Ban equals death for Canadian trappers

Page 4

Placing animal rights above Aboriginal survival will result directly in deaths across Canada, according to an Inuit spokesman.

"The values that the animal rights groups bring with them are very threatening to our culture," said Peter Williamson, a project coordinator the with the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada. He explained that, if the Fur-Bearers Association or any other such group are successful in banning the leghold trap and trapping, then suicides, alcoholism and other social pathologies will increase nationwide in Aboriginal trapping populations.

"Take a look at the fur ban and the sealing ban. What will be the results? We already know what happened with the Inuit: increased suicides, a breakdown of family values, a breakdown of a way of life, of living out on the land," Williamson said. "We're looking at the same kinds of things if the European fur ban takes place, and not just in Inuit communities but in Aboriginal communities across Canada."

If trapping is done away with as a way of life, or if no options are offered in place of the leghold trap, then Canada better prepare to increase the welfare rolls, said Mike Paulette, vice-president of the Yellowknife-based Metis Nation of the Northwest Territories. "It takes an Aboriginal person who is really independent all his life and places him on welfare."

Animal welfare groups are not offering any solutions in the trapping debate. Demanding the European Union ban on the import of wild furs and the Canadian government halt trapping research will hinder the development of humane trapping devices as alternatives to the leghold trap, said Allison Beal, executive director of the Fur Institute of Canada, based in Ottawa.

Trappers are just as concerned about animal welfare and have demonstrated a willingness to comply with European wishes, said Ian Ross, supervisor of the fur program for the Northwest Territories Department of Renewable Resources.

The leghold trap is banned in the N.W.T. Over 100,000 Conibear traps have been exchanged for leghold models, and over $3 million bas been spent in trapper training courses. A university credit course in trapping is also being planned.

"It demonstrates a lot of will on behalf of the trapping community to accept change, as long as it's realistic and it's practical," he said. "That's the reason they're willing to change-the concern for animal welfare is the driving force behind all of this."