Andy Carpenter Sr.

Andy Carpenter Sr.

Environment and Natural Resources (2005)

Born and raised in the Inuvialuit Region, Andy Carpenter has devoted his life to the conservation and sustainable use of wildlife by all peoples and he has held many positions of leadership. A full-time hunter and trapper, with a formal education that ended at grade 5, he became head of the Sachs Harbour Hunters and Trappers Committee in the 1970s and emerged as an advocate for protective measures for the land and wildlife on Banks Island, as the oil industry became established there. He was instrumental in working out an agreement with the community, the Government of Canada and the private sector, that limited industrial activities to the winter months. This initial agreement became the basis of the Territorial Land Use Regulations. Today, he is recognized as a driving force in conservation and management of wildlife.

Mr. Carpenter was involved in the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, the first comprehensive land claim settlement for the Canadian Arctic. He is founding chair of the Inuvialuit Game Council, a position he held for 10 years, as well as member/vice-chair of the Wildlife Management Advisory Council for the Northwest Territories. He initiated the International Polar Bear Management Agreement between the Inuvialuit and Alaskan Inupiat and helped establish Ivvavik National Park – the first Canadian national park legislated by a land claim settlement – as well as the Aulavik National Park on Banks Island. He was awarded the Parks Canada Annual Heritage Award in1995, the Ducks Unlimited Canvasback Award in 1996, Fisheries and Wildlife Regional Directors Commendation Award in 1989, Inuit Circumpolar Conference Bill Edmunds Award in 1989 and the Roland Michener Conservation Award in1999. Andy Carpenter Sr. lives in Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories.