Resolution 1999-13

WHEREAS Canada withdrew from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1982, stating “it no
longer has any direct interest in the whaling industry or in the related activities of the IWC”;
NOTING that Canadian representation has been limited to Observer Status at annual IWC meetings since then;
WHEREAS Canada issued its first license to take one bowhead whale in 1991 in the western Arctic from the
Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort bowhead whale stock and then has continued to issue such licenses on a regular
basis;
WHEREAS Canada issued its first license to take one bowhead whale in 1996 from the Hudson Bay-Foxe
Basin stock and one whale was landed;
WHEREAS the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board has again requested that the Government of Canada
authorize the landing of one bowhead whale from the Davis Strait/Baffin Bay stock;
NOW THEREFORE THE COMMISSION:
Reaffirms its opposition to all whaling not conducted under the International Convention for the Regulation of
Whaling (ICRW);
Invites the Government of Canada to rejoin the IWC and, in the meantime, not to issue further licenses for any
whaling not conducted under the ICRW.