I have a return to Question O34712(2), asked by Ms. Mike on March 25, 1992. In the spring of 1991 my predecessor, Mr. Allooloo, visited the Baffin communities with officials of the Department of Renewable Resources to discuss polar bear management. The people of Pangnirtung hunt bears from the southeast Baffin and Labrador population of polar bears. This population is also hunted by Broughton Island, lqaluit and Lake Harbour, as well as by people from Greenland, Labrador and Quebec. The population is estimated at approximately 1000 bears.
Pangnirtung currently has a quota of 14 bears, and this quota cannot be changed until all the communities that hunt from this population have reached an agreement on how the population should be managed in the future. We hope that the communities that share the population hunted by Pangnirtung can develop a management agreement that is acceptable to all concerned. The Department of Renewable Resources, Government of the Northwest Territories, will be meeting with these communities to do everything it can to
assist in the development of a management agreement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.