Quebec EMR-NMR Polar Bear Management Plan Public Hearing

The Polar Bear Working Group, including Makivik, Ministère de la Faune, des Forêts et des Parcs (MFFP), Ressources naturelles, Hunting Trapping and Fishing Coordinating Committee (HTFCC), and Canadian Wildlife Service, was formed in 2017 in order to develop the Quebec Polar Bear Management Plan. In collaboration with all stakeholders, Makivik has worked on a draft polar bear management plan which was sent to the HTFCC, EMRWB, and NMRWB for review in February, 2021.

The Quebec-EMR-NMR Polar Bear Management Plan was sent to the EMRWB to review in February 2021. In response, the EMRWB met with the NMRWB to review the plan and decided to hold a joint written public-hearing which was launched on June 28, 2021. The joint written hearing gave parties with standing the chance to review the proposed management plan, provide relevant documents, and ask questions to the authors of the management plan or other parties with standings.

The public hearing process closed on September 24, 2021. Based on the results of the public hearing, requests for edits and further explanation were submitted to the Plan authors. During the summer of 2021, the authors submitted a revised Plan. In response to the new version of the Plan, the EMRWB and NMRWB re-opened the public hearing for a two-week period, from October 31st to November 14th, 2022.

In December 2022, the EMRWB and NMRWB held a joint meeting and approved the QC-EMR-NMR Polar Bear Management Plan. Click here to read the Polar Bear Management Plan for Québec, the Eeyou Marine Region and the Nunavik Marine Region.

Southern Hudson Bay Polar Bear – Total Allowable Take (TAT) and Non-Quota Limitations (NQL)

The EMRWB is responsible for ascertaining and adjusting the Basic Needs Level (BNL) for a species, stock, or population of Wildlife and establishing, modifying, or removing Non-quota Limitations (NQL).

On August 7, 2020, the Government of Nunavut, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and the Government of Quebec sent a letter to the EMRWB, Nunavik Marine Region Wildlife Board (NMRWB), Nunavut Wildlife Board (NMWB), and the Hunting, Fishing, and Trapping Coordinating Committee (HFTCC) requesting that the proponents re-assess the TAT of the Southern Hudson Bay (SHB) polar bear population based on the most recent scientific and indigenous knowledge.

The EMRWB and NMRWB decided that the WB’s will complete the Quebec-EMR-NMR Polar Bear Management Plan process first, as it will provide the guiding principles to the SHB TAT and NQL decision-making process.