As you may have seen on our social media channels, I recently attended the Conservative Outdoor Symposium in Ottawa. Important to note is that the initial invite and acceptance was received through my husband and I’s TV show so there was no cost to the MLOA. Having said that, I was happy to let my husband represent that piece and myself engage in conversations on behalf of the MLOA. It was a phenomenal experience with many key files discussed in both presentations and Q & A. Some of those being:

-Invasive species including zebra mussels and CWD

-Anti-hunting movement and bans

-Protected Areas and the use of them for 30 by 30 (Indigenous and Marine Protected Areas – IPAs, MPAs)

At the risk of leaving you with more questions, I want to outline just a couple of very common themes. We cannot effectively manage with silo solutions. We need to create and/or enhance communication between industries, associations, and provinces. Our businesses and lifestyles have never seen so many persistent threats and without communication and collaboration we are far less likely to succeed. How do we positively influence and educate the large percentage of folks who currently don’t hold an ‘opinion’? How do we bring the younger generation into what we do?

There are a multitude of things we can be doing as individual businesses, as an association and as an industry. The majority of these are going to be far more successful if we all come to the table to work together.

On the heels of returning from Ottawa, the next blow landed in the shape of an opinion article about the spring bear hunt, as I’m sure you’ve all seen by now. If not, we’ve included it below. I want to assure you that we will be responding to this quickly in the following ways:

àAn opinion statement in the Free Press in direct response to the one submitted

àA letter to the Minister outlining our position. During our last meeting we promised we’d be in touch with a quarterly update, so this will align with that.

àEngage with numerous stakeholders who have an interest in the bear hunt

àContinue to work on the logistics of the bear study and get this rolling asap

You can expect to see more meetings available to attend in the coming weeks. I’d encourage you to attend, if possible, and come with solutions that keep the larger picture in mind. In some cases, this may mean parking feelings at the door. We need to be solution focused, based in facts rather than feelings.

What can you do now?

àHave a look at your website and ‘clean it up’. Try to remove any language around trophies and instead refer to mature animals, for example.

àIf you’re active on social media try to educate or discuss relevant topics ie) meat consumption, fat rendering, bear activity. If you are not active but have pictures we can use here at the MLOA, please forward them to myself and I can create content around them and tag your business in the post.

I want to thank everyone who has reached out to discuss concerns.

Melanie MacCarthy