Post by Woody Williams on Dec 22, 2005 15:12:47 GMT -5
PUBLICATION: National Post
DATE: 2005.12.22
Newfoundland and Labrador partially lifted its Sunday ban on hunting, a regulation which has been on the books for 142 years.
Sunday hunting ban shot down: Allowed late in year: Law has stood in Newfoundland since 1863
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After more than 140 years, Newfoundland and Labrador's hunters will be
allowed to shoot on the sabbath.
The province this week announced plans to partially lift its Sunday
hunting ban, a law enacted in 1863 when nearly everyone devoted the
second day of the weekend to God and relaxation.
The ban was one of the last vestiges of legally enforced sabbath
observance in a province that until last year prohibited liquor stores
from opening on Sundays.
"The original reason for the ban was based on Sunday being a day of rest
and religion," said Tom Osborne, the province's Minister of Environment
and Conservation.
Despite its religious roots, in the last 16 years the ban's purpose has
been to manage wildlife and give hikers and berry pickers a day to
stroll through the woods without guns cracking in the background, Mr.
Osborne said.
The change from religion to wildlife management happened, he said, after
a 1985 provincial court decision struck down the law and forbid the
government from banning the Sunday hunt on religious grounds.
The province appealed the lower court decision and won. In 1989 the ban
was back, but for wildlife management reasons.
So when the province decided to ask for public input on the rule nearly
two years ago, it could not consider religion.
Instead, debate on the ban pitted hunters against hikers.
"The main argument was for the average working hunter who works Monday
to Friday," said Gord Follett, the editor of Newfoundland Sportsman
magazine and a long-time agitator for Sunday hunting.
The new rules allow hunters to shoot and snare on Sundays from the first
Sunday in November to the end of the big game hunting season, which runs
roughly until mid-December on the western side of the island, early
January on the eastern side and April in Labrador.
That gives hikers and berry pickers until the end of October to enjoy
woods in peace, Mr. Osborne said.
DATE: 2005.12.22
Newfoundland and Labrador partially lifted its Sunday ban on hunting, a regulation which has been on the books for 142 years.
Sunday hunting ban shot down: Allowed late in year: Law has stood in Newfoundland since 1863
--------------------------------------------------------------------
After more than 140 years, Newfoundland and Labrador's hunters will be
allowed to shoot on the sabbath.
The province this week announced plans to partially lift its Sunday
hunting ban, a law enacted in 1863 when nearly everyone devoted the
second day of the weekend to God and relaxation.
The ban was one of the last vestiges of legally enforced sabbath
observance in a province that until last year prohibited liquor stores
from opening on Sundays.
"The original reason for the ban was based on Sunday being a day of rest
and religion," said Tom Osborne, the province's Minister of Environment
and Conservation.
Despite its religious roots, in the last 16 years the ban's purpose has
been to manage wildlife and give hikers and berry pickers a day to
stroll through the woods without guns cracking in the background, Mr.
Osborne said.
The change from religion to wildlife management happened, he said, after
a 1985 provincial court decision struck down the law and forbid the
government from banning the Sunday hunt on religious grounds.
The province appealed the lower court decision and won. In 1989 the ban
was back, but for wildlife management reasons.
So when the province decided to ask for public input on the rule nearly
two years ago, it could not consider religion.
Instead, debate on the ban pitted hunters against hikers.
"The main argument was for the average working hunter who works Monday
to Friday," said Gord Follett, the editor of Newfoundland Sportsman
magazine and a long-time agitator for Sunday hunting.
The new rules allow hunters to shoot and snare on Sundays from the first
Sunday in November to the end of the big game hunting season, which runs
roughly until mid-December on the western side of the island, early
January on the eastern side and April in Labrador.
That gives hikers and berry pickers until the end of October to enjoy
woods in peace, Mr. Osborne said.
;D