Canada Creates Three New National Parks
8/16/99
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Title: Canada Creates Three New National Parks
Source: Environment News Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 16, 1999
OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada, August 16, 1999 (ENS) - An agreement between
the governments of Canada and the country's newest territory Nunavut
has created a new national park called Sirmilik on northern Baffin
Island. The territory of Nunavut in the eastern Arctic created on
April 1, 1998, is inhabited primarily by native Inuit people.
The new Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreement agreement was signed
Thursday in Pond Inlet by Minister of Canadian Heritage, Sheila Copps
and Pauloosie Keyootak, president of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association.
In addition to creating Sirmilik National Park, the agreement also
elevates two existing parks - Auyuittuq and Quttinirpaaq (Ellesmere
Island) - from national park reserves to full fledged national parks.
At over 22,500 square kilometres, (8,687 square miles) Sirmilik
National Park is the third largest in the Canadian national park
system, which now protects 2.5 percent of Canada from industrial
development. Sirmilik represents the land type known as the Eastern
Arctic Lowlands Natural Region.
"Qikiqtani Inuit Association is very pleased to have reached a deal
that will advance the spirit of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. We
have ensured that the environment will be protected but we have also
ensured economic benefits for our people," said Keyootak. "These parks
will be of great benefit to the Inuit in the Baffin Region, and
throughout Nunavut."
Copps said, "The Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreement provides Inuit
with a strong voice in the management of the parks and is a splendid
example of the spirit of cooperation through which our special places
can be protected."
Sirmilik National Park has been the subject of negotiations since
1987. The federal government to withdrew the proposed parklands from
industrial development in April 1992. The 1993 Nunavut Land Claim
Agreement confirmed that a national park would be established on North
Baffin Island once an Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreement was achieved.
That is the agreement signed in Pond Inlet.
"We congratulate and thank Inuit leaders for working for over a decade
to preserve and share a part of their homeland with Canadians as part
of our national park system," said Kevin McNamee, wildlands campaign
director with the 40,000 member national conservation group Canadian
Nature Federation.
"Today's agreement demonstrates that government and First Nations can
cooperate to preserve lands that are vital to sustaining traditional
ways of life while ensuring that they bring much needed economic and
social benefits to northern communities," McNamee said.
The Canadian Nature Federation is now urging the federal government to
pass the necessary legislation to protect Sirmilik National Park as
soon as Parliament reconvenes, said McNamee. In 1991, there was an
attempt by mineral interests to reduce the park's proposed boundary,
but it was rejected by the Inuit.
As a result of the parks agreement, grants will be provided to the
Qikiqtani Inuit Association. A Cdn$3 million federal grant will enable
Inuit in the six communities adjacent to the parks to make the most of
the inherent economic opportunities. (All amounts are in Canadian
dollars)
Another grant, worth $200,000, will allow Inuit to create a National
Park Scholarship Fund to help Inuit get training and pursue studies
leading to careers with Parks Canada.
Over the next five years, Parks Canada will also provide a total of
$240,000 to develop Inuit tourism studies for the communities located
close to the three parks.
Between now and the year 2004, the federal government will spend an
additional $1 million for such things as training members of the park
management committees, enhancing visitor information and presentation
material and translating documents into Inuktitut, Nunavut's native
language.
The agreement signed at Pond Inlet turns Ellesmere Island National
Park Reserve into a full-fledged national park. It is the northernmost
park in Canada, and the second largest at 37,775 square kilometres
(14,585 square miles). Mountain ranges, glaciers, fjords, and arctic
tundra are inhabited by polar bears and herds of muskoxen and Peary
caribou that migrate through each summer. Thirty species of birds nest
in the area.
There is a hiking trail between Tanquary Fjord and Lake Hazen that is
enjoyed by no-trace backpackers looking for an ultimate wilderness
environment. There are campsites at both the lake and the fjord.
Auyuittuq National Park Reserve also gained full national park status.
In English, "the land that never melts," was established as the first
national park north of the Arctic Circle in 1975. Its mountain
valleys, fjords, and glaciers cover 21,500 square kilometres of the
Cumberland Sound Peninsula. Polar bears, foxes are common, weasels and
lemmings live in Auyuittuq.
All of these protected areas are home to polar bears. Parks Canada
warns travellers, "On rare occasions they will stalk and try to kill
people."
Some areas may be closed due to bear activity. Try not to travel when
visibility is poor, Parks Canada cautions. Be extra careful in areas
where boulders or pressure ridges might conceal a polar bear.
Avoid areas with polar bear tracks, droppings, holes dug in the snow
at seal holes, seal carcasses, and polar bear dens. Consider hiring a
guide if you are uncertain about the nature of polar bears.
(c) Environment News Service (ENS) 1999