201 NUNAVUT WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT BOARD PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER THE GOVERNMENT OF NUNAVUT PROPOSAL FOR DECISION TO THE BOARD CONCERNING THE TOTAL ALLOWABLE HARVEST FOR THE WESTERN HUDSON BAY POLAR BEAR SUBPOPULATION January 10, 2018 PAGES 201 TO 467 HELD AT THE SINIKTARVIK HOTEL RANKIN INLET, NUNAVUT VOLUME 2 BOARD MEMBERS: Dan Shewchuk Acting Chair Charlie Inuarak Member David Kritterdlik Member Caleb Sangoya Member Jorgen H. Bolt Member Noah Makayak Member Attima Hadlari Member ADELE JONES COURT REPORTING 403-592-1147 202 NWMB: Jason Akearok Executive Director Patricia Pearson Director of Finance & Administration Vickie Sahanatien Director Wildlife Management Amber Giles Wildlife Management Biologist Denis Etiendem Ndeloh Wildlife Management Biologist John Fawcett Communications Coordinator Michael d'Eça Legal Counsel Donna Adams Interpreter Louis Taparti Interpreter Adele Jones Stenographer ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE CANADA Rachel Vallender Managing Director of Wildlife Dr. Nick Lunn Research Scientist GOVERNMENT OF NUNAVUT Drikus Gissing Director of Wildlife Caryn Smith Senior Wildlife Advisor NTI Paul Irngaut Director of Wildlife Bert Dean Assistant Director David Lee Wildlife Biologist ADELE JONES COURT REPORTING 403-592-1147 203 WORLD WILDLIFE FUND Brandon Laforest Senior Specialist, Arctic Species and Ecosystems RANKIN INLET HTO Clayton Tartak Secretary/Manager Brian Sigardson Member WHALE COVE HTO Simon Enuapik Board member Jackie Napayok Board member Gerard Maktar Board member ARVIAT HTO Nicholas Arnaukjuaq Chair Paul Kablutsiak Elder CHESTERFIELD INLET HTO Harry Aggark Board member Corey Aggark Board member Matthew Arnauyok Board member ADELE JONES COURT REPORTING 403-592-1147 204 BAKER LAKE HTO Hugh Nateela Secretary/Manager Richard Aksawnee Board member KIA David Ningeongan President KWB Stanley Adjuk President Qovik Netser Regional Coordinator Ezra Greene Board Member PUBLIC: Bobby Oolooyuk Thomas Comer David Mercer Jared Ottenhauf Cathy Towtongie ADELE JONES COURT REPORTING 403-592-1147 205 1 I N D E X 2 3 PAGE 4 5 SUBMISSION BY ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE CANADA 207 6 Nunavut Wildlife Management Board Questions and 251 7 Comments 8 SUBMISSION BY MS. TOWTONGIE 311 9 Nunavut Wildlife Management Board Staff Questions 314 10 and Comments 11 Government of Nunavut Questions and Comments 330 12 Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated Questions and 347 13 Comments 14 Kivalliq Wildlife Board Questions and Comments 356 15 Arviat HTO Questions and Comments 359 16 Whale Cove HTO Questions and Comments 369 17 Chesterfield Inlet HTO Questions and Comments 382 18 Baker Lake HTO Questions and Comments 384 19 World Wildlife Fund Questions and Comments 389 20 Kivalliq Inuit Association Questions and Comments 391 21 Public Questions and Comments 392 22 SUBMISSION BY KIVALLIQ WILDLIFE BOARD 402 23 Nunavut Wildlife Management Board Questions and 415 24 Comments 25 ADELE JONES COURT REPORTING 403-592-1147 206 1 Nunavut Wildlife Management Board Staff Questions 431 2 and Comments 3 Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated Questions and 434 4 Comments 5 Arviat HTO Questions and Comments 436 6 Baker Lake HTO Questions and Comments 438 7 Public/Elders Questions and Comments 440 8 SUBMISSION BY WORLD WILDLIFE FUND 445 9 Nunavut Wildlife Management Board Questions and 449 10 Comments 11 Nunavut Wildlife Management Board Staff Questions 449 12 and Comments 13 Arviat HTO Questions and Comments 451 14 SUBMISSION BY MAKIVIK CORPORATION SPOKEN TO 452 15 Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated Questions and 453 16 Comments 17 SUBMISSION BY WORLD WILDLIFE FUND 444 18 Government of Nunavut Questions and Comments 450 19 STATEMENT BY PUBLIC/ELDERS 452 20 Closing Remarks 454 21 Stenographer's Certificate 467 22 23 24 25 ADELE JONES COURT REPORTING 403-592-1147 207 1 (Proceeding commenced at 8:30 a.m.) 2 THE CHAIR: Good morning, everyone. Thank you 3 very much for coming back to our hearing. 4 So we're going to start off this morning. 5 Charlie, would you say a prayer for us, please. 6 (PRAYER) 7 THE CHAIR: Thank you, Charlie. 8 So just to do a refresher that the channels on 9 your microphones have stayed the same, so zero is the 10 floor, one is English, and two is Inuktitut. Nothing's 11 changed there. 12 We're going to start off this morning as we 13 agreed to with Environment Canada presentation to the 14 Board. So Rachel and Nick are up. And, Rachel, I think 15 you're going to start off with the letter submission, and 16 then Nick is going to give us some additional information. 17 The floor is yours. Go ahead. 18 SUBMISSION BY ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE CANADA 19 MS. VALLENDER: Okay. Well, thank you very much. 20 So I'd like to start by thanking the NWMB and everyone else 21 here for giving us the opportunity attend this public 22 hearing. And we will, as Dan mentioned, be presenting sort 23 of two parts. 24 The first was a verbal overview of the letter we 25 submitted to the NWMB. I won't go over all the details ADELE JONES COURT REPORTING 403-592-1147 208 1 just because we have provided that written version which 2 everybody can read, but I will present our opinion, and 3 then Nick will give a presentation, and then we'd be happy 4 to take questions. 5 THE CHAIR: Rachel, I'll just let everyone 6 know it's on tab 13 in the binder. 7 MS. VALLENDER: Okay. Tab 13. 8 THE CHAIR: Okay. Thank you. Tab 13. 9 MS. VALLENDER: So I would like to first start by 10 saying that Evironment and Climate Change Canada recognizes 11 that indigenous traditional knowledge indicates that this 12 population of bears has increased in the 1980s, and this 13 finding was based upon sightings of more bears in and near 14 communities. And we also heard this during presentations 15 yesterday. 16 It's noteworthy, because we rely on this 17 committee, that the available indigenous traditional 18 knowledge has been assessed by the Polar Bear Technical 19 Committee which classified the population has increased 20 based on this source. Furthermore, Environment and Climate 21 Change Canada recognizes that there is concern about an 22 increase in polar bear-human interactions that poses a 23 safety concern. We know that human-bear interactions and 24 conflict must be taken seriously and that appropriate 25 measures must be taken to ensure the safety of people, ADELE JONES COURT REPORTING 403-592-1147 209 1 their property, possessions, as well as the bears. 2 We recognize that the Government of Nunavut has 3 a robust and effective polar bear deterrence program and 4 that recent partnerships with organizations such as World 5 Wildlife Fund and especially the active participation and 6 cooperation of communities has decreased the number of 7 bears that have needed to be killed in defence of life and 8 property in some communities. That said, we echo the 9 sentiment that has been expressed by the NWMB that the 10 Government of Nunavut should continue to work with 11 communities and other parties as appropriate to ensure that 12 the program continues to be effective. 13 So regarding the scientific knowledge, the new 14 population estimate, as we discussed yesterday, from the 15 survey conducted in 2016 indicated an 18 percent downward 16 adjustment from the previous aerial survey that was 17 conducted in 2011. As you know, both of these surveys were 18 led by the Government of Nunavut, and we understand that 19 local communities were involved in the planning and 20 logistics associated with the survey and that local 21 community members participated in the survey themselves. 22 We would like to note that our department is supportive of 23 the collaborative approach to monitoring, and we were 24 pleased to contribute financially to this effort. 25 So it's important to note that the 2016 survey ADELE JONES COURT REPORTING 403-592-1147 210 1 for Western Hudson Bay was conducted during the same season 2 as the Southern Hudson Bay aerial survey and that 3 preliminary results of the Southern Hudson Bay survey 4 showed a 17 percent downward adjustment from the previous 5 estimate, which was 2011-12. So combined, to us, these new 6 population estimates indicate cause for concern as it 7 relates to the population trajectory for these two 8 subpopulations of bears occurring within Hudson Bay. 9 So we recognize that a trend can't be inferred 10 from the two aerial survey data points, that the population 11 estimate of 842 is currently the best available scientific 12 estimation of population size for Western Hudson Bay. We 13 also note that the 2016 aerial survey results will be 14 considered by the Polar Bear Technical Committee at their 15 annual meeting which will be taking place in early February 16 2018. 17 So Nick will elaborate upon the next couple of 18 points in his presentation which will follow me, but just a 19 few notes about other scientific research results. 20 So this research has indicated decreased 21 reproductive performance compared to other Canadian 22 subpopulations, declines in body condition and survival in 23 association with sea ice decline and previous declines in 24 numbers. 25 So work of research scientists, including ADELE JONES COURT REPORTING 403-592-1147 211 1 Dr. Lunn from my department, have contributed to this 2 scientific understanding of the population, and declines in 3 body condition and survival have also been noted for bears 4 in the Southern Hudson Bay subpopulation. 5 Work by Department of Fisheries and Oceans 6 colleagues has indicated declines in density and blubber 7 thickness of ring seals in Hudson Bay which, of course, are 8 considered to be the preliminary food source for polar 9 bears, although we do recognize that bears eat a variety of 10 other marine and terrestrial food sources.