Decision Date: January 31, 1994

Panel: Linda Michaluk

Because of a series of recent court decisions about aboriginal rights, the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks increased the allocation of elk to native hunters. This decreased the quotas of Larry Dougan and Wayne Wiebe, who appealed the decision.

The recent court decisions required the Ministry to guarantee native hunters enough elk for “sustenance use”. Exactly how many elk this involved might be difficult to determine, but priority must still be given to native hunters. There was no evidence that the Deputy Director had acted improperly in setting the quotas, and the Board dismissed the appeal.

The Board did recommend, however, that if the Ministry were increasing the number of elk that native hunters could take, then it should re-allocate other quotas in order to minimise the impact on everyone affected.