How to Become a Guide Outfitter
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To be licenced as a guide outfitter in
British Columbia, you must qualify as follows:
- you must be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident
of Canada (i.e., be a landed immigrant).
- you must have held assistant guide licences in British
Columbia for a total of 24 months and have actively
guided during that time (or have an authorization from
a regional manager of the fish and wildlife program,
exempting you from this requirement, as provided for
in section 100(2) Wildlife Act amended
by section 24 Wildlife Amendment Act 1999).
- you must have public liability insurance applicable
to your business of not less than $2,000,000.00 (see
s.1.01 B.C. Reg. 338/82 as amended by s.3 B.C. Reg.
25/2005).
- you must satisfy the regional fish and wildlife manager
of the region in which you intend to acquire a guide
area, that you have a working knowledge of the Wildlife
Act and the Commercial Activities Regulation,
B.C. Reg. 338/82, Division 1, Guides. To do this you
must complete an exam which tests the individual's knowledge
of relevant components of the Wildlife Act
and regulations, the Wildlife Act Commercial Activities
Regulation and the Hunting and Trapping Regulations
Synopsis. For information about the exam, you may contact
your local Government Agent office or the Fish &
Wildlife Branch in Victoria at 250 387-9725.
To be licenced as an assistant guide (game)
in British Columbia, you must qualify as follows:
- you must be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident
of Canada,
- you must be 19 years of age of older, and
- have a guide outfitter willing to employ you to guide
hunters in his or her guide area and under his or her
jurisdiction.
The administration of hunting guides in
British Columbia is carried out under provisions of the
Wildlife Act and Commercial Activities Regulation
(B.C. Reg. 338/82) and a number of Administrative Procedures.
Some pertinent facts you should be aware of are:
- There are 245 guide outfitters in British Columbia
at present. Each guide outfitter is licenced to guide
resident and non-resident hunters in an exclusive guide
area with clearly defined and legally described boundaries.
The guide areas vary considerably in size and availability
of big game species. Guide outfitters hire about 1100
assistant guides each year, and guide approximately
4,500 hunters in total each year.
- The responsibility for issuing guide licences and
guide outfitter certificates lies with the regional
fish and wildlife managers in the 8 wildlife management
regions in the province.
- The guide outfitter licence is issued annually and
allows the guide outfitter to operate a guiding business.
Without the licenced guide outfitter there can be no
business.
- A licenced guide outfitter may apply to the regional
manager for a guide outfitter certificate which gives
him or her the exclusive guiding privileges in that
guide area for a period not exceeding 10 years. The
certificate may be renewed any time after the fifth
anniversary for a further 10 years. The certificate
does not confer any property rights on the holder, and
only the rights of the person named on the certificate
would be recognized by the province.
- Private arrangements to financially invest in or “back”
a guide business are not reflected in a guide outfitter
certificate, nor are they taken into account when the
certificate is granted. Anyone who wishes can enter
into a financial agreement with a legitimate guide outfitter,
and is not required to disclose this to B.C. Environment.
Our dealings are always with the licenced guide outfitter.
- Under section 61 of the Wildlife Act, a
regional manager has the power to suspend, cancel or
refuse to renew a guide outfitter’s licence or
certificate. Under section 63 of the Act, if a guide
outfitter’s licence is cancelled, his or her privileges
in and to a guide outfitter’s certificate terminate,
and the guide outfitter must surrender the certificate
to the regional manager. Private investors need to be
aware that if this happens, the guide area reverts to
the Crown.
- The most usual way for guide areas to change hands
is through direct purchase of the guiding rights by
the prospective buyer from the existing guide. The actual
“sale” of the guide area (price and any
other terms of the deed of sale) is a private matter
between the retiring guide and the intending guide.
However, any transfer of the guiding rights in an area
must be approved and authorized by the regional fish
and wildlife manager.
- Occasionally, a newly activated guide area or one
that has been forfeited to the Crown may become available.
Under the Wildlife Act, in such cases “…
the privilege of guiding in that area shall be advertised
for sale by the regional manager and sold by tender
or by any other prescribed means to a person qualified
to hold a guide outfitter licence.”
The Wildlife Act RS Chap. 488 and the Commercial
Activities Regulation (B.C. Reg. 338/82) will give you
detailed information. To obtain complete copies of these,
contact Crown
Publications Inc.
To make application for a guide outfitter or assistant
guide go to the Permit
and Authorization Service Bureau.
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