted by the American Bar Association’s Section on Energy, Environment & Resources for his paper entitled “Gaining Command & Control of the Northwest Passage: Strait Talk on Sovereignty.” Macneill is a dual US and Canadian citizen and hails from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. He wishes to thank hunter/trapper Harry Aggark (Chesterfield Inlet, NU), and Inuit elders Sarah Silou (Baker Lake, NU) and Peter Alareak, (Arviat, NU) for their inspiration. The author is a non-Inuit (Nunavummiut) and does not intend to appropriate the voice of Inuit people. It is they who can best tell how they have progressed with their goals of self-determination and self-governance. Instead, this essay seeks to incorporate the views of Inuit people from informal discussions, observation and secondary research, by describing an overlapping labyrinth of government regulations, structures and levels of wildlife management used in settlement areas representing their traditional lands, sea and ice they fish, hunt and trap. This article is available in American Indian Law Journal: https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/ailj/vol9/iss2/5 INUIT NUNANGAT REGIONAL OVERLAPS: RECIPROCAL HARVESTING & WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AGREEMENTS1 By C. Mark Macneill 1 C. Mark Macneill is a former Executive Director of the Kivalliq Business Development Centre, Rankin Inlet, Nunavut Territory, Canada, and is a part-time law student with the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Civil Law, National Program (LL.L. degree). His prior degrees include: an LL.M., University of Denver (Envir & Nat. Res. Law & Policy); LL.M., University of Miami (Foreign Lawyers Program – US & Comparative Legal Systems); LL.B., University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.; M.P.A., Carleton University, Ottawa, CA; and M.B.A., St. Mary’s University. He is one of five winners selected in 2007 for the annual national law student writing competition hosted by the American Bar Association’s Section on Energy, Environment & Resources for his paper entitled “Gaining Command & Control of the Northwest Passage: Strait Talk on Sovereignty.” Macneill is a dual US and Canadian citizen and hails from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. He wishes to thank hunter/trapper Harry Aggark (Chesterfield Inlet, NU), and Inuit elders Sarah Silou (Baker Lake, NU) and Peter Alareak, (Arviat, NU) for their inspiration. The author is a non-Inuit (Nunavummiut) and does not intend to appropriate the voice of Inuit people. It is they who can best tell how they have progressed with their goals of self-determination and self-governance. Instead, this essay seeks to incorporate the views of Inuit people from informal discussions, observation and secondary research, by describing an overlapping labyrinth of government regulations, structures and levels of wildlife management used in settlement areas representing their traditional lands, sea and ice they fish, hunt and trap. 291 I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 294 II. INUIT LAND CLAIMS AGREEMENTS ......................................................................................... 296 A. Yukon Territory Devolution ........................................................................................ 297 B. Northwest Territories Devolution............................................................................... 298 C. Nunavut Territory Devolution .................................................................................... 299 D. Northern Quebec Devolution – Nunavik .................................................................... 301 E. Newfoundland & Labrador Devolution...................................................................... 303 III. INUIT NUNANGAT REGIONAL HARVESTING & WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT ............................... 304 A. James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement ............................................................. 305 B. Overlap Agreements ................................................................................................... 313 1. Nunavik Inuit and Labrador Inuit Overlap Agreement ................................... 314 2. Labrador and Inuit Land Claims Agreement (LILCA) ................................... 316 3. Nunavik Inuit Land Claims Agreement (NILCA) .......................................... 317 4. Cree/Inuit Offshore Overlap Agreement ........................................................ 318 5. Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (NLCA) .................................................... 322 6. NLCA Overlaps .............................................................................................. 324 7. Western Arctic (Inuvialuit) Claims Settlement............................................... 327 IV. CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................... 331 292 Table of Figures Front Feature ‘Going Down River’, Elsie Anaginak Kelngenberg 291 Figure 1 Inuit Nunangat Map 295 Figure 2 Inuit Nunangat Map of Communities 296 Figure 3 Canada’s Inuit Land Claims Agreements 297 Figure 4(a) Principal Co-Management Boards Mandates Related to Wildlife Management in Nunavik in 2018 306 Figure 4(b) Principal Co-Management Boards Membership Related to Wildlife Management in Nunavik in 2018 306 Figure 5 Ethnic Agencies & Areas of Responsibility For Wildlife Management in Nunavik in 2018 308 Figure 6(a) Primary Wildlife Management Regulations In Effect In Nunavik in 2018 310 Figure 6(b) Primary Wildlife Management Roles & Responsibilities In Effect In Nunavik in 2018. 310 Figure 7(a) Public Agencies & areas of Responsibility For Wildlife Management in Nunavik in 2018 312 Figure 7(b) Public agencies & Responsible Actors For Wildlife Management in Nunavik in 2018 312 Figure 8 Ungava Bay Map 313 Figure 9 Nunavik Inuit/Labrador Inuit Overlap Area 315 Figure 10 LILCA Coverage Map 317 Figure 11 Eeyou Marine Region 319 Figure 12 Cree/Inuit Offshore Overlap Area 320 Figure 13 Cree Benefits From Offshore Agreement 321 Figure 14 Map of Inuit Regions in Canada 325 Figure 15 Modern Canadian Land Claims & Self-Government Agreements 327 Figure 16 Inuvialuit Settlement Regions & Location of Communities 328 Figure 17 WMAC – Northslope 330 293 I. INTRODUCTION The Inuit are an indigenous culture of the Arctic.2 Traditionally, they are a semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer society, who were forced to live in settlements as a result of 19th and 20th century colonialism.3 There are significant Inuit populations in northern Canada, Greenland, Alaska and Russia (Chukotka).4 Today, there are around 150,000 Inuit in the world, with 65,000 residing in Canada, 51,000 in Greenland, and 16,000 each in the U.S. (mainly Alaska) and Denmark respectively.5 Inuit Nunangat is the Inuit homeland within Canada.6 It is composed of the Inuit land claims settlement sub-regions of: 1) Nunavut (Canada’s newest Territory created via partition from the Northwest Territories (NWT) in 1999); 2) Nunavik in Northern Quebec; 3) Nunatsiavut in North-eastern Labrador; and 4) the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of the western edge of Northwest Territories and across the northern tip of the Yukon Territory to the Alaskan border. See Figure 1. “The Inuit Nunangat is a composite of Canada’s northern coastal region, which inclusive of land, water and ice, is an area equivalent to nearly 35% of Canada’s landmass and 50% of its coastline.”7 If it were a sovereign nation, which the Inuit people aspire to be,8 at 3.3 million square kilometers in total area, it would be the seventh largest in the world, ahead of India.9 2 INTERNATIONAL WORK GROUP FOR INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS, NUNAVUT: