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| Developing an MNA Harvesters Policy |
 In response to pressures from within the Metis community, the Metis Nation of Alberta (MNA) is developing an MNA Harvesters Policy to use as a set of guidelines for our Metis harvesters to follow; reasonable guidelines created by Metis people to ensure harvesting activity is carried out in a reasonable manner that reflects our traditional values and practises.
Technical personnel and legal counsel with the MNA wrote a draft harvester’s policy based upon information gathered from a harvester’s focus group held in February 2006, and 18 community consultations held in 2005.
Metis Rights Minister Cecil Bellrose took the draft policy through another round of province-wide consultations in March 2006 to determine if it addresses the needs of Metis harvesters across Alberta. The community consultations have also been a forum for Metis to share their ideas and concerns on how the management of the Interim Metis Harvesting Agreement and the response it has received from the non-Aboriginal community.
Following the advice of Metis harvesters in the Lac La Biche area, Minister Bellrose convened a meeting of experienced hunters to seek clarification of terms used in the draft policy, such as ‘traditional values’ and ‘traditional hunting practises’.
Results from the questionnaires distributed during the consultations show that Metis are supportive of a harvester’s policy that encourages our hunters, fishers, and trappers to abide by conservation practises to ensure the resources will be available for future generations. Harvesters should apply their best efforts to: not destroy or damage fish or wildlife habitat; not harvest vulnerable, threatened or endangered species; and not waste or spoil wildlife or fish, and take only what is required to feed the family.
The majority of Metis consulted agreed that a successful harvester’s policy will require a means of tracking harvesting activity, which can be accomplished through telephone survey and voluntary reports to the MNA. The information gathered might also include species and location of the harvest; the amount taken; the age and health of the species, and other observations that may be relevant to wildlife and habitat. The gathered information will be used for statistical purposes. For example, the Metis Nation of Alberta will be able to draw upon a greater range of harvesting statistics to counter claims made by outside interest groups that suggest harvesters are abusing the resources.
Metis believe that when we take from the land, we give something back in return; the most crucial return is in demonstrating, through our hunting practises, respect for conservation of the animals, birds, and fish.
The harvester’s policy will be a reflection of the needs expressed by Metis people to the Metis Nation of Alberta – our people are saying ‘this is what we need’. It is not the government or any outside interest group telling the Nation how to conduct the Metis harvest. MNA President Audrey Poitras says, “The Metis right to harvest is on par with harvesting rights enjoyed and practised by Inuit and First Nations, neither of which report their harvests to the provincial, territorial, or federal governments. The Metis Nation of Alberta will manage our own harvesters.”
Numerous Metis attending the community consultations point to the traditional Laws of the Buffalo Hunt as a democratic system that worked well for our ancestors across the Metis Homeland. The Laws of the Buffalo Hunt are common sense rules that can still apply in contemporary times. Metis did not discard the traditional laws of the hunt. Instead, provincial and federal governments replaced them with a regulatory system to manage and prevent non-Aboriginal hunters, in particular, from hunting a species to extinction. In its unanimous ruling in R. v. Powley, the Supreme Court of Canada said the regulatory systems create an undue infringement upon the constitutional rights of Metis people.
Since Metis people rely upon oral traditions to pass information from one generation to the next, many of our traditional practises are not written down. Instead, we learn from our community and from our elders. Region II Elder Francis Dumais says, “We must teach our young people about the importance of responsible hunting. We learned it from our elders and we have to teach our young people ourselves instead of relying on other people to do it. That’s how we pass on our traditions.”
The MNA harvester’s policy remains in the developmental stage. It is expected to be complete by the fall of 2006. |
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Telephone (780)455-2200 Toll-Free Alberta (800)252-7553 Fax
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