With the hunting season just about a week away and data errors from earlier this month prompting a redraw lottery, mistakes were once again discovered in the results of this redraw.

The “regrettable” error has impacted more than 300 people.

That was announced by the territorial government Monday, a day before a technical briefing that saw government officials acknowledge hunters’ frustration.

In efforts to prevent a recurrence, Environment Yukon, which contracted out the lottery to the Yukon Bureau of Statistics, will be doing an independent review of the system.

As reported in the Star on July 9, the initial error related to returns and reissuances, which was noted on July 3, resulted in a July 10 redraw for the 2018-19 Permit Hunt Authorization lottery.

According to a release earlier this week, after this redraw, there were still errors in the data that didn’t properly cross-reference people’s histories.

The department hoped to contact the 311 impacted hunters on Tuesday – but a technical error did not allow that.

Roxanne Stasyszyn, the director of communications and public engagement for the Department of Environment, said she hopes to notify these individuals “as soon as humanly possible.

“The understanding is there; however the frustration is still there” too, said Stasyszyn.

But with the time crunch of the fast-approaching hunting season (beginning next week), she continued that “we are continuing with the redraw results as is, and those permits are valid.”

The department retracted all permits for caribou, moose, mountain goat and sheep after the first error was discovered.

According to stats provided by the department, just over 60 people were issued permits in the initial draw but then were unsuccessful in the redraw – while 125 were successful in the first round and the redraw.

That was “likely evidence of their high weighting,” Stasyszyn told the Star this morning.

During Tuesday’s media briefing about the errors this time around, officials were apologetic. They explained that the mistake was related to applicants’ duplicate histories that the electronic system did not pick up from previous years.

That means that somebody who filed their application as Bobby Doe last year was not counted as the same person if he filled out an application this year under the name Bob Doe, for instance.

This affects the individual’s weighting in the system, which ultimately determines the likelihood of being chosen for a permit next year.

Generally speaking, once an applicant is awarded a permit, his or her weighting drops down to zero and is reset for next year.

This means these applicants’ chances of being picked again drop. Meanwhile, those who haven’t been successful for years have a higher likelihood of being chosen.

The first time around, the system did not pick up that weighting from last year – so the results would have been unfair.

Now, the department discovered that some people in the system had multiple histories over the years, but this was not taken into consideration.

Joe MacGillivray, the department’s deputy minister, said the error was discovered the week after the July 10 redraw.

As one of his colleagues admitted that the results of the draw were not perfect, he noted that “although we are aware there are errors with the current redraw results, we know that this draw is more fair than the first one that was completed because the original errors have been corrected.”

Officials acknowledged that the department is moving to a fully electronic system with minimal “human intervention,” so glitches may be common.

MacGillivray added that the move has been a “gradual one.”

The independent review process is underway as the government begins to gather terms of reference. The last time the PHA system was audited was back in 2002.

The department added that to avoid similar issues for next year, it hopes to have recommendations ready to implement by April 1, 2019 (depending on whether that involves any regulatory change).

The department added that is it “confident that this second error only affected the 311 individuals mentioned,” Stasyszyn wrote shortly after the briefing.

Sherri Young, the department’s assistant deputy minister, noted that the statistics bureau is contracted to do the actual lottery, and hopes the review can prevent future mistakes in data the department provides to the bureau.

“Because of the errors discovered, we are not confident that another redraw will be free from other errors,” Stasyszyn wrote. “Which is why we are contracting an independent review.

She said “the opportunities are endless in terms of how the application may have varied slightly,” adding that up until last year, there was “significant human intervention” to ensure that all historic files were matched correctly.

This was missed this year. That meant the system picked up data that weren’t reflective of an individual’s true weighting by taking these historic files into consideration.

Aubrey Sicotte, an operations manager with the department, said moving to an electronic system is “really the ideal state,” as it means “there is no room for these human errors.”

Stasyszyn said mistakes like these are not unheard of in electronic systems.

“It’s common for errors like this to come up in transitions like this,” she explained.

Ensuring systems are able to pick up on the duties that a human has been doing in the past can take some time, Stasyszyn added.

An audit of the system has been something the official Opposition has been calling for for at least a year, the Yukon Party said Tuesday.

While he’s pleased that a review is taking place, Kluane MLA Wade Istchenko, the party’s environment critic, said it seems “this is too little, too late.

“Hundreds of resident hunters and outfitters were affected by this redraw, and if the minister had only listened to us in the first place and taken action over a year ago, these issues could have been prevented,” said Istchenko.

“I will continue to monitor this issue to ensure the review is truly independent.”

Meanwhile, Environment Minister Pauline Frost acknowledged there is concern on the part of hunters and the government.

“I am very disappointed with the errors that have affected this redraw,” she said Monday.

“Out of respect for Yukon hunters” and the time crunch, Frost added, the department will continue with the redraw results.

The department added that unsuccessful applicants from this year’s draw will be refunded the application fee.

The 311 people who were improperly weighted because of the July 10 redraw will have an extra year tacked onto their weighting the next time they apply.

The redraw was done only for lottery results of permits for caribou. moose, mountain goat and sheep. Elk, deer and Kluane sheep permits were not affected.

The Yukon Fish and Game Association told the Star earlier this month the lottery system errors have had a significant impact on a large number of hunters.

See letter.