HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

1 Section 16 of the Wildlife Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 488, is repealed and the following is substituted:

Limited entry hunting authorization

16  (1) The minister, by regulation, may

(a) limit hunting for a species of wildlife in an area of British Columbia,

(b) provide for limited entry hunting authorizations to be issued by means of a lottery or other method of random selection among applicants,

(c) do other things necessary for the purposes of this section.

(2) An application fee collected under a lottery or other method referred to in subsection (1) must be paid into the general fund of the consolidated revenue fund.

2 Section 51 (1) of the Act is repealed and the following is substituted:

Issue of guide outfitter licence

51  (1) A regional manager

(a) may issue a guide outfitter licence to a person if all of the following apply:

(i) the person is a citizen of Canada or a permanent resident of Canada;

(ii) the person has public liability insurance prescribed by regulation;

(iii) the person has other qualifications prescribed by regulation;

(iv) the person has not been committed of a wildlife or fisheries offenses in British Columbia or other jurisdiction, and

3 Section 35 of the Act is amended by repealing subsections (1) and (2) and substituting the following:

Retrieval of wildlife killed

35  (1) In this section, "dwelling place" does not include a temporary or seasonal camp.

(2) A person commits an offence if the person hunts wildlife and kills or injures that wildlife and fails to make every reasonable effort to

(a) retrieve the wildlife, and if it is alive to kill it and include it in his or her bag limit, and

(b) remove the edible portions of the carcass of game to the person’s normal dwelling place directly or through to a meatcutter or the owner or operator of a cold storage plant, unless exempted by regulation, and

(c) all edible portions of the carcass must be packed out prior to, or in conjunction with, the retrieval of any other body parts of the carcass of game.

4 Section 12.02 (1) of the Wildlife Act General Regulation, B.C. Reg. 340/82 is amended by striking out "grizzly bear".

 
Explanatory Note

This Bill amends the Wildlife Act and Wildlife Act General Regulation to ensure that edible portions of animals killed in BC are taken to a person's residence and packed out prior to, or in conjunction with, all other body parts of the game carcass. In addition, it amends the Wildlife Act by removing the minister's ability to designate and exempt classes of applicants from having to enter lotteries or other methods of random selection when seeking limited entry hunt permits. A subsection is also added to prevent people convicted of fisheries or wildlife offences in B.C. or other jurisdictions from becoming hunting or fishing guides.