Management plan consultation report

Consultation Summary

Methods of consultation

• Consultation was undertaken mainly through face-to-face meetings. These meetings occurred in all of the park’s adjacent communities. Where face-to-face meetings were not possible, written materials in English and Inuktitut were sent to key stakeholders for comment.
• In addition to face-to-face meetings, radio broadcasts on community radio were made in Naujaat, Coral Harbour, and Chesterfield Inlet.
• Written materials were sent to stakeholders for comment if a face-to-face meeting could not be arranged
• Targeted consultations also took place in communities where key stakeholder groups were not available to meet. In those instances as many members of the key stakeholder groups as possible were met with by the planner and park manager.

Summary of Results

This includes any responses and accommodations which were inserted into the draft management plan.

The final draft of the Management Plan will be sent to the Kivalliq Inuit Association in accordance with Article 6.3.1 of the Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreement for Ukkusiksalik National Park of Canada.

The Canada National Parks Act, Nunavut Agreement, and IIBA require that a management plan be developed for Ukkusiksalik National Park. The park management plan must be completed within five years of its inclusion in Schedule 1 of the Canada National Parks Act. The development of this management plan is on schedule.

Parks Canada, and the PPT developed draft Key Strategies, Objectives, Targets, and a Zoning Plan between August 2016 and May of 2017 with contributions from the Ukkusiksalik Inuit Knowledge Working Group (IKWG), Kivalliq Inuit Association, and Hunter and Trapper Organizations from the park’s adjacent communities.

Public and stakeholder consultations were held between November 2016 and May 2017 as part of the management planning process. The requirement for consultation and direction or guidance on consultation methods for this management planning process are identified in the Nunavut Agreement (Article 8), IIBA (Schedule 6-1), Canada National Parks Act (Section 12), Government of Canada policy, and court decisions on consultation with Indigenous peoples.

As part of the consultation process comments and input were sought from the park’s adjacent communities including from Hunter and Trapper Organizations, Hamlet councils, Wildlife Officers, youth and community groups, and business owners. We sought input and comments from the Government of Nunavut, Federal departments and agencies with a mandate in Nunavut, Nunavut Tourism, the Inuit Heritage Trust, World Wildlife Fund Canada, and other members of the public at large.

The final draft Management Plan will include suggestions from Naujaat based on IQ, that a location near Iglujuarnaq (Morso Bay) would be a good location for hard sided shelter within the park. This suggestion was well-received and will be incorporated in the final draft management plan.

The final draft Management Plan accommodates the wishes of Naujaammiut that the lower Piksimanik River and the Nuvuk&lik archipelago (Savage Islands) be recognized as Areas of Special Importance to Inuit. This designation gives an even greater degree of control over those areas to Inuit and provides Parks Canada with a mandate to establish a greater degree of protection for any cultural or natural feature of importance to Inuit in the designated areas.

Many other comments and questions were received during consultations, but a lot of it was not the type of information which is typically included in a management plan. The other information will help Parks Canada gather new IQ and helps us stay informed about what is happening on the land and in the Park’s adjacent communities. These are some examples of other information we heard:

• Inuit from the communities are still asking if it is OK to harvest in the park – the answer is YES! We want Inuit to harvest in the park
• Several groups shared details of their plans for tourism development and/or are interested in any tourism development for their communities and for the park – E.g. the Hamlet of Coral Harbour would like to build a lodge in Duke of York Bay
• Everyone we consulted with agrees that building/maintaining shelters in the park is a very good idea
• Everyone we consulted with agrees that preserving the Hudson’s Bay Company post is important
• Everyone we consulted with is interested in hearing information about the Marine Baseline Project, especially the tide information and any navigational charts
• We heard that Inuit who harvest in the park are usually trying to catch wolves and/or wolverine, but they also will try to catch other animals like caribou
• We heard that the stories of Wager Bay and of Ukkusiksalik are related to many other places in the region like the Back River area and Cape Fullerton (and many other places)

Three key strategies were developed for this Management Plan:

1. Safe and Sound – Ensuring that appropriate facilities are available for the protection, presentation, and promotion of Ukkusiksalik National Park
2. Living Landscape – Strengthening people’s connections to Ukkusiksalik National Park
3. Gathering Knowledge – Collecting scientific information and Inuit knowledge to help protect, present, and promote Ukkusiksalik National Park’s natural and cultural resources

Next steps

If UPMC agrees with the suggested input and is satisfied with the amount of consultation conducted, the Planner respectfully requests that the UPMC debate a motion to endorse this consultation summary.

Parks Canada must still circulate the draft plan to Executive Management to obtain their input. Once this is done, we can present a completed Draft Management Plan to UPMC for a motion to debate its endorsement and to present it to the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board and to Kivalliq Inuit Association.

Prepared by:

Alain Joseph, Planner, Parks Canada Agency

Date:

3 November 2017