Treaty Five Territory, Thompson, MB – Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Inc. supports Misipawistik Cree Nation and Chief Heidi Cook’s call for a voluntary halt to moose hunting in Game Hunting Area 10 to help protect the region’s declining moose population. Over the past 12 years, the area’s bull moose population has declined by 53 percent. Despite this, Manitoba has allocated 97 percent of the estimated bull moose population to the 2026 licensed hunt.
MKO recognizes the serious concerns raised by Misipawistik Cree Nation regarding the sustainability of the local moose population and the potential impacts on the future harvesting rights of generations who rely on moose as a traditional food source and an integral part of First Nations culture, identity and way of life.
Since 2022, MKO has repeatedly called on the Province of Manitoba to cancel licensed non-Indigenous moose hunting in regions where conservation concerns were identified as Manitoba instituted the Big Game Draw. In June 2025, MKO again called on Manitoba to cancel the Big Game Draw for moose licences in affected northern Game Hunting Areas devastated by wildfires; citing lack of consultation, Treaty, constitutional and Northern Flood Agreement obligations, and serious concerns about the transparency of moose population data and licence allocations. In April 2026, MKO wrote the Manitoba Government again, to reiterate the twice-constitutionalized and acknowledged First Nation Right of Top Priority and demand a halt to the licensed moose hunt. MKO has also supported First Nations’ repeated requests for transparency on population surveys and calculations used to estimate moose populations and allocate licence numbers.
“We stand with Chief Cook and Misipawistik Cree Nation to protect a moose population that is showing clear signs of decline and which Misipawistik’s Land Guardians say is in peril” said MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee. “For First Nations, moose are a vital source of food, a connection to our lands and cultures, and their viability is a responsibility that we have carried since time immemorial. When First Nation’s leaders raise concerns about the health of a population and the future sustainability of a resource, those concerns must be taken seriously by Manitoba.”
“We call on hunters to respect Misipawistik Cree Nation’s request for a voluntary halt in harvesting moose within Game Hunting Area 10 this season,” he continued.
MKO calls on all governments and wildlife management authorities to work collaboratively with First Nations to ensure that wildlife management decisions take into account and address the First Nation right of first priority to hunt, are informed by First Nations knowledge, conservation science, and the long-term sustainability of wildlife populations.
-30-
