What is the BCWF Political Action Alliance (PAA) and is the PAA associated with the BC Wildlife Federation?
The BCWF Political Action Alliance (PAA) is a society registered under the Societies Act of BC and is not in any way directly associated with or part of the BC Wildlife Federation. It has its own constitution, its own directors and its own mandate as registered with the Registrar.
The BCWF Political Action Alliance currently has two funds in place.
One fund was created by Gary Mauser specifically to support the passing of Bill C-391 with a goal to promote the elimination of the long-gun registry.
The other, and more recent fund is the Resident Angler and Hunter Preservation Fund (RAHPF).
What is the BCWF Resident Angler and Hunter Preservation Fund?
The BC Resident Angler and Hunter Preservation Fund is a voluntary fund created to actively protect, promote and enhance the interests of British Columbia resident hunters and anglers.
The BC Resident Angler and Hunter Preservation Fund was formed by a group of BC Wildlife Federation members who were frustrated by the lack of progress in restoring resident priority in the provincial allocation policy and the continuing loss of resident angling and hunting opportunity in the province.
Is the Resident Angler and Hunter Preservation Fund associated with the BCWF’s Legal Defence Fund?
The RAHPF was established with the intent of working for resident priority and is not associated with, nor does it have the same mandate as the BCWF’s Legal Defence Fund.
Does the British Columbia Wildlife Federation have any knowledge of the Resident Angler and Hunter Preservation Fund (RAHPF)?
Yes, the RAHPF was discussed and endorsed by the BCWF members present at the 2009 AGM in Fernie. However, no endorsement by the BCWF was required to proceed with the creation of the fund. Individual members and club representatives made significant donations to the fund right on the floor of the convention.
Does the British Columbia Wildlife Federation have access to the funds in the Resident Angler and Hunter Preservation Fund?
No, the BCWF does not have access to the RAHPF monies. All of the funds used by the RAHPF are from donations made directly to the BCWF PAA for the purposes stated on its website (http://residentpriority.ca/) and none of the funds have come from the BC Wildlife Federation. Only the directors of the BCWF Political Action Alliance manage the fund.
Did the BC Wildlife Federation approve the advertisement that was placed by the BCWF Political Action Alliance?
The directors of the BCWF Political Action Alliance approved the advertisement placed in local papers around the province in late 2009. Neither the executive nor the board of directors of the BC Wildlife Federation had any knowledge or part in the approval of the ad prior to its publication.
How much money did the BC Wildlife Federation spend on this ad?
The BC Wildlife Federation spent no money on the ad that was run by the BCWF PAA.
Are the claims in the advertisement legitimate?
The Allocation Policy was agreed to in 2006 but since then the GOABC has requested the policy be delayed or re-opened. There was a transition period in the originally agreed to policy through 2012 that was to allow guide-outfitters to transition to the new policy. GOABC has requested that the Allocation Policy implementation be delayed until 2017 and has also requested the Allocation Policy be re-opened.
Since the new Allocation Policy took effect, in Region 7A guide-outfitters have lobbied to reduce or remove the calf general open season, reduce or eliminate cow harvest and eliminate or at the very least make the immature bull moose an allocated hunt all to increase quality of product. Prior to the Allocation Policy guide-outfitters in 7A harvested close to 1100 cow moose from 1980-2007, which is about 7% of the cow harvest. Through the new policy the guide-outfitter share was reduced to 2%. But probably because these hunts are becoming harder to sell, even with the reduced numbers available, there is now a push to reduce or completely eliminate the cow harvest which would greatly impact resident opportunity, but have little effect on the bottom line of commercial operators.
Also, by making immature bull moose an allocated hunt the total resident share of the bull harvest will be reduced from about 92% to 75% increasing guide-outfitter share from 8% to 25%. What this means to resident hunters is either the spike-fork season or the LEH hunt will be greatly reduced or eliminated.
GOABC has also requested all resident sheep hunting be placed on LEH or to have Guide-outfitters quota completely removed. This was the system in place until the 1970s and resulted in huge conservation concerns and in resident sheep hunters being placed on LEH in some areas despite only harvesting 15% of the sheep prior to that.
These are but a few of the issues that are being pushed behind closed doors without your knowledge.
The GOABC has also produced an economic viability paper that they have used to lobby government to make changes to hunting regulations that will support their industry at the expense of resident hunter opportunity. All the contents of the ad you have mentioned, directly reference statements contained in this viability paper.
