Ted Morton - IMHA

[WTBooner]

A letter by Ted Morton to Albertans. Nothing really said other than "It's not my fault that nothing has been done".

Court decision defined Metis' hunting rights

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Re: Audrey Poitra, The Metis View, July 9, 2007.

Regarding the cancelling of the Interim Metis Harvesting Agreement (IMHA), it is important that all Albertans, particularly Metis people, receive the full story. While it is true that I opposed the IMHA during last year's Tory leadership contest, in my new capacity as Minister of Sustainable Resource Development, I do not and cannot make such unilateral decisions.

The key driver in this process was the MLA Committee appointed by former Premier Ralph Klein in May 2005 to review the IMHA. I was not a member of that committee. In March 2006, the MLA Committee reported that the IMHA's "hunt anything, anytime, anywhere" policy was not consistent with the effective conservation of Alberta's fish and wildlife, and recommended it be renegotiated.

It has been the policy of both the Klein and Stelmach governments to implement the Committee's recommendations.

Negotiations were initiated in August 2006 to revise the IMHA. Subsequently, two different Alberta judges declared the IMHA was unconstitutional because it exempted certain groups from the ordinary law of the land by executive agreement rather than by a duly enacted law of the Legislature. The Stelmach government was now saddled with a policy that had been rejected by both the courts, and its own Caucus. It was clearly time for a fresh start.

Accordingly, in March of this year, Cabinet set a 90-day limit on the negotiations for a new Harvesting Agreement that would be permanent, and not interim. Unfortunately, despite good-faith negotiations on both sides, consensus was not achieved before the 90-day deadline expired on July 1. It should be noted that I played no role in these negotiations.

The Government of Alberta would prefer to have a permanent agreement to govern Metis harvesting. It will be more efficient and predictable for everyone to have an agreement that spells out who qualifies for Metis harvester status, and where and what they can hunt.

In the meanwhile, the Government of Alberta will continue to respect the Metis harvesting rights as defined by the Supreme Court of Canada's 2003 Powley decision. Our Fish and Wildlife Officers will enforce Alberta's hunting and fishing laws, but they will give ample opportunity for anyone claiming exemption under Metis harvester status to prove that claim. The details of this process are available on the website of Sustainable Resource Development (http://www.srd.alberta.ca/fishwildli...tingalberta/hu ntingnews.aspx).

As the Minister of Sustainable Resource Development, I have a duty to ensure the sustainable management of our fish and wildlife resources. The Government of Alberta has a duty to recognize and accommodate Metis harvesting rights as defined in the Powley decision. Alberta's first Metis Harvesting agreement failed to adequately reconcile these two objectives, but there is no reason that a proper balance cannot be achieved. The Stelmach government has made it clear that the door is opened for continued negotiations.

Ted Morton,

Minister of Sustainable Resource Development