Polar bears and politics are causing a chill in Churchill after the Manitoba government quietly increased the number of special permits available to access the bears for the first time in decades.
It’s a move slammed by some tour operators and local First Nations who say the process lacked transparency and could hurt the area’s fragile ecosystem.
Last year, Lazy Bear Expeditions was given two permits allowing it to use Churchill Wildlife Management Area’s off-road trail network — and it seems no one in Churchill was consulted or informed new permits might be up for grabs.
New permits for this network, which is widely seen as the best way for tourists to see the most polar bears in western Hudson Bay, hadn’t been issued since 1984.
.”We’re extremely disappointed in the government’s actions,” said John Gunter, president and CEO of Frontiers North Adventures. “I just don’t understand. I’m stunned.”
‘Two sets of rules’
Frontiers North held 12 of the historic 18 tundra vehicle permits for decades, and says it earned these permits by investing millions of dollars into its business to help grow polar bear tourism for the North.
A limit of 18 permits was established by the government in the 1980s to preserve the ecosystem and tourist experience.
Gunter says there was no warning the government was considering expanding the permit system. Instead, he got a call from a government official in 2020 saying Lazy Bear was getting two permits.
The owner of Lazy Bear, Wally Daudrich, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Wally Daudrich owns Lazy Bear Expeditions, which was given two new permits to operate a tundra buggy in a protected area of Churchill. (Twitter)
Daudrich ran for the federal Conservatives in the Churchill riding in 2011.
He is an annual donor to the Progressive Conservatives, giving the maximum amount of $5,000 in 2019, according to Elections Manitoba’s annual returns.
“It seems like there is two sets of rules,” Gunter said, “and I’m not sure why that’s the case.”
Tour operator takes government, Lazy Bear to court
Fox Lake Cree Nation, whose traditional lands include the southern portion of the Churchill wildlife management area, also say they weren’t informed about the new permits.
“There was no consultation with our resource management board or our community that share these traditional lands,” Chief Morris Beardy said in a prepared statement.
“Indigenous communities must be part of decisions that affect our territories, and our communities must be part of opportunities to promote and expand tourism in the north.”
The Churchill Wildlife Management Area is a controlled zone that buffers Wapusk National Park. Visitor activity within the area is heavily restricted and a permit is required to use the off-road network where a tundra vehicle is used.
Each of these highly coveted permits translates into how many tundra vehicles a company can operate in the area at a given time.
The other company with access to these permits, Great White Bear Tours, took the government to court last year in a bid to get Lazy Bear’s permits revoked.
It filed an application on March 12, 2020 against the government and Lazy Bear, asking the court to revoke the permits because they were issued in “discriminatory, biased and unfair manner.”
Dennis Compayre argues it’s time to break up the monopoly on tundra vehicle permits held by two companies in Churchill. (Mike Macri/Merit Motion Pictures)
Representatives from Great White said they could not comment on this story as the matter is still before the courts. There is no hearing date set for a judge to hear the application.
Caleb Ross, a smaller operator of polar bear tours, has owned Nanuk Operations for five years. His permits only allow him to take tourists to some parts of the area using the established road system.
He found out through the grapevine that Lazy Bear had been given two permits, and said there was no communication with the other operators.
“It was surprising and a bit disappointing that the rest of us weren’t given the option,” he said.
Some support expansion
Not everyone in Churchill is opposed to the expansion of the permit system.
Dennis Compayre, a polar bear tracker in the area for 40 years, says he welcomes a break-up of the monopoly held by the other two companies.
“Daudrich is a very hard working man in Churchill, and he was trying to break into the business, but of course the door was slammed shut in his face,” Compayre said. “These two companies enjoy great liberties and benefits that no one else has.”
Compayre spends most of his days lately with a documentary film crew and was the recent star of CBC’s Kingdom of the Polar Bears.
WATCH | Dennis Compayre with polar bears in Churchill:
Veteran polar bear guide Dennis Compayre watches as a mother bear teaches her young cubs to hunt, and he discovers how they are struggling to adapt to a rapidly warming Arctic 2:10
He says on any given day, not all 18 permits are being used, so if Daudrich is out with his two tundra vehicles, it won’t really change the original intent of the cap.
“They have control of this huge parcel of land that they don’t use,” he said.
Province says it is reviewing Churchill’s tourism sector
The wildlife management plan for Churchill was first published in 1980s and last updated in 2013.
Since 1984 the number of tundra vehicles permitted to operate in the area has been capped at 18, according to the plan.
This was because of “concerns regarding the impact of this vehicle traffic on the vegetation and wetlands.”
However, special permits can be issued in certain circumstances.
However, the plan dictates the special permits are not for services connected with tourism “in fairness to applicants who have been denied the opportunity to offer services in the WMA [Wildlife Management Area].”
Manitoba’s wildlife branch was moved last year to the agriculture portfolio from conservation.
A request for an interview with Agriculture Minister Blaine Pedersen was denied.
In a prepared statement by the department, a spokesperson said the ecotourism sector of Churchill has “grown and evolved” since the original permit restrictions were introduced.
The spokesperson said the government is reviewing the entire tourism sector in Churchill, including whether the current permitting system is working.
He said consultations with Indigenous groups was not required when it comes to the use of a WMA as it “does not affect the exercise of Treaty or Indigenous rights.”
Gunter, who has been with Frontiers North since the 2000s, argues now is not the time to be adding more traffic to an ecosystem that is already facing global warming and diminished bear sightings.
2015 review says no to more off-road vehicles
A 2015 independent review ordered by the previous NDP government looked at Churchill’s tourism capacity.
They ultimately recommended they maintain the current number of allowable vehicles in order to mitigate further environmental factors that could impact the numbers of bears in the area.
The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) said it is “highly concerned” the government is choosing to go against the management plan for the area.
Frontiers North, Great Bear Tours and now Lazy Bear Expeditions are the only three companies with permits for Churchill’s off-road network. (Cameron MacIntosh/CBC News)
“We’ve been informed that there was no scientific assessment or consultations with local communities associated with this decision that may very well pose additional challenges to this threatened species,” said Ron Thiessen, executive director of the group’s Manitoba chapter.
The nationwide charity has long championed the establishment of a designated, protected park — dubbed Polar Bear provincial park — to replace the area that encompasses the wildlife management area.
“It presents a sterling opportunity to protect the terrestrial habitats polar bears need to give birth and raise their young,” he said.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
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