The Ministry of Environment is clarifying its new regulation governing inactive trappers in the Northern Fur Conservation Area.
The policy enacted last November states. “Any holder of a fur license who is inactive for a period of two years shall, unless he receives special permission from the director, relinquish any trapping privileges within a Block, or shall remove or dispose of all personal equipment in the area one year after the close of trapping season after his second year of inactivity.”
It’s that part of the policy which has trappers concerned they could lose their license if they don’t sell furs, possibly infringing on First Nations Rights.
Yet Mike Gollop, Fur Program Administrator says this is not the intention of the regulation as the Ministry has no interest in policing trapper’s activeness.
“The hunting and gathering rights of Native people up there is completely separate from the issue of the policy and will have absolutely no impact on that,” Gollop said.
Gollop says the intent of the policy is to provide legal framework for the removal of a person from the membership, which he adds is in the full authority of the Fur Block Chairs and Councils.
“We rely on the Fur Block Chair and Council to determine whether they’re satisfied with their membership. We’re not out there trying to find inactive trappers,” Gollop explained. “Certainly there is no intent on the part of the Ministry to remove inactive trappers or to in any way to interfere in the general running of the Fur Blocks in terms of control of their membership.”
(Turnor Lake trapper Ron Desjardin getting the best prices for his furs. Photo courtesy @NorthSaskTrappers, Facebook.)