Latest news with #LazyBearExpeditions
CBC
4 days ago
- CBC
Northern Manitoba walking tours of ancient Inuit hunting camp not authorized, province says
Social Sharing The Manitoba government says it has determined walking tours of an ancient Inuit hunting camp are not authorized, following concerns raised last year — after a tourism operator advertised visits to the site — that tourists' presence there could damage an important cultural and historical site, and the animal habitats around it. Lazy Bear Expeditions in Churchill, Man., previously promoted its Hudson Bay Wilderness Outpost Adventure as "five days based in a remote, sub-Arctic outpost" searching for polar bears and other wildlife, along with visiting nearby coves, estuaries and other coastal points of interest by boat. However, the trip — which was advertised on Lazy Bear's website at $16,800 per person — caught the attention of more than just tourists, prompting conservation and hunting groups to voice concerns to the province about the potential the overnights visit could disrupt the areas involved. The company described the trip on its website as a "life-changing" adventure, with access to Arctic animals in an "awe-inspiring northern wilderness largely untouched by human existence" and visits to what it called "the Hudson Bay version of Stonehenge — ancient Inuit building remains and hunting grounds thousands of years old." The tour appeared to offer to bring people to stay in a houseboat-like vessel, or "outpost," which Lazy Bear's website said was moored at Hubbart Point. That site — roughly 70 kilometres north of Churchill — is home to artifacts including meat caches, tent rings and graves, said Christopher Debicki, vice-president of policy development for the conservation group Oceans North, which wrote to the province last year raising concerns about the tours. Carbon dating has determined the camp (also known as Qikiqtaarjuit and Hubbard Point) has been in use going back at least 1,000 years, Debicki previously said, adding he was also concerned about the potential for tourists staying in the area to disrupt the nearby Seal River estuary in the Seal River watershed. Last year, then natural resources minister Jamie Moses said the province was investigating "resource tourism activities potentially occurring in non-permitted areas" in the region north of Churchill. In a recent statement, the province said its review "determined that walking tours at Hubbart Point are not authorized, and we acted immediately by informing all operators that land-based ecotourism activities were not authorized at Hubbart Point." "When concerns regarding operators offering walking tours at Hubbart Point first came to our attention, our government took the issue very seriously," said the statement, which was attributed to a spokesperson for current Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie. The statement said limitations on operators were noted on their 2025-26 renewals, and operators were "informed that any future proposals involving sensitive areas would require enhanced review and consultation with Heritage Resources Branch." Tours not currently offered in area: operator The statement said the province is also exploring options for increased monitoring at the location, "and we remain committed to supporting sustainable tourism practices, protecting culturally and ecologically sensitive areas, and collaborating with Indigenous communities and stakeholders to ensure respectful and responsible tourism development." An emailed statement from Lazy Bear Expeditions this week said the mainland area around Hubbart Point does contain sacred sites, "and we have always been very careful to respect those areas." "That being said, we are not currently offering tours in that area," the statement said. Tour touting Hudson Bay 'Stonehenge' site disregards cultural importance, critics say 1 year ago A northern Manitoba tour advertising a trip to an ancient Inuit hunting camp is raising concerns that tourists' presence there could damage an irreplaceable cultural and historical site. The company is owned by Wally Daudrich, who earlier this year lost a leadership race for Manitoba's Progressive Conservative Party to Fort Whyte MLA Obby Khan. Lazy Bear's statement said the operator has "many Indigenous partners working with us, and we operate in a major Indigenous area, so we have always been sensitive to respect Indigenous culture and beliefs." It said it also offers offshore tours on a nearby island "in partnership with an Inuit organization, and we have never had any concerns raised to us regarding sacred sites on the island." Oceans North's Debicki said this week he's thankful for the update about Hubbart Point and applauds the government's steps toward protecting the site. "It was never our wish that visitors be permanently denied access to this spectacular site," he said. "But our concern … was that the access was completely unregulated and potentially damaging." Debicki added he hopes to see a management plan involving Manitoba communities and Inuit to figure out a way people can experience the site "in a way that's culturally respectful" and that protects its heritage.
CBC
16-06-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Former Manitoba PC leadership candidate loses appeal of polar bear ecotourism permit cut
A Churchill ecotourism business has lost its appeal to keep its polar bear viewing vehicle permits this year. In February, the provincial Wildlife Branch informed Wally Daudrich that it was rescinding licences for his company, Lazy Bear Expeditions, to operate two tundra vehicles on the coastal plains of the Churchill Wildlife Management Area, where polar bears gather in large numbers each fall before the ice freezes up on Hudson Bay. The Wildlife Branch told Daudrich — a former candidate for leader of Manitoba's Progressive Conservative Party — that the continuing decline in the number of polar bears on the western side of Hudson Bay, based on a 2021 aerial survey, was the reason for the decision. The branch said the province was reducing the number of vehicles allowed to traverse the tundra in the management area from 20 to 18. That was the number of vehicles permitted to carry tourists to see polar bears prior to 2020, when the provincial government granted two vehicle allocations to Lazy Bear. Last March, Daudrich asked the Manitoba Court of King's Bench to review the Wildlife Branch's decision, declare it invalid and restore his permits for two vehicles. Daudrich also asked the court to declare the decision was unreasonable and made in bad faith. A judge dismissed Daudrich's motion for an injunction in April. In a decision dated June 9, the three justices of the Manitoba Court of Appeal dismissed Daudrich's appeal of the April decision. "What Lazy Bear is actually seeking is not an injunction prohibiting the minister from acting," the decision says. "Rather, it is an injunction requiring the minister to act — to issue a new permit when an earlier permit expired — something the minister is not obligated to do." The Wildlife Branch inaccurately told Daudrich that it was "rescinding" Lazy Bear's vehicle licences, but its intention was to let Daudrich know that his business would not receive a permit in the 2025-26 season, the appeal court's decision says. Established precedent has proven there's no automatic right to licence or permit renewals, the appeal court decision says. The judge who heard Daudrich's injunction motion also said Daudrich did not prove that he'd suffered irreparable harm without the vehicle licences that couldn't be recovered as damages from the province if his lawsuit were successful, according to the appeal court decision. A provincial spokesperson said they could not comment on a matter before the courts.
CBC
05-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Manitoba cancels polar bear ecotourism permits for company owned by PC leadership candidate
Manitoba has rescinded polar bear viewing vehicle permits for a Churchill ecoutourism company owned by a candidate vying to lead the opposition Progressive Conservative Party. The provincial wildlife branch told Lazy Bear Expeditions owner Wally Daudrich last week that his company is no longer permitted to operate two tundra vehicles on the coastal plains of the Churchill Wildlife Management Area, east of Churchill, where polar bears gather in large numbers each fall before the ice freezes up on Hudson Bay. The wildlife branch said Lazy Bear's licence has been rescinded for the 2025 season because of the continuing decline in the number of polar bears on the western side of Hudson Bay. "This decision is intended to align with Manitoba's conservation priorities for polar bears and the protection of the sensitive tundra ecosystem," wildlife branch director Maria Arlt said in a letter to Daudrich on Feb. 27. "Additionally, concerns about the potential habituation of polar bears to vehicles, which poses safety risks, further underscore the necessity of this limit." Arlt said the province is reducing the number of vehicles allowed to traverse the tundra in the Churchill Wildlife Management Area from 20 to 18. That was the number of vehicles permitted to carry tourists to see polar bears prior to 2020, when the provincial government granted two more vehicle allocations to Lazy Bear. The other 18 tundra vehicles are operated by Frontiers North and Great White Bear, two other Churchill ecotourism companies. The number of vehicles allowed to carry tourists to see bears along the coastal plain was capped at 18 in 1984 and upheld at that number in a 2013 management plan completed for the Churchill Wildlife Management Area. Since then, Arlt said, the number of polar bears in the Western Hudson Bay subpopulation have declined further and the body condition of the surviving bears has deteriorated, mainly because of increasingly long ice-free seasons on Hudson Bay. Polar bears only hunt for seals when ice is on the bay. "Future projections indicate that polar bears in Western Hudson Bay are among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and consequently these bears will be spending longer periods on land, culminating in increased stress levels due to lack of food in the ice-free period," Arlt said. Surveys and environmental monitoring of the Western Hudson Bay polar bear subpopulation suggest the number of bears in the region dropped by 50 per cent between 1979 and 2021 and the average weight of these bears has also declined, according to Canadian research published in the journal Science in January. Daudrich said in an interview the health of the polar bear population in the Churchill area is important to ecoutourism companies. "Churchill's biggest, best resource is healthy polar bears," he said, objecting to the idea his vehicle allocations had to be cancelled to ensure the health of the bears. "That's a discussion for Churchill and our tourism industry to have, not to arbitrarily pull permits away. Just my permits, by the way. Nobody else's." Daudrich said he and his family, which also own the hotel Lazy Bear Lodge, spent decades building up their business to earn the right to receive vehicle allocations in 2020. "We actually did tours prior to that for years as well, but we needed the permits that we have now from a marketing perspective and to make sure that our clients, of course get the best tour," he said. Daudrich said thousands of people have booked tours with Lazy Bear for this fall and in 2026. He said he stands to lose tens of millions of dollars due to cancellations. He accused the NDP government of playing a role in rescinding his vehicle allocations. "I believe the bureaucracy is being weaponized by Wab Kinew against me," said Daudrich, claiming he is ahead of Fort Whyte MLA Obby Khan in the PC leadership race. Voting has yet to begin in that contest, which concludes on April 26. "I think they see me as an unknown entity," Daudrich said of the NDP government. "They want to throw me off balance. But I'm in this game, I'm here to stay." Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie dismissed Daudrich's allegation about political interference. "Unlike the PCs, we are taking the politics out of this. This is the department doing their due diligence," Bushie said in a statement, referring to Daudrich's longstanding membership in the PC party before he received vehicle allocations of his own. A CBC News request for an interview with the Natural Resources department was declined. In a statement that was not attributed to any official, the province said said it conducted "extensive engagement" about polar bear vehicle allocations during the fall of 2024 and "determined that polar bear viewing tourism is saturated." On Tuesday, John Gunter at Frontiers North and Kyle Walkoski at Great White Bear declined to comment on the cancellation of Lazy Bear's vehicle allocations. In 2020, Frontiers North objected to the provincial decision to grant Lazy Bear two vehicle allocations, claiming the province did not consult the other ecotourism companies. Great White Bear, meanwhile, took the province to court in 2020 in an effort to get Lazy Bear's vehicle allocations revoked on the basis they were issued in "discriminatory, biased and unfair manner." Arlt suggested in her letter the 2020 decision to grant those allocations to Lazy Bear was unfair.
