Editor, The Times:
Re: Open letter to Canada’s Minister of the Environment
I was appalled to recently learn that some of the indigenous members of the Chu Chua Band near Clearwater conducted a hunt in Jasper National Park with the apparent consent of your department.
They apparently shot three elk and a mountain sheep. By permitting this hunt, you not only failed to protect the “ecological integrity of the park,” you also set a precedent.
Now no national park will be safe from indigenous hunters who claim the parks to be part of their traditional territory.
The animals shot were mostly tame. They are use to seeing people. In fact millions of visitors to our parks look forward to seeing these animals at the side of the highways.
I urge you to take legal action against these so-called hunters. I believe it is against the law to shoot an animal in the parks and it is illegal to carry non-sealed firearms in the parks.
If the matter winds up in the Supreme Court of Canada, so be it. There is always the not withstanding clause.
Fred Erler, Clearwater