Annual Mi'kmaq feast held in Cape Breton despite moose hunting moratorium
For years, the Feast in the Highlands atop Hunters Mountain - just off Cape Breton’s Cabot Trail - has been a Mi'kmaq fall tradition, but this year was a bit different.
"(It) sucks that you can't hunt moose in Cape Breton this year, for three years. I'm kind of bummed out,” said Isaac Propser, a Grade 11 student from nearby We’kok’maq First Nation.
"They had been kept away from Hunters Mountain for decades, and they finally won the rights to come back and harvest moose under the treaties and under their Aboriginal rights, so it became a celebration of that,” said Mi’kmaq rights negotiator Eric Zscheile, explaining the history behind the annual feast.
Last July the Nova Scotia government and the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq Chiefs made the joint decision to suspend moose hunting in the Cape Breton Highlands - for Mi’kmaq hunters and non-Native licence holders alike - for the next three years due to low moose populations.
Despite the restriction, moose meat was still served to the hundreds of people at the feast on Thursday.
"One-hundred pounds, and it was a donation from one of our harvesters who harvested in 2023 and saved it for this occasion,” said Clifford Paul, a moose management coordinator with the Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources.
Nova Scotia Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton attended the event and talked with people familiar with the local habitat about possible solutions.
"I did sample some moose meat, and talked with the person who hunted the moose,” Rushton said. "We certainly need some academia assistance and some knowledge of the area as we move forward in these discussions."
Some event organizers said at this point they can only hope traditional moose meat will be served at next year’s Feast in the Highlands.
"We might not have moose on the menu next year, but we're keeping an eye. We're hopeful for a recovery,” Paul said.
The province said its 2024 survey showed a drop of nearly half in the Highlands moose population from about 1,500 to roughly 835.
"I think over the next year we'll be spending a lot of time just trying to figure out what it will take to get the moose population back to where we want it to be,” Zscheile said.
For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Live election results: With Trump's battleground wins, Harris's path to White House gets narrower
With former U.S. president Donald Trump winning the swing states of Georgia and North Carolina, the path to victory for Vice-President Kamala Harris has become far narrower.
Trump wins Pennsylvania, leaving him 3 electoral votes shy of clinching the White House
Donald Trump won Pennsylvania early Wednesday, putting him just four electoral votes shy of defeating Kamala Harris to win the White House.
Early election takeaways: Trump weakens Democrats' coalition
The 2024 presidential election already has exposed the depths of a fractured nation as the candidates navigated political shifts based on class, race and age under the near-constant threat of misinformation and violence.
'Ready for both': Canadians prepare for any outcome as Trump takes key states
Americans anxiously watched as the results of Tuesday's election rolled in, revealing a deeply divided United States as a handful of critical battleground states were still being counted late into the night.
Democrat Sarah McBride of Delaware to become first openly transgender person to serve in Congress
Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride has been elected to the U.S. House and will become the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress.
B.C. parents sue Irish nanny for quitting on short notice
Two parents filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court last week seeking damages from their former nanny, alleging she quit on short notice and "never said goodbye to the children."
Blues forward leaves rink on stretcher after being struck in neck by puck
St. Louis Blues forward Dylan Holloway left Tuesday night's contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning and departed the rink on a stretcher after being struck by a puck late in the first period.
Lamborghini driver who crashed into parked cars while trying to pass streetcar sentenced to prison
A mortgage broker who totalled his Lamborghini and left a passenger with life-altering injuries after trying to pass a Toronto streetcar at nearly three times the speed limit has been handed a two-and-a-half year prison sentence.
Ben Affleck had this to say about his ex, Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck may be going through a divorce, but it sounds like things are amicable.