Continued Progress
The LMN has been working very diligently and strategically towards the acknowledgment of harvesting rights for its members. During the past year, the organization issued Fall/Winter 2004-05 season caribou tags under its Caribou Harvesting Plan. The tagging program, which was initiated during the 2003-04 season, has been a tremendous success. In the 2003 04 season, 86 recipients picked up tags for their caribou hunt. By March 2005, more than triple that number of hunters picked up tags.
The LMN also issues Migratory Bird Harvesting Guidelines on an annual basis to its members.
In June 2004, the LMN secured a communal fishing licence from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans under the Aboriginal Fishing Strategy. This agreement provided the LMN with a 10-tonne allocation of salmon so that members could pursue a communal fishery in the area from Fish Cove Point to Cape St. Charles. The LMN is currently in discussions with DFO, and other parties, to see the licence renewed for the 2005 season, and to amend it to allow all members to exercise their right to fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes throughout its traditional territory, including Lake Melville and the Labrador Straits area.
The LMN continues to make progress on a number of fronts with respect to harvesting. In December 2004, some 20 wildlife charges against 10 Inuit Metis hunters were stayed by the provincial Department of Justice in December, less than two months after the Government of Canada decided not to lead any evidence into charges against 35 Inuit Metis fishers. The wildlife charges, some dating back as far as four years, ranged from carrying a firearm without a valid game licence to illegal possession of caribou. The fishers were charged after they set out to salmon fish without licences in 1999 and 2000. They harvested salmon for food in protest over government regulations that infringe on their Aboriginal right to fish salmon in their traditional territory.
Today as well, there are 16 Metis harvesters being taken into court by the Province on harvesting related charges - for not carrying a Provincial licence.
The LMN will continue to push the provincial government into entering into a harvesting agreement so that its members will no longer fear being prosecuted for carrying out traditional activities on their land.
The LMN also issues Migratory Bird Harvesting Guidelines on an annual basis to its members.
In June 2004, the LMN secured a communal fishing licence from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans under the Aboriginal Fishing Strategy. This agreement provided the LMN with a 10-tonne allocation of salmon so that members could pursue a communal fishery in the area from Fish Cove Point to Cape St. Charles. The LMN is currently in discussions with DFO, and other parties, to see the licence renewed for the 2005 season, and to amend it to allow all members to exercise their right to fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes throughout its traditional territory, including Lake Melville and the Labrador Straits area.
The LMN continues to make progress on a number of fronts with respect to harvesting. In December 2004, some 20 wildlife charges against 10 Inuit Metis hunters were stayed by the provincial Department of Justice in December, less than two months after the Government of Canada decided not to lead any evidence into charges against 35 Inuit Metis fishers. The wildlife charges, some dating back as far as four years, ranged from carrying a firearm without a valid game licence to illegal possession of caribou. The fishers were charged after they set out to salmon fish without licences in 1999 and 2000. They harvested salmon for food in protest over government regulations that infringe on their Aboriginal right to fish salmon in their traditional territory.
Today as well, there are 16 Metis harvesters being taken into court by the Province on harvesting related charges - for not carrying a Provincial licence.
The LMN will continue to push the provincial government into entering into a harvesting agreement so that its members will no longer fear being prosecuted for carrying out traditional activities on their land.