labradore

"We can't allow things that are inaccurate to stand." — The Word of Our Dan, February 19, 2008.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Misinformed

In the same week that a lot of people in Newfoundland got upset about the ignorance of someone who confused the Port au Port Peninsula, with Port-au-Prince, the capital of the "Dominican Republic", there have been, among many other comments on the George River caribou controversy which are objectionable for other reasons, numerous comments like these.

They are unedited, except to add underlining. (VOCM link won't work for very long.):
The Telegram:
Jay- January 30, 2013 at 20:04:34

There are numerous differences between the cod fishery and the caribou hunt. The major one is that the cod fishery was a commercial enterprise. The caribou hunt is not. The Innu have also not been financially or economically dependant on the hunt for close to fifty years. Today it is more similar to the Newfoundlander looking for his moose. While there are important ceremonial and traditional issues around the hunt, it cannot be compared to the cod fishery which accounted directly or indirectly for a significant portion of the province's gross domestic product before the moratorium.The Inuit looked into a commercial hunt back in the 80s, but for a number of reasons it was not feasible.While I agree that government has responsibility for the herd, the Innu are not the only hunters. There are Inuit, Innuktuavit, white settlers on th coast, the Lake Melville region, and in Labrador west. These people could argue very strongly that their rights to hunt caribou are just as important as the Innu rights. There's a lot more I can say on this topic, but I'll leave it for now. By the way, I'm not a native basher or a racist.

VOCM:
Roy :

Randy, I've lived in Inuit Communities. It's time someone said what so many either do not realize, or are afraid to say! Our Governments pour millions of taxpayer dollars into these communities, and it is spent with no accountability. It's about time someone got mad and said exactly what's on their mind. Keep up the good work!
Posted: 1/30/2013 6:27:12 PM

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