The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
During a tour of the Fur Institute of Canada facilities at the Alberta Research Council on Saturday, Culture, Heritage and Tourism Minister Eric Robinson called on other provinces and territories to lobby the federal government to extend its funding agreement for a humane trapping development program. In calling for the support of other provinces and territories, Robinson said federal funding cuts to the program threaten Canada's historic European fur trade because the program ensures the industry meets the high humane trapping standards set by an international treaty. Europe represents over 70 per cent of Canada's fur export market. "Without the European market, the Canadian fur trade will collapse," Robinson said of the industry, which consists of 7,500 trappers in Manitoba, many of whom live in the North. "This is a very important part of our traditional economy. And because this industry is still strong, trapping is being passed on to the next generation of Manitobans and they have told us this program must be maintained." The Manitoba Trappers Association recently moved to increase licensing fees by $5, in the hopes of raising about $30,000 for the program. However, the program costs about $600,000 each year to operate. Robinson, Conservation Minister Stan Struthers and Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Minister Oscar Lathlin also recently wrote to Treasury Board President Reg Alcock urging him to continue federal government support. "Trapping is vital to a way of life for many thousands of Manitobans-over half of whom are Aboriginal," Robinson said. A federal funding agreement that has provided $350,000 a year in federal funding expires in April.
