Moose seized in Listuguj territory

A group of local harvesters say more needs to be done to ensure local hunters are fully aware of regulations in other territories, after two of their moose were seized in Matane earlier this month.

“The whole ordeal could have been avoided,” said Shononhsiio Jacobs, one of the Kahnawa’kehró:non involved in the incident.

The group were harvesting in Matane, on the Gaspe Peninsula, earlier this month, which is considered part of Listuguj territory. They had their harvest seized after game wardens received reports of blood leaking from a vehicle. The wardens ultimately took the moose, cutting the lock of a trailer to retrieve one, and removing the other from a truck bed.

The Listuguj Mi’gmaq Government (LMG) has specific guidelines for Indigenous harvesters who are not from the territory, including the requirement for those individuals to obtain a letter of authority from the LMG.

There are a number of additional requirements for harvesters, including carrying that letter with them at all times, not harvesting at night for safety reasons, only harvesting one moose for the year, and registering all harvested moose with the Mi’gmaq Rangers.

Harvesters must also comply with applicable provincial safety regulations, follow provincial regulations concerning firearms, and be accompanied by a Listuguj community member at all times - the LMG emphasizes that it’s important for a Listuguj community member to be there during the harvest to ensure necessary protocols of paying respect are followed after a moose is killed.

Per the LMG regulations, those who don’t comply may have their authority letter revoked and their harvest seized.

Jacobs said that he and the group didn’t meet those requirements because they simply didn’t know about them. He said that it’s a serious issue that various Indigenous communities don’t have strong understandings of other nation’s practices, and that more needs to be done to educate harvesters.

“I think the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) should do a better job to fight for our right to hunt and be better connected with other communities, so that nothing like that happens again,” he said. “It’s been more than two weeks, and they still haven’t made any effort to inform other community members that go to Matane.”

MCK chief David Diabo said community members need to be thorough when preparing to harvest in other communities, and should be cooperative with game wardens, who he said have a responsibility to ensure regulations are being followed.

“The game wardens did their job,” Diabo said.

While Diabo said MCK doesn’t condone the seizure of any kind of subsistence harvesting, he said that it’s important to respect the territory of other nations, and emphasized that it can be dangerous to hunt on other territories without following the proper procedures.

“It’s traditional territory but it’s not our traditional territory. It’s Mi’kmaq territory,” Diabo.

“They’re doing this for harvesters’ safety. It’s an emergency management issue. If you’re in there and you get caught in a storm, or somebody gets shot accidentally, or you fall down, break a bone, get hurt, they need to know you’re there,” Diabo said. “Ultimately, it’s the rangers that would have to go out and find them.”

Diabo said that the situation was complicated by the members of the group failing to cooperate with the wardens and refusing to answer their questions - Jacobs characterized the incident as stressful for the group, lasting almost three hours.

“The MCK should’ve properly informed all the community hunters about this policy and written permission form. They failed to do so, and they put the blame on us for this incident,” Jacobs said. “It just sucks, we kind of look like the bad guys in this story, but it’s not our fault.”

No members of the group were arrested, but they were not permitted to retrieve the moose after the seizure. Diabo said he’s been in contact with Sylvain Marois, of Quebec’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests, since the incident, who was supportive of Onkwehón:we hunting rights, and said that it’s important to ensure everyone is informed about other community’s regulations going forward.

“The discussions will continue, and he himself was the one that said, ‘We acknowledge you have a right to hunt, we’re never going to stop you,’” Diabo said. “MCK is always going to protect that right, for all our community members.”

Jacobs said that there must be better communication to ensure this kind of incident doesn’t happen again.

“Hopefully in the future, members of the community will get the proper authorization to harvest and respect the policy in their traditional territory,” he said.

Full information about requirements for hunting on Listuguj territory can be found on the LMG website.

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