With members representing the Inuvialuit Game Council and the governments of Canada and Yukon, this four-person Council headed by a neutral Chairperson, is the Yukon counterpart to the WMAC (NWT). The Council’s mandate is to conserve and protect wildlife, wildlife habitat and Inuvialuit traditional use on the Yukon North Slope.

Under the Inuvialuit Final Agreement (IFA), the Council is responsible for providing advice to the appropriate ministers on all matters relating to wildlife policy and the management, regulation and administration of wildlife, habitat and harvesting for the Yukon North Slope. In addition, the Council provides advice to the Porcupine Caribou Management Board, the Yukon Land Use Planning Commission, the Review Board and other appropriate groups and determines and recommends quotas for Inuvialuit harvesting on the Yukon North Slope. Further, it is responsible for advising on measures required to protect habitat critical for wildlife and harvesting. 

As established by the IFA, the Yukon North Slope falls under a special conservation regime which includes two wilderness parks: Ivvavik National Park and Herschel Island - Qikiqtaruk Territorial Park. The remainder of the region is Aullaviat/Aunguniarvik: where the people and animals travel, where the people hunt. The WMAC (NS) is actively and collaboratively involved in the management of these two parks and Aullaviat/Aunguniarvik.

In addition to the IFA, one of the main guiding documents for the management of this region is the Wildlife Conservation and Management Plan (WCMP) for the Yukon North Slope - this plan is a key tool in achieving and maintaining the principles of conservation set out in the IFA. It is the Council’s responsibility under the IFA to create and support the implementation of the WCMP.

Similar to the FJMC and the WMAC (NWT), the WMAC (NS) makes recommendations to government on wildlife and habitat research. Working closely with the Aklavik Hunters and Trappers Committee, the Council has supported research on a number of species including caribou, muskox, grizzly bears, waterfowl, Dall sheep and wolves. The Council has also supported ongoing ecological monitoring and critical habitat mapping projects.

In all its activities, the Council works to facilitate cooperation between the Inuvialuit and the governments of Canada and Yukon. Every five years, in cooperation with Yukon Government, the Council organizes the North Slope Conference to address matters of public interest in the area, bringing many representatives together from across the region and even across the country.