End of the caribou hunt:$ 16 Million for the dismantling of the hunting camps of the North

Charles Lecavalier

Tuesday, 30 January 2018 16:46

UPDATE
Tuesday, 30 January 2018 18:16

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The track of the wolf hunt has cooled and will not save the outfitters of the North, while Quebec announces almost$ 16 Million to dismantle the facility abandoned with the end of the caribou hunting.

The government Couillard has presented Tuesday its “strategy for the vitality and development of the northern heritage”, which comes essentially dismantle nearly 200 hunting camps on the northern territory. On the 16 million budgeted, less than 2 %, or $ 300,000, and are dedicated to economic diversification to help the outfitters who will attempt to survive.

“It marks the end of a stage, of a great era of tourism in nordic “, has launched Marc Plourde, president and CEO of the Federation of outfitters of Quebec during the press briefing.

The significant reduction in the number of heads in the herd of caribou of the Leaf river, which has gone from 430 000 in 2011 and 199 000 in 2016, has forced the government to declare a moratorium on the hunting of this mammal migratory, sowing doubt on the survival of the outfitters in the North.

No hunting of wolves

And yet, in march last, the minister of Wildlife, Luc Blanchette was still hope. In an interview with our parliamentary Bureau, he claimed to want to allow wolf hunting in the Great North to attract tourists after the entry into force this year of the moratorium on caribou hunting. The case has not really advanced since then, because “the issue is more complex than we think,” he admitted in a press conference.

Mr. Plourde believes his side anyway, the wolf hunt “is very marginal,” and will ” never have the volume of customers that the caribou could generate “. “The transport, in the North, it requires a certain volume of customers, there to support the infrastructure. This is not an activity that is a short-term target “, he explained.

Mr. Plourde believes that the only outfitters that will be able to get out of it are those who are nearby water courses or lakes. They will be able to offer fishing packages. The snowmobile industry may be required. On 13 facilities still in operation, nearly half will close their doors, he believes.

The decommissioning plan shall also have to give a little oxygen to transport companies operating in the northern territory. The cleaning will be carried out by providers, but also by the communities, inuit and naskapi, who get$5 Million.

The Parti québécois quickly denounced the closure plan. The member of parliament for Bonaventure Sylvain Roy says it is appalled by the “last nail in the coffin for development of wildlife in the Nord‐du‐Québec, which comes to suffocate the sector as a whole.”

“Once the camps are dismantled, there will be no more aid to develop the North, and most have no source of sustainability for the air transport. The countdown has begun for the dismantling of the economy of wildlife “, he denounced in a press release.