Canada’s lone reindeer herd is under new ownership.
Inuvialuit Regional Corporation announced Aug. 6 they will be taking the herd over under the Inuvialuit Community Economic Development (ICEDO) Organization.
“Inuvialuit have engaged in reindeer husbandry within the Inuvialuit Settlement Region for nearly a century,” said IRC chair and CEO Duane Ningaqsiq Smith. “With their work and attention, the herd has provided food security and resources to generations of Inuvialuit families.
“IRC wishes to see the herd continue to provide food security to its beneficiaries and it looks forward to the wider opportunity for nourishment and many economic opportunities the new ownership will provide.”
Revitalization of the herd will be overseen by ICEDO with the assistant of an Inuvialuit Reindeer herding team. The first goal is to restore the herd’s numbers to a level that it can be sustainably harvested for food.
“As ICEDO works to make this vision a reality, it will draw upon the skills and resources of members of our communities and respective organizations. IRC is confident that by working together, with a strong vision of the future, every Inuvialuk will benefit,” reads the notice.
ICEDO will be taking the reins over from Lloyd Binder, who owns the company Kunnek Resource Development Corp and has been owner of the herd since 1998. The deal was inked with the support of the Northwest Territories Business Development Investment Corporation.
The domesticated reindeer herd has been active in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region since 1935, where a 3,000-strong herd was imported from Alaska to relieve a caribou shortage. The Alaskan reindeer themselves were imported in the 1800s by the United States government to establish a meat industry.
In more recent history, the herd’s numbers have dwindled, though exactly how much has not been publicly released. The IRC issued a reminder to its beneficiaries in January not to hunt reindeer.
As of this year, that request holds.
“The IRC and ICEDO wish to thank beneficiaries for their ongoing support and continue to ask everyone to avoid any and all contact with the herd at this time,” concludes the notice.