Answers to your questions: archives for 2000

• Caribou/reindeer products
• Ready to volunteer
• Research for Dogrib Treaty 11 Council
• Hunting camp
• Quest for antlers
• Rules for tour operators on the range?
• The "caribou crisis" of the 1950s-1970s
• Are reindeer and caribou the same animal?

Caribou/reindeer products

Nov. 21, 2000

Q. Greetings,

I have a Tradin Post here in the states. I am currently looking for suppliers of caribou or reindeer products for my customers. Dried or tanned skins, Antlers (sheds or fresh harvest racks). Can someone please help me.

Best Regards

J. D.
Otway, Ohio

Hope I have not offended any one with this message Thanks. Sorry for any errors in text.

A. Thanks for your message. I'm going to suggest a few different contacts.

Skins, etc.:

1. Alden Williams
   Manager, Wildlife and Fisheries
   Department of Sustainable Development
   Government of Nunavut
   Phone: (867) 975-5955
   Fax: (867) 975-5990 or (867) 975-5991
   E-mail: awilliams@gov.nu.ca
    
2. Wildlife and Fisheries Division
   Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development
   Wildlife and Fisheries Staff
   5th Floor, Scotia Building
   600, 5102-50th Ave
   Yellowknife, NT X1A 3S8
   Fax 867 873 0293
   Director Doug Stewart
   E-mail: DOUG_STEWART@gov.nt.ca
   Phone: (867) 920 8064
   Web site: www.nwtwildlife.rwed.gov.nt.ca/
    
3. Saskatchewan Economic and Co-operative Development
   Aboriginal Business Development
   Angela Schmidt
   E-mail: ela.schmidt@ecd.gov.sk.ca
   Phone: (306) 787-3583
   Web site: www.gov.sk.ca/econdev/
    
4. Manitoba Trade and Investment Corporation
   410 - 155 Carlton Street
   Winnipeg, MN R3C 3H8
   General Inquiries Phone: 011-204-945-2466
   Fax: 011-204-957-1793
   Email: mbtrade@gov.mb.ca
   Toll Free in Canada and US: 1-800-529-9981
   Web site: www.gov.mb.ca/itt/trade/index.html
    

Meat products:

Keewatin Meat and Fish Ltd.
P.O. Box 329
Rankin Inlet, NU X0C 0G0
Tel: (867) 645-3137.
Fax: (867) 645-3467.
Web site: www.arctic.ca/~obrian/

Kitikmeot Foods
P.O. Box 2268
Cambridge Bay, NU X0E 0C0
Tel: (867) 983-2881.
Fax: (867) 983-2801.
E-mail: kitfoods@polarnet.ca
Web site: aulak.polarnet.ca/~kitfoods/

Iqaluit Enterprises
Building 158-A
Iqaluit, NU X0A 0H0
Tel: (867) 979-4458.
Fax: (867) 979-0214.
E-mail: jcurrie@nunanet.com

Nunavik Arctic Foods Inc.
Web site: inuit.pail.ca/nunavik-arctic-foods.htm

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Ready to volunteer

Nov. 21, 2000

Q. Our names are A. & A. and we are 15 years old. We are currently researching aboriginal people, and are interested in your organization. Would it be possible for you tell us what EXACTLY your organization does? What type of "connection" or "interaction" do you have with them? What type of fundraiser do you do? Do you use any volunteers? Would it be possible for us to get involved? Your response WILL be greatly appreciated! Thanks in Advance.

Sincerely,

A. & A.

A. Thanks for your message, and especially your interest. The Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board works to conserve the huge Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou herds of northern Canada, with the priority being to make sure there are enough caribou for people living in nearby communities to hunt. Caribou meat is a food basic in northern Canada - a lot cheaper and nutrionally better than food imported from southern Canada. Caribou skins also provide extremely warm clothing - very necessary when temperatures can drop down to - 30° C, -40° C or lower! Most of the board members who sit on the BQCMB are aboriginal people, representing Dene, Inuit, Métis and Cree who live in the communities on the herd range. The range falls into northern Manitoba, northern Sasaktchewan, and parts of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. The BQCMB, which is an advisory board, make recommendations to the governments of these four jurisdictions.

Your offer of help is warmly appreciated. I'm don't know where you're located in Ontario, but probably the best way you could help the BQCMB is by letting others know about the work of the BQCMB, referring our web site to other people, and just generally helping others learn about issues that are important to northern Canadians, like the central importance of caribou to people here. There are many valid economic and cultural reasons as to why caribou has been and always will be an important resource here. Check out our web site, and while you're at it, you may want to check out the web site of the Porcupine Caribou Management Board. They do the same kind of work that the BQCMB does, and right now they're fighting to protect their fragile caribou calving grounds against oil and gas development. Please let me know if you have any other questions, and drop back into our web site sometime!

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Research for Dogrib Treaty 11 Council

Sept. 19, 2000

Q. I am assisting the Dogrib Treaty 11 Council find information on management regimes that incorporate traditional knowledge in monitoring change in the environment. They are particularly interested in any models where traditional harvesters have a direct role in monitoring. Any info that you have or that you are aware of would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

J. B.
Hay River Reserve, Northwest Territories

A. We are just in the process of developing a caribou monitoring workplan for some pilot projects and will be working closely with the Climate Change Project. The Porcupine Caribou Management Board has been involved with monitoring for some time. Their website is linked to ours. You will also find a link to The Knowledge Coop which is part of the Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network (EMAN).

These people would be good contacts for you: Don.Russell@ec.gc.ca (CWS), gary.kofinas@dartmouth.edu

Gary is working with both us and the PCMB, and Don Russell is a caribou biologist in the Yukon and served on the PCMB for many years. He is heavily involved with the monitoring of climate change. For further background see the May 2000 issue of Caribou News In Brief. Good luck!

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Hunting camp

Aug. 19. 2000

Q. Looking at your satellite arctic-caribou map, it appears that the collared caribou were in the vicinity of Anaunethad Lake in the winter of 1999-2000. I was in that area two weeks at North of Sixty mini-camp and I observed an Indian camp on the lake. I was told by the mini-camp manager that Caribou are hunted out of that camp during the Fall migration. Do you have any information about the Indians who do this? Are they Inuit, etc.? How do they get in and out? Do they use dog sleds, snow-mobiles? I'm trying to prepare a travelogue for my local Rotary Club.

Thanks for any info you can provide.

A. G. H.
Laurel, Maryland

A. The "Indian" camp is Dene from Black Lake, Saskatchewan, who use the area to trap and hunt in the fall and winter.

The Indians in that general area are Chipewyan but nowadays prefer to be called Dene. Inuit used to be known as Eskimos and are not Indians. These days, most hunters use snowmobiles but dog teams are preferred by some. The caribou are from the Beverly herd of barren-ground caribou and for your travelogue you may find the case study on the Beverly herd helpful. It describes the animals and the people of the area.

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July 6, 2000

Q. I am trying to locate a pair of reindeer or Caribou antlers (or several). I know they are shed occasionally, and I do not need a "trophy" rack or anything... does anyone have any idea where I could get such a thing?

K. H.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A. I have forwarded your enquiry to Lloyd Binder in Inuvik. He owns a reindeer herd and may be able to help you.

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Rules for tour operators on the range?

June 28, 2000

Q. I am doing some research on permit and licensing conditions for ecotourism operators in different areas of North and South America. This information will eventually be used to develop permit conditions for tourism operators who will provide trips on our rivers in Manitoba, particularily the Seal and the Bloodvein Rivers.

Do you have any operators wishing to offer tours within caribou ranges? If so, do you have to enforce any permit or licensing conditions to tour operators who offer outings within those jurisdictions? For example, must the operator only offer trips during certain times of year, limit the number of participants, report findings of certain species, provide schedules, use low-impact practices, provide interpretation, etc?

As well, do you know if those tour operators follow a code of ethics that is used within the industry? Please email any relevant information to me as soon as you can. Could you also give me some leads as to what other organizations would be good to contact for this type of information?

Thank you,

J. W.
Parks and Natural Areas Branch
Manitoba Conservation

A. I have forwarded your enquiry to Cam Elliott of your department at Thompson. He is Manitoba's representative on our board, is familiar with the topic, and will have some good leads for you.

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The "caribou crisis" of the 1950s-1970s

May 15, 2000

Q. I am a PhD Student in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. I am hoping to write a history of caribou and bison management in the NWT. I am particularly interested in the historical relationship between southern CWS biologists and Dene hunters.

My research focuses on the "caribou crisis" of the 1950s-1970s. I have completed some preliminary research. I am visiting the NWT at the end of May and the beginning of June to do archival research at the Prince of Wales Centre. Can you suggest any other archival sources, reports, technical documents, records, etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, John.

J. S.
Toronto, Ontario

A..(The following reply is courtesy of former BQCMB member and longtime Canadian Wildlife Service caribou biologist Don Thomas.)

I suggest that writing on the current and future role of Dene in wildlife management would be a more valuable topic. You will only be able to make inferences about the relationship that you are interested in.

Some anthropologists suggest that non indigenous people can never understand traditional knowledge for they must extract it from its context within the culture. And so you will have to extract the relationship between Dene and CWS biologists in the 1950s and 1960s from writings that are scientific in nature and perhaps from interviews with elders in both groups from that period.

You are too late in the case of Frank Banfield, John Kelsall, and Vern Hawley. The context is that the biologists were trained in biology, zoology, and wildlife management and they applied what they had learned to caribou in the Arctic and Subarctic. They knew little of traditional knowledge and language was a barrier. Most of them lived in the North for many years. Offices were located in Aklavik, Yellowknife, Fort Smith, and Baker Lake.

In spite of those problems, Dene, Metis, and Inuit were hired for many projects. For example, in 1960 CWS made arrangements to hire Inuit and their canoe to help tag caribou on the Thelon River west of Aberdeen Lake. I know because I was the CWS student working with two Inuit. Again, in 1962, CWS hired an Inuk to help with tagging and that activity continued for several years after I left. In 1960, I worked with two Inuit tagging caribou at Contwoyto Lake. After a period of training, I left them to continue the task on their own.

From 1958 through 1962, local hunters and trappers were hired all winter to reduce the number of wolves preying on the depressed caribou herds. True, there were some biologists who did not involve the local people in their studies.

In 1958-62, Andrew MacPherson worked on white fox at Aberdeen Lake and not only hired an Inuk from Baker Lake as his only helper but conversed in Inuktitut. From 1968 through 1973, Don Miller conducted range studies in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan and adjacent NWT. He hired people from Brochet to help him with field work in winter. The CWS office in Fort Smith hired local Dene and Metis people on many occasions. From 1980 through 1987, I conducted caribou and caribou habitat studies out of Fort Smith and worked with many Dene and Metis people in field camps in both summer and winter. You will see acknowledgements to indigenous people in many reports and publications of CWS biologists.

I provide those examples to indicate that there was no intent to exclude Indigenous people from studies. To the contrary, they were involved more than in any other science, with the possible exception of Anthropology. Even there, local people have become involved in "digs" relatively recently.

I hope that you pursue your studies in a completely unbiased and objective manner. It is easy to fall in the trap that present circumstances can be extrapolated back 1950. Good luck.

Sincerely,

Don Thomas

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Feb. 28, 2000

Q. I wonder if you could clear up this matter with me as looking through the web pages on the internet there seems to be much confusion. Are caribou and reindeer the same animal in other words they are called different names as they seem to have the same genus name, Rangifer tarandus. I would be so grateful if you could reply.

J. H.
Dundee Tayside, Scotland

A. Reindeer and caribou belong to the same genus and species and share the same scientific name, Rangifer tarandus. Five subspecies are recognized in Canada and a third word is added to denote their differences. E.g. reindeer is Rangifer tarandus tarandus, woodland caribou is Rangifer tarandus caribou, and barren-ground caribou is Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus. With respect to common names, it is customary nowadays to use "caribou" when referring to the entire species or any of the North American subspecies, while "reindeer" and "wild reindeer" are reserved for the European and Asian subspecies.

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