The Fan Hitch   Volume 15, Number 4, September 2013

          Journal of the Inuit Sled Dog                                    
In This Issue....

From the Editor: A Great Man Has Passed


Passage

Baker Lake MLA Speaks Out in Support of Nunavut's Inuit Dogs

Proposed New Dog By-law, a Threat to Iqaluit Dog Team Owners?

Published Research Has Implications for the Aboriginal Inuit Sled Dog!

Fan Mail

The Chinook Project’s July 2013 Visit to Labrador


NFB Increases Internet Accessibility to its Film Library


Movie Review: Vanishing Point

Problems Accessing/Viewing Pages

IMHO: The Back Story of the Thank You DVD


Index: Volume 15, The Fan Hitch


Navigating This Site

Index of articles by subject

Index of back issues by volume number

Search The Fan Hitch


Articles to download and print

Ordering Ken MacRury's Thesis

Our comprehensive list of resources

Defining the Inuit Dog


Talk to The Fan Hitch

The Fan Hitch home page

Editor's/Publisher's Statement
Editor: Sue Hamilton
Webmaster: Mark Hamilton
The Fan Hitch, Journal of the Inuit Sled Dog, is published four times a year. It is available at no cost online at: https://thefanhitch.org.

The Fan Hitch
welcomes your letters, stories, comments and suggestions. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit submissions used for publication.


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This site is dedicated to the Inuit Dog as well as related Inuit culture and traditions. It is also home to
The Fan Hitch, Journal of the Inuit Sled Dog.

Roaming pet dogs, owned or not, pose a problem in many
northern communities.
                         Photo: M. Hamel

Proposed new dog by-law, a threat to Iqaluit dog team owners?

Word from Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada is that in July 2013 the Town Council proposed a new dog by-law that has responsible team owners in Nunavut’s capital upset. They claim they have not been given much advanced notification nor the time line for the review process or their input, only having received a copy of the 38 page “Responsible pet owners and sled dog by-laws” after hearing rumors about its existence.

The Town Council is recommending this legislation to replace the current stand-alone dog team by-law which team owners say was the result of years of effort on the part of owners and Elders, many of whom have passed on, who had worked together with city officials to create legislation that could find a balance between issues of public safety and traditional dog keeping practices, understanding the importance of encouraging the responsible ownership of endangered working Inuit Dogs.

Apparently the lumping together of rules pertaining to both pets and working dogs has created ambiguity and confusion as the responsible keeping of each is separated not only by differences in cultures, but also by the differences in what are appropriate and sound procedures for each. It is also feared that the new by-law will in many ways discourage the keeping of traditional dogs teams.

As of when the September issue of The Fan Hitch had gone “live”, there has been no response to a request for comment from either side.

Nor has progress been made regarding last year’s dog team owners’ request to the Iqaluit Town Council for a security fence.
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