The Cree Nation Government voted in favour of a ban on Cree hunters harvesting caribou of the George River Caribou Herd last week on Thursday.
The decline has shown 99 % since 2001.
A resolution to limit the Cree hunt of the herd, which is down 5,500 caribou passed unanimously last week at a regular council board meeting of the Grand Council of the Cree/ Cree Nation Government, including community chiefs in Matagami, Quebec.
Nadia Saganash, Cree Nation Wildlife Administrator said “Let the population rest and replenish and build its strength again.”
He goes on to say, “We are concerned about the current harvesting still occurring with the herd, when populations reach such critically low levels the genetic fitness and diversity of the herd is reduced and it becomes less able to adapt to environmental stresses and changes.”
The Cree Government also passed a second resolution last condemning what it calls “unauthorized” hunting of the second herd of the caribou in Quebec – the Leaf Herd – by other Indigenous groups in Cree Territory.
According to Quebec Government Statistics the Leaf River Caribou herd population dropped by 70% between 2000-2016 down to 181,000, before slightly rebounding in 2017 to just over 209,000 caribou in February 2018.
Story Courtesy of CBC news.