Quote:
Originally Posted by Flamenspiel
The fishing rights thing is unique, really the goal is to address conservation, if you kill all the animals there will be nothing left. Going forward, it does not matter which group is destroying the resource, it can’t continue.
|
The narrative that Canada's indigenous peoples are sacred custodians of the land, and conservationists by tradition, is an attractive one. It fits the myth of the noble savage fending off corruption by modern society. But it's not true. Native bands have demonstrated a capability to exhaust natural resources like fish and game just as readily as non-Natives.
I covered a case in the NWT where several indigenous hunters using snowmobiles and high-powered rifles took down 10 caribou in a few minutes, cut only the prime parts off the animals, and left the rest to rot. Fish and wildlife officers were hated by the locals because they tried to enforce limits on hunting and fishing.