Athabasca Hunters Wary Of Warm Weather
Friday, January 05, 2007 at 15:22
An elder from Black Lake says he worries warm weather in the Athabasca region is making conditions unsafe for hunters.
Pierre Robillard has been a guide and hunter in the area for 40 years.
He says there’s been no problems finding the animals this year.
The caribou showed up in November at a point 30 kilometres north of the community.
But Robillard says warm temperatures have made it dangerous to step on ice usually considered safe.
Robillard adds it was just recently that he encountered wet snow on a hunting trip — something he describes as being strange for January.
On another subject, Robillard says he wishes various levels of government would listen to hunters more when it comes to issues in the Far North.
He says those in charge seem more concerned with appeasing industry than listening to the grassroots harvesters who have been there for centuries.
Robillard also says he is curious to see if government claims that an all-weather road network will reduce grocery costs in the Far North will come true.
He says governments have told his people in the past that things like energy bills would decrease through more development in the region.
Robillard says this hasn’t been the case.