NWT’s first wildlife vet recognized with award of distinction

Brett Elkin, a wildlife veterinarian and an assistant deputy minister for the NWT’s Department of Environment and Climate Change, has been recognized for his conservation work with an award from Hunters for BC.

The award, presented last month by the the hunter-led conservation organization, honours the legacy of prominent wildlife biologist Valerius Geist, who died in 2021.

Amberlee Ficociello, one of the founding directors of Hunters for BC, said Elkin was chosen for this award because he embodies a lot of the qualities for which Geist was admired.

“He doesn’t look for the spotlight but he’s not afraid of the hard work, he’s not afraid of standing up on issues that can be unpopular or politically challenging. He waded into the deep end and those were characteristics for us that really stood out,” said Ficociello.

Ficociello said the organization wanted to develop the award to highlight long-term conservation work that is rarely recognized.

“Conservation done at this level is rarely convenient. It means standing up in public hearings when the room disagrees, it means defending science-based decisions that are politically uncomfortable,” said Ficociello.

“It means choosing a remote posting over prestige, a difficult conversation over an easy one, and a lifetime of early mornings and late nights in the field, often done at personal and family costs that nobody sees.”

Elkin, who grew up in present-day Nunavut, has spent more than three decades working in conservation with the NWT government and was responsible for the creation of the territory’s wildlife health program, which worked to address a range of health issues in wild animals.

He was the Department of Environment and Climate Change’s first wildlife veterinarian and was responsible for creating Canada’s first provincial or territorial wildlife care committee.

“He’s covered the full range of what it means to contribute to wildlife management, understand the issues,” said John Nishi, a former colleague, “and not just be doing things in the field, but also having an influence on bigger strategic initiatives of: how does government work with communities in a co-management context?”

Super connector

Craig Stephen, who studied veterinary medicine with Elkin in Saskatoon and later worked with him on a bison research project, said one of Elkin’s biggest strengths is his ability to find the right people to solve a problem.

“He was a super connector between community and knowledge and researchers and government, and he was always having that focus on finding information to help the species and help the community,” said Stephen.

When Nishi worked on the bison management program in Fort Smith, he said he’d sometimes lean on Elkin for support.

“He’s really up to date in terms of the technical science of veterinary medicine or epidemiology. When I had issues or questions, or [I was] trying to work through problems in those areas, he’d be the first person I’d be phoning and getting an opinion from,” said Nishi.

He said if Elkin didn’t have the answer himself, he’d know someone that would.

“You’ve got to have the field credibility and the technical credibility and the personality to go along with it, and those are some of the things I think Brett brings when you work with him,” said Nishi.

Nishi recalled an example of Elkin’s work ethic from a project in the early 2000s that sought to conserve the genetic diversity of bison in the Slave River Lowland population and eradicate disease from the herd.

“We had bottle-raised 62 bison calves over three years and we were testing them regularly, and we had to obviously manage their nutrition and their health, and when we were handling them, sometimes it would take longer than you would hope,” Nishi explained.

He said Elkin would work well beyond office hours in frigid temperatures so that the animals wouldn’t be left in a small pen overnight.

In one instance, Nishi said Elkin got his hand caught between a bison and a steel panel as he was trying to draw blood from the animal. Elkin had to be driven to the health centre in Hay River to have his injuries assessed. However, Nishi said Elkin promptly returned to support the rest of the team.

“He stayed with us in the field and helped us finish the work, even though he couldn’t take blood from the buffalo any more. He was there just be supportive,” said Nishi, “and just help us get the job done.”