| CARIBOU NEWS IN BRIEF |
Volume 13 No. 1 · Winter 2008/2009 | ||
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In this issue ...
SHRINKING BEVERLY HERD GOES FROM BAD TO WORSE STAKEHOLDERS WORKSHOP PROPOSED FOR FEBRUARY 2010 ACTION UNDERWAY FOR OTHER DECLINING HERDS QAMANIRJUAQ HERD MAY BE A THIRD SMALLER LATE SPRING WAYLAYS QAMANIRJUAQ COWS LAND USE PLANNING UPDATES AROUND THE RANGES SCHOOL CARIBOU HUNTS TEACH LOTS OF "FIRSTS" MINERAL EXPLORATION, 2009: DOWN BUT NOT OUT IN PROFILE: LEONARD ADAM, FOND DU LAC NO BUSINESS CASE YET FOR PROPOSED ROAD
SHRINKING BEVERLY HERD GOES FROM BAD TO WORSE
Stakeholders will have input into BQCMB’s “Recipe for Recovery” action plan The BQCMB is urging everyone – governments, companies, hunters and others – to do everything they can now to help take the pressure off the ever-shrinking Beverly caribou herd, and to make sure that the same thing doesn’t happen to the neighbouring Qamanirjuaq and Ahiak herds. With few Beverly caribou around now, hunters have been harvesting more caribou from neighbouring herds recently. “We have to get everybody together on one side,” urges BQCMB chairman Albert Thorassie, who says he wants to see action, not just talk. “We have to do something about it.” Final results from the 2009 reconnaissance survey of Beverly caribou, conducted by the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT), were not available as of Caribou News in Brief’s press time. However, Environment and Natural Resources Minister Michael Miltenberger announced recently in the Northwest Territories (NWT) Legislative Assembly that survey results of the past three years “indicate that the Beverly herd has all but disappeared.” 2009 survey results show declining numbers The June 2009 survey on the Beverly calving ground found fewer than half the number of breeding cows counted in 2008 during a similar calving ground survey, says BQCMB biologist Leslie Wakelyn, a member of the survey team that spent nine days flying over and around the traditional Beverly calving ground. The team also included Baker Lake community observer Elijah Amarook. In 2008, only 93 breeding cows were spotted during the reconnaissance survey of the Beverly calving ground. In 1994, a comparable survey counted 5,737 breeding cows on the calving ground. “Caribou-wise, it was very depressing,” says BQCMB member Dennis Larocque of Camsell Portage who, along with alternate member Pierre Robillard of Black Lake, flew transects for five days in June 2009 between the Saskatchewan-NWT border and the Beverly calving ground as part of a second survey crew. “We covered a lot of area, from Kasba Lake to Lutselk’e and Lutselk’e up north, then to Baker Lake and back down to Kasba.” Outside the calving ground, Larocque saw only one caribou – a bull – and almost no caribou tracks. The Beverly herd’s population was last estimated at 276,000 in 1994. While the herd’s current size is unknown, the continuing drop in numbers of cows and calves counted on the calving ground during June reconnaissance surveys means that the major decline documented in 2007 and 2008 has continued (see “Facts point to major decline in Beverly herd,” Winter 2008/2009, Caribou News in Brief). Reconnaissance surveys don’t estimate population sizes. Systematic reconnaissance surveys map the location of annual calving grounds and provide a snapshot of the number of caribou on calving grounds during the calving period as survey planes fly along parallel transect lines. Surveys are the responsibility of governments, not the BQCMB. The Beverly herd’s range stretches from northern Saskatchewan through NWT to Nunavut. Its calving ground lies largely in Nunavut, with a portion in the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary in both Nunavut and the NWT. A 2008 report from InterGroup Consultants of Winnipeg estimated the Beverly harvest’s annual economic value at about $4.9 million (based on 2005-2006 statistics). Northern Saskatchewan communities take more of the total harvest than any other jurisdiction. Larocque says caribou did not return to his hometown of Camsell Portage over the fall and winter of 2008 and 2009, making it necessary for hunters to travel more than 200 kilometres by charter plane. But given the expense of air travel, Larocque added ruefully, “(we) probably would have been better off buying a cow from down South!” How to help? The BQCMB came up with an initial list of ideas for helping to protect the Beverly herd at its May 2009 meeting, before the 2009 survey was conducted. One long-held view was repeated – that protecting the calving grounds and post-calving areas, and minimizing disturbance to caribou at vulnerable times such as spring migration, are ways that governments and others can take action to help protect the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq herds. Yet even as recently as 2008, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) was still issuing new mineral tenures on the Beverly calving ground – including 49 mineral claims to Ruby Hill Exploration Inc., and 16 claims to Strongbow Exploration Inc. The BQCMB is also urging governments to implement the caribou management strategy for declining herds with low numbers, outlined in the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Hunters can take immediate steps to safeguard Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou, too. The BQCMB is asking hunters to take only what they need, prevent caribou wastage and, whenever possible, shoot bulls instead of cows. According to calculations by the Porcupine Caribou Management Board, taking one bull instead of a cow could translate into 23 extra animals for the herd 10 years down the road. This practice can make a big difference to herd size and productivity over the years, particularly for declining herds. BQCMB members agreed at their May 2009 meeting that an action plan should be drafted to aid the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq herds. Board members will review the “Recipe for Recovery” draft action plan at their November 2009 meeting in Winnipeg (see “A Recipe for Recovery”). As well, the BQCMB is proposing to hold a Beverly and Qamanirjuaq stakeholders workshop in February 2010 to permit representatives from key organizations and communities that have traditionally hunted these herds to assess the draft action plan and provide input. Once the plan is finalized, the BQCMB would submit the plan with recommendations to communities, governments and other organizations for further action (see “Stakeholders workshop proposed for February 2010”). Differing viewpointsNot everyone believes the Beverly herd has declined, however. The director of wildlife management for Nunavut’s Department of Environment, Drikus Grissing, was quoted in an Aug. 4, 2009 Slave River Journal article as saying that his government thought that the smaller number of Beverly caribou seen may be the result either of a natural cyclical decline, a shift in calving ground location, or the Beverly herd joining with the Ahiak herd. According to the GNWT, however, the June 2009 reconnaissance survey of the Ahiak herd counted fewer caribou on its calving ground this year as well. And the Qamanirjuaq herd’s population is thought to have dropped from 496,000 in 1994 to 345,000 in 2008, according to a GN preliminary draft population estimate (see “Qamanirjuaq herd may be a third smaller”) The GNWT plans to do a full population survey of the Ahiak herd in June 2010 with the Nunavut government. STAKEHOLDERS WORKSHOP PROPOSED FOR FEBRUARY 2010 To provide meaningful recommendations to governments, Aboriginal organizations and communities, the BQCMB must find out what monitoring and management actions are required to help the Beverly herd recover and increase in size, and to prevent a serious decline in the Qamanirjuaq herd. It must also find out how these actions can be put in place. What is needed is a plan of action that all stakeholders, including all communities that depend on subsistence harvest of Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou, can and will support. It’s been proposed that the BQCMB host a Beverly and Qamanirjuaq stakeholders workshop in February 2010. The Board will decide if and how to go ahead with this at its November 2009 meeting. A total of $46,000 from governments and industry partners has been raised for the workshop, and the BQCMB has also committed almost $18,000 in cash and in-kind contributions to organize, co-ordinate and report on the meeting. The workshop would bring together representatives from communities that have traditionally hunted Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou, BQCMB members and representatives from key organizations such as the NWMB, the NTI’s Wildlife Secretariat, the PAGC and the Porcupine Caribou Management Board. Participants would assess and discuss the BQCMB’s draft action plan and provide input for the final plan. When finalized, the action plan would be sent to communities, governments, Aboriginal organizations, regulatory agencies and other organizations as recommendations for action. The plan would be carried out by governments, communities, the BQCMB and other stakeholders. The BQCMB will ask governments and other organizations to implement its “Recipe for Recovery” action plan to help the Beverly herd rebuild and prevent the Qamanirjuaq herd from experiencing a serious decline. The draft action plan will be discussed and further developed at the November 2009 BQCMB meeting and at a February 2010 stakeholders workshop. Actions recommended in the finalized plan will likely include the following ideas identified during the May 2009 BQCMB meeting:
These steps complement the GNWT’s current caribou monitoring plans and, hopefully, will also be a good fit with monitoring plans to come from the Nunavut and Saskatchewan governments in 2010. ACTION UNDERWAY FOR OTHER DECLINING HERDS Other NWT barren-ground caribou herds have suffered population declines as well, including the Porcupine, Cape Bathurst, Bluenose West, Bluenose East and Bathurst herds. In fact, the GNWT’s June 2009 calving ground survey of the Bathurst herd found that the overall population now numbers only about 32,000 animals – down from population estimates of about 350,000 in 1996, 186,000 in 2003, and 128,000 in 2006. Here are some caribou conservation efforts have sprung up for these herds:
Apply for BQCMB scholarship Caribou fans Winnipeg-bound Wildlife symposium report, DVD BQCMB meetings QAMANIRJUAQ HERD MAY BE A THIRD SMALLER
The trend of shrinking caribou populations appears to have hit one of northern Canada’s largest barren-ground herds. The Qamanirjuaq herd is now thought to number around 345,000 animals, according to a preliminary draft population estimate from the GN-led June 2008 calving ground survey. That’s down from 496,000, when these caribou were last counted 14 years ago in 1994. “We’re at a point where we have to be a bit more careful,” says Kivalliq Region biologist and BQCMB alternate member Mitch Campbell, who headed the survey team. Nunavut’s Department of Environment carried out the $314,000 survey with Manitoba Conservation, and the survey team featured experts from Nunavut, Manitoba and the NWT. The survey’s cost was shared by the governments of Nunavut, Manitoba and Canada – through INAC – the NWMB and others, such as the BQCMB. The preliminary survey estimate is still being reviewed but Campbell says the official survey results will be posted on his department’s Web site (www.gov.nu.ca/env) later this fall. Dropping since 1994, but herd still big Calving ground surveys estimate a herd’s population, based on the approximate number of pregnant cows on the calving ground. The 2008 Qamanirjuaq population survey also revealed just 20 calves for every 100 cows. The herd’s size has been declining since 1994, says Campbell. Spring composition surveys have shown that the ratio of calves to cows has been falling over the past three years. However, Campbell notes that except for the 1994 population high-water mark, the Qamanirjuaq herd is still larger than in the past.
But six other barren-ground caribou populations in northern Canada have been in a downward spiral recently – some severely so, such as the Beverly and Bathurst herds (see “Shrinking Beverly herd goes from bad to worse,” page 1). A big unknown is the neighbouring Ahiak herd, which calves along the Queen Maud Gulf coast in Nunavut. A June 1996 calving distribution survey estimated around 200,000 animals. A population survey, expected to cost $400,000, will be conducted by the GNWT with the Nunavut government in June 2010. Even more monitoring Given the dip in numbers, even more monitoring of the Qamanirjuaq herd will take place now, says Campbell. Since 1993, his department has been tracking the movements of some caribou cows via satellite collars. The department keeps an eye on herd health in other ways, too. A two-year dietary study, started in 2009, is examining stomach contents from rumen samples dropped off by Nunavut and Manitoba hunters. Nunavut government staff want to figure out what the caribou are eating – it may prove where the caribou have been. Understanding why caribou travel in certain areas has also been a key objective of the department’s long-running Kivalliq Region vegetation mapping project, which uses habitat data from 5,000 vegetation sites mapped over the past six years along with satellite collaring data to determine how caribou choose habitat. The Department of Environment is taking blood samples of caribou to learn more about possible diseases, and is publishing a graphics-heavy book about diseases that may affect caribou, too. The department continues to conduct research through the Northern Contaminants Program of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) to monitor the presence of contaminants in the Arctic, including those found in country food such as caribou. Back to topLATE SPRING WAYLAYS QAMANIRJUAQ COWS
Old Man Winter badly overstayed his welcome in northern Manitoba and Nunavut’s Kivalliq Region this year, forcing most Qamanirjuaq breeding cows to give birth within the treeline because they were unable to reach their calving ground by mid-June. And due to wolf predation in those circumstances, “we’re very concerned,” says Kivalliq Region biologist and BQCMB alternate member Mitch Campbell. The number of caribou harvested by area hunters plummeted as a result, since most Kivalliq Region communities are along the Hudson Bay coast, and hunters “can’t Honda and can’t skidoo very far inland.” In Manitoba, BQCMB chairman Albert Thorassie of Tadoule Lake reported seeing cows on Munroe Lake, about 50 kilometres north, as late as June 17. Meanwhile, “people from Brochet said they even had caribou up at the end of May and June because of the ice,” said BQCMB member Jerome Denechezhe of Lac Brochet. “And they told me that the caribou had calves at the north end of Reindeer Lake” (the lake straddles the Saskatchewan/Manitoba border). Ice in that area didn’t fully melt away until July, Denechezhe said. Environment Canada declared the late spring of 2009 to be record-breaking in the Eastern Arctic, with almost 100 percent snow cover from James Bay on north as of June 11, according to a June 13, 2009 Winnipeg Free Press article.
This year, the tardy spring meant caribou began migrating later than usual, with the result that there were almost no cows on the calving ground in June 2009, said Campbell, adding that caribou along the coast were found with “huge fat reserves.” Nunavut’s Department of Environment was also unable to do spring composition work in 2009, since the caribou were still in forested areas. “We’ll ask for a helicopter next year,” The foul weather changed plans for some mineral exploration companies, too. AREVA Resources Canada had assembled its Kiggavik camp near Baker Lake earlier than usual this year to take full advantage of the field season, and was drilling by May 27. AREVA’s manager of Nunavut affairs, Barry McCallum, says that while the field season overall was quite successful, “the late spring resulted in more snow removal than anticipated, more down days due to blizzards and extra efforts required to manage the runoff in the vicinity of the drill sites.” The company will mobilize a little later in 2010. LAND USE PLANNING UPDATES AROUND THE RANGES Upper Thelon Land and Resource Management Plan: The first few months of 2010 will be busy – between January and March, INAC intends to give its planning partners and other interested groups, like the BQCMB, a chance to take part in the development of a draft Upper Thelon Land and Resource Management Plan. Partners in the plan include the Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation, Deninu K’ue First Nation, the Northwest Territories Metis Nation, the Athabasca Denesuline, the GNWT, Environment Canada and INAC. INAC is currently assembling all available technical information on issues such as geology, water, caribou and valued ecological components to enter into the plan’s first draft, which will likely be circulated to partners early in 2010 for comment and review. And INAC “remains committed” to completing a draft plan – one that identifies where mineral exploration is allowed to go ahead in the uranium-rich Thelon geologic basin – by March 31, 2010. INAC-NWT Region communications officer Tricia Melander-Forde says that the plan will be a “living document . . . that will likely evolve to suit changing needs or conditions.” INAC held workshops with partners in Yellowknife in December 2008 and March 2009 to hammer out guiding principles and land use provisions to aid the planning process. Information that emerged from those workshops is guiding developments, and Before circulating a draft plan to partners in early 2010, INAC plans to release a state of knowledge report in the fall of 2009 that details existing technical data as well as information received from partners, says Melander-Forde. Creating a land use plan for the Upper Thelon region, a cultural sanctuary for the Akaitcho Dene, was ordered by INAC Minister Chuck Strahl in October 2007 when he handed down a decision to reject Ur-Energy’s proposal to expand its uranium exploration program at Screech Lake, NWT. Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary Management Plan: There have been been no further developments since the GNWT became the last agency to endorse the multi-partner plan in August 2008. However, GNWT wildlife directory Susan Fleck said that this fall, the GNWT would aim to discuss funding options for a management committee with the GN. Once funding is in place, a committee can develop a budget and workplan. For years, the BQCMB has urged implementation of the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary Management Plan, which recommends a special management area that would help protect the embattled Beverly herd and its habitat. The GNWT, GN, Kivalliq Inuit Association, NWMB, NTI and the Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation have all signed on to the plan. Nunavut Land Use Plan: The Nunavut Planning Commission (NPC) will host a series of technical panels in January 2010 to discuss the management of key issues for a territory-wide land use plan, and it has invited the BQCMB to provide input to these panels. Three regional public hearings will follow, says NPC policy analyst Jonathon Savoy – one each in Cambridge Bay, Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit. Dates for these public hearings have yet to be confirmed. Athabasca Stage 1 Land Use Plan: There has been no progress since the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment, the PAGC and Athabascan communities reviewed the Athabasca Stage 1 Land Use Plan last year, and the ministry incorporated all comments from that review. Dwayne Rinholm, an integrated land use planner with the Ministry of Environment, says his ministry “is hoping to work with PAGC and Athabasca leadership to finalize the document.” SCHOOL CARIBOU HUNTS TEACH LOTS OF "FIRSTS"
For adult participant Eva Nalge of Tadoule Lake, it was the first time she shot a caribou. For Peter Yassie Memorial School student Brandon Cheekie, also from Tadoule Lake, it was his first attempt to skin a caribou. And for teacher Kirsten Rivard of Father Megret In April 2009, important lessons were learned in Tadoule Lake and Wollaston Lake during hunts funded by the BQCMB (WWFCanada, AREVA Resources Canada Inc. and Cameco Corporation provide funding to the BQCMB for these hunts, too). Each year, the Board directs money toward caribou-range community-based projects that ideally target school-age youth. Educational caribou hunts give kids a chance to gain new knowledge, including learning from elders while out on the land. More hunts in various caribou-range communities are planned for 2010. In Tadoule Lake, Sayisi Dene First Nation councillor Peter Duck of Tadoule Lake organized the series of hunts that took place over a week, combining 10 students, eight guides and elders, and three women in closely supervised small groups. Caribou were plentiful at the mouth of the North Seal River. After shooting two caribou, “Tyler (Bussidor, a guide) skinned the first one,” Brandon Cheekie wrote in a trip summary for the BQCMB. “I watched everything he did. When he was done skinning it, it was my turn to skin the caribou. It was kind of hard but I got the hang of it.” He also learned to gut the carcass and cut off the meat. Later, after hunting geese, he and Bussidor cooked a caribou heart over a fire. (Cheekie also learned a valuable lesson about patience when the belt on Duck’s snow machine broke. The two, along with student Sheldon Thorassie, walked about five hours before getting a ride home.) Nalge shot her first caribou at Anderson Island, and helped others to skin the animals. “Thanks to the caribou management board, the women that went had fun and learned a little bit of everything,” she wrote. In Saskatchewan, Rivard was one of two teachers, five students and 10 hunters who skidooed two hours east across Wollaston Lake for a busy day of hunting, skinning and butchering. After supper, “one of the hunters told me there was a map at the top of the hill that was to the south of our trail,” Rivard recounted. “He asked me if I wanted to see it and I said yes. "After skidooing to the top of the hill, “he told me to look behind myself. I was awestruck at the view. I could see where we had come from and where we were going." He explained that many hunters come to the top of the hill so that they can get their bearings.
MINERAL EXPLORATION, 2009: DOWN BUT NOT OUT
A global economic recession and slumping mineral exploration levels slowed industrial developments on the caribou ranges in 2009 – but did not stop them. “A year and a half after the Nunavut government adopted a uranium development policy, the territory is hopping with uranium exploration and development efforts,” reported the Northern Miner in an April 13, 2009 article (“Uranium enjoying a resurgence in Nunavut”). Several months later, the trade newspaper predicted that as more countries turn to nuclear power or crank up their current levels of nuclear power, and as uranium from decommissioned nuclear warheads dwindles, demand for uranium will increase (“Uranium poised for rebound as demand set to outstrip supply,” June 22, 2009). Meanwhile, the Saskatchewan Mining Association predicted that mining companies in 2009 would furnish more than $2 billion in revenues to the Saskatchewan government – one-fifth of the government’s total budget revenues. Here are updates on some mineral exploration proposals on or near Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou calving and postcalving grounds. As always, the BQCMB recommends that permit applications for mineral exploration on these sensitive habitats be rejected. Garry Lake property, northwest of Baker Lake, Nunavut: Uravan Minerals Inc. still has not declared whether or not it will keep pursuing a land use application to explore for uranium on this hotly contested property on the core Beverly calving ground just south of Garry Lake, 245 kilometres northwest of Baker Lake. In February 2009, the NIRB issued final guidelines instructing Uravan to create a very detailed environmental impact statement (EIS). “Clearly the fulfillment of the EIS requirement is a concern for Thelon (“Thelon Basin”) and Thelon Basin (“Ruby Hill”) properties, northwest of Baker Lake, and Amer Lake property, north of Baker Lake, Nunavut: Titan Uranium Incorporated’s Thelon property (now called Thelon Basin) and Western Uranium Corporation’s Thelon Basin property (now called Ruby Hill) both lie on the Beverly caribou traditional calving ground, northeast of the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary and in a special management area proposed in the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary Management Plan to protect the Beverly calving area outside the Sanctuary. Western Uranium’s activities in the Sand Lake area of the Ruby Hill property are of great concern to the BQCMB, since this is core calving area used by Beverly caribou since the 1970s. Both Titan and Western Uranium applied to the NIRB for extensions to existing land use permits, although neither had field operations planned for 2009. In both cases, though, the BQCMB gave the NIRB information to help it develop and recommend improved permit conditions – and to alert INAC, Titan and Western uranium to the urgent need to lessen impacts on the extremely vulnerable Beverly caribou and their habitat. The BQCMB recommended that Titan and Western Uranium be notified that future permit conditions may be more stringent in response to the serious situation facing Beverly caribou and the potential loss of caribou harvesting opportunities for Aboriginal hunters. Similarly, even though Uranium North Resources’ Amer Lake property does not lie within the Beverly traditional calving ground, the BQCMB again provided the NIRB with information to help it develop and recommend improved permit conditions, and to alert INAC and Uranium North to the need to minimize impacts on caribou and caribou habitat.
Kiggavik property, west of Baker Lake, Nunavut: INAC Minister Chuck Strahl has not yet announced his response to the NIRB’s March 2009 recommendation that the proposed Kiggavik uranium mine and mill project 80 kilometres west of Baker Meadowbank Gold Mine, north of Baker Lake, Nunavut: The open pit mine is still on track to launch in early 2010. Meadowbank is expected to produce about 350,000 ounces of gold per year over nine years. Agnico-Eagle is also conducting additional exploration in the area, with the intent of extending the mine’s life. South Boomerang Lake, North Boomerang Lake, Crab Lake and El Lake properties, Upper Thelon region, NWT: For now, Uravan has withdrawn its land use applications for its South Boomerang Lake and North Boomerang Lake properties, and Bayswater Uranium Corporation has done the same for its El Lake and Crab Lake properties (while the Crab Lake property is in the Dubawnt watershed, exploration was also slated for the Upper Thelon watershed). However, Uravan, which is conducting exploration in the Upper Thelon area in partnership with Cameco Corporation, said in a May 20, 2009 press release that “Uravan’s withdrawal of the Boomerang LUP does not mean the abandonment of the Boomerang project or the underlying mineral tenure.” Following the environmental assessments of these projects, the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (MVEIRB) recommended to INAC Minister Strahl in September 2008 that all proposals be rejected except for the Crab Lake proposal, which it recommended be approved with conditions intended “to prevent project-specific harm to barren ground caribou and to heritage resources.” The BQCMB had opposed all four proposals to expand exploration efforts that have been taking place on key Beverly and Ahiak caribou spring migration range. The BQCMB also wanted to see adequate progress made on land and resource management in the Upper Thelon basin (see “Land use planning updates around the ranges”) Cameco said in its May 14, 2009 letter to Minister Strahl that “Uravan and Cameco have decided to postpone all exploration work on the Boomerang dispositions until the concerns can be addressed with local impacted communities,” and that “Cameco has already begun to work very closely with all parties concerned with the Upper Thelon area.”
In Profile: Leonard Adam, Fond Du Lac
MUSIC AND FAMILY - THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS Veteran musician and devoted family man Leonard Adam of Fond du Lac is starting to reap the rewards of hard work. Big time. A guitarist since the age of 13, Adam broke ground more than a decade ago when his contemporary songs, written in Dene about his culture and traditions, hit the airwaves. This November, Adam, 42, heads back to Saskatoon’s Turtle Island Music studio to record his first CD since his 1999 debut album, Spirit Flies. And he’ll have his dream band with him – sons Len, 17, on bass guitar and Dene, 10, on drums. Adam and his band – now called Leonard Adam and Sons – have played a steady stream of festivals, roundups, gatherings and youth conferences over the years, with their furthest voyage taking them this past August to the End of the Road Music Festival in Inuvik, NWT. But that gig may be surpassed by an even longer trip next February or March, when Adam and his sons may take up an earlier invitation from a Navajo American Indian group to perform in Arizona, in the southwestern United States.
Adam’s songs have special meaning not just for Dene, but for other Aboriginal groups as well. “Relatives,” his first song, was based on the experiences of his grandparents, the late Madeleine and John Lidguerre, with whom he lived a traditional life hunting and trapping in the bush until he was 13. The song is about “losing our tradition, living in isolation, the cost of living, culture shock,” says Adam, who was born in Uranium City. “It’s the truth about – not only the Dene people – how the Native people, they survive, used the land, animals . . . how our traditions should be the same and it’s not.” After Adam sent a cassette to the newly launched Missinippi Broadcasting Corporation radio network in 1996, “I was getting calls. Some people were even crying!” It was a turning point, much like the time a year earlier when he quit drinking – an event, he says, that also shapes his lyrics. The song “Relatives” deeply touched people. Events soon snowballed with the radio airplay, starting with a request to perform at the 1997 Prince Albert Voices of the North showcase of Aboriginal talent. There, he was discovered by the owners of Turtle Island But family always comes first, and Adam clearly adores his. Over the years, during two different instances, Dene and Len came to the rescue when their dad was in a bind because of an absentee band member. Both boys ended up astounding people with their musical talents. Incredibly, Dene was only four years old when he first slipped behind the drum set to pound away at a wedding dance. “He blew everyone away!” says Adam, who laughs when remembering how people could barely see the little tot behind the drums.
Two and a half years later, Len surprised his father when he revealed he had been secretly practising guitar – a godsend when Adam discovered four hours before a talent show that his regular bass player couldn’t make it. Wife Dorothy, 43, helps arrange bookings for the band and has provided constant support over the years. She and her husband also have a daughter, Shannon, 19, another son, Dakota, 15, and now a grandson (Shannon’s son) named Cohen, who is almost a year and a half old. The Spirit Flies album is available on iTunes and is sold through West Coast Music Adam with his grandson Cohen and other outlets. Leonard Adam and Sons’ Facebook profile also links to a few YouTube videos of the band in action. To learn more, contact Adam at lenadam_09@yahoo.com or phone (306) 686-4888. Do you know someone living in a caribou-range community with an interesting story you think we should tell in our new “In Profile” column? If you do, e-mail us at caribounews@arctic-caribou.com or phone (613) 841-6817 NO BUSINESS CASE YET FOR PROPOSED ROAD Contrary to rosier reports, there is no guarantee yet of a road between Nunavut and The BQCMB has stated that any route will inflict damage on the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou, and has urged further investigation into travel by rail. A March 26, 2009 CBC North story reporting on a Kivalliq Chamber of Commerce meeting with Nunavut government officials indicated that the road could start construction in five years after completion of the business case. However, Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation director Amar Chadha told Caribou News in Brief that “we cannot talk about the funding until we know the business case.” In September, project manager Tim Stevens of SNC-Lavalin spoke about the proposed Manitoba-Nunavut road at the Northern Transportation Conference 2009 in Iqaluit where, amid positive outlooks, he also outlined the BQCMB’s worries, and described caribou impacts as a “primary concern” in this project. Stevens’ presentation can be downloaded from www.vanhorne.info/recentevents. The governments of Canada, Nunavut and Manitoba, Manitoba Hydro, Qulliq Energy and other utility companies, and mining firms have been pegged as possible funders. Should the megaproject get the green light, construction would likely take place step-by-step, with the 340-kilometre Rankin Inlet-Whale Cove-Arviat section being built in 6 to 10 years, the 580-kilometre Arviat-Churchill section being built in 11 to 20 years, and the 180- kilometre Churchill River-Sundance-Highway 290 section being built in 21 to 25 years. There’s more than one way to shoot a caribou. Photography buff Devon Killulark of Baker Lake shows how it’s done, with a collection of candid snaps outside Baker Lake that freeze-frame a quizzical caribou:
a caribou skin tent on the tundra:
and a day out on the land under a perfect blue sky:
Killulark’s dramatic image of a caribou running through a blizzard is featured on the cover of the BQCMB’s 2008-2009 annual report (featured at the top of this page).
It was a cordial meet-and-greet as new faces met with veteran caribou supporters during the BQCMB’s May 2009 meeting in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Archie Catholique of Lutselk’e, the BQCMB’s newest member, had his first chance to meet everyone. Introductions were also made with several others who plan to stay close with the BQCMB: Nunavut Department of Environment wildlife manager David Vetra, GNWT South Slave Region biologist Allicia Kelly and INAC field operations manager Peter Kusugak. Tina Giroux, PAGC’s new community liaison co-ordinator, Sean Willy of Cameco Prince Albert was a homecoming of sorts for some familiar faces – in particular, Jimmy Former BQCMB secretary-treasurer Gunther Abrahamson continues to keep the co-management board that he helped to create in the public eye. Earlier this year, Abrahamson deposited his personal, bound copy of the signed 1982 Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Barren Ground Caribou Management Agreement with the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec. He also provided a CD of archival Board minutes, prepared some time ago by University of Alaska Fairbanks graduate student Tracy Smith. Researchers keen to track down theBQCMB’s history will find both these items useful, along with other BQCMB artifacts that Abrahamson donated to the museum earlier, including all issues of Caribou News since 1980 and various BQCMB-affiliated videos by late filmmakers George Mully and Don Snowden. Caribou News in Brief is funded by the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board. It is produced twice a year by M.E.S. Editing and Writing Services. ISSN 1489-3436. Opinions expressed are those of the editor and contributors. Back issues available at www.arctic-caribou.com and in microform from Micromedia Limited. All comments and suggestions are welcome, and may be sent to:
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Screech Lake property, Upper Thelon region, NWT: Despite intense and ongoing opposition by Lutselk’e residents to a Ur-Energy proposal to expand its exploration program for uranium at Screech Lake on key Beverly and Ahiak caribou spring migration habitat – and despite MVEIRB’s recommendation to reject the proposal in May 2007 and the acceptance of this recommendation by the responsible governments in October 2007 – Ur-Energy carried out ground geophysics, surveying and soil sampling activities at Screech Lake for two weeks in August 2009. The work did not require a land use permit. Ur-Energy also issued a press release in which it thanked “the band council and the Lutsel K’e community for enabling the Company to carry out” the work. “Ur-Energy continues discussions with First Nations groups and Aboriginal-owned business corporations towards an exploration agreement for the Screech Lake project,” the press release stated. “This summer’s geophysical program will provide us with necessary information to assist us in better planning a future drilling program.” However, a CBC North story that aired Sept. 3, 2009 and was posted online said that Lutsel K’e Dene
First Nation members “were shocked when Chief Steve Nitah told CBC News the First
Nation signed an agreement allowing Ur-Energy Inc. to conduct a small exploration project this summer at its Screech Lake property.” In 2005, Lutselk’e approached the BQCMB to help stop the Ur-Energy exploration project. Over the following two years, the BQCMB provided numerous comments, information requests and presentations as a party to the environmental assessment of the proposed project, which was conducted by the MVEIRB.
