SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Insects are in, general hunting licences are out. Residents will have to wait a year less to start hunting and young hunters can start hunting two years earlier.

These are just a few of the proposed changes to the Wildlife Act the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) is recommending. Almost a decade after the territorial government first embarked on a review of the legislation the department has outlined what the new act will look like and what changes people should expect.

Susan Fleck, the director of wildlife for the department, said the consultation process started in 2000, with meetings held across the territory into 2003.

"It builds on all the ideas that were put forward earlier, seven years ago," she said. "Now we're going back out for consultation with those ideas and we want to hear back from people about what they think."

She said the process was delayed because land claim groups wanted a more collaborative approach and in 2005, the GNWT agreed to make new legislation consistent with land claims.

The department's focus shifted to the Species at Risk Act and it was only after it passed in 2009 that ENR began updateing the Wildlife Act, in co-operation with the co-management boards and aboriginal groups.

"It takes time," Fleck said, adding the biggest change to the act has been the collaborative process to put it together.

She said aboriginal peoples' right to hunt, barter and trade has been incorporated into the act, with an acknowledgement land claim agreements would supersede the act. The Wildlife Act will outline how to deal with recommendations from co-management boards, for instance if there's a conservation concern and a board recommends limited tags for a certain species.

With the proposal outlined on ENR's website, the department is soliciting comments. So far, Fleck said she hasn't received any feedback but she anticipates discussion this fall when representatives from the department will present a draft of the legislation in communities across the NWT.

People's suggestions will be incorporated into the draft, which Fleck said Environment Minister Michael Miltenberger plans to present to the legislative assembly next winter. After the document is tabled it'll go to committee with an option for more public opinion and MLAs would have a chance to vote on it during the spring session.

"They've been taking their time about it," said Jonas Sangris, a hunter from Dettah.

He said he hopes the department consults with the public in the fall and explains what is changing. He said ENR needs to make an effort to use plain language so all community members, including elders, can understand how the new act will affect them and give feedback.

"You mention the word harvest to elders, they say 'what are you doing? We're not farmers,'" he said. "Some of the words in our language, we'd like to see in there."

While he said working with existing land claim agreements and future land claims is necessary, he said it will be difficult to have one co-management board governing all the different regions because different groups have different interests.

"The minister says he wants one board across the territory. That's not going to work. How can he do it when everyone has their own agreement?" Sangris said, adding he does hope the different interests can work together.

Sangris also said he hoped the new act would outline ways to avoid what happened last fall, when Miltenberger announced an interim ban on caribou hunting, a decision many aboriginal groups said they should have been a part of.

"I want consultation for sure and see how they want to do things. We're willing to work with wildlife officers. We want to be part of it."

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