Derek Neary
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 03/99) - Temporary crossings over a frozen river and a frozen creek that polluted the water with dirt last year cost Fort Liard's Acho Dene Koe Band $25,000 in territorial court last Thursday.

As a further penalty, they were ordered to perform $100,000 work in kind.

The band was held liable for not properly supervising work performed by contractors last year that resulted in a violation of the Fisheries Act.

In passing sentence Judge Robert Halifax said to Chief Harry Deneron, who sat alongside defence lawyer Robert Gorin, "Looking at the pictures, there's a fair amount of damage that has been done at this crossing. You want to get into this business...you better know what you're doing...you're required to know."

The band had hired contractors, who have yet to go before the courts, to build a temporary road roughly 14.5 kilometres long heading west of the community. In the process, the contractors allegedly piled dirt and organic material across the Kotaneelee River and an unnamed creek. That fill was estimated by DIAND inspectors at one foot deep in the middle and thicker towards the banks. In addition, the banks of the two waterways were cut an estimated 200 cubic metres on each side.

The dirt removed from these banks couldn't be accounted for on land, according to the DIAND inspectors, and therefore is suspected to have been used for the crossing. The inspectors ordered the dirt on the crossings to be removed.

An early thaw in April 1998, prevented heavy equipment from clearing the soil, which ultimately entered the water system. Water samples, taken downstream by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), revealed high levels of sediment. One sample registered at 52.7 per cent solids.

The Acho Dene Koe pleaded guilty to being involved in a work or an undertaking resulting in the alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat under the Fisheries Act.

Judge Halifax suggested that, at the very least, some sort of effort should have been made to remove the dirt.

"I'm talking at the end of the day, if you're down there with a wheelbarrow and a shovel, so be it," he said.

Defence lawyer Gorin had earlier admitted the band had no one on staff who was properly trained to ensure that environmental laws were not violated when the roads were built. As for why nothing has since been done to remove the sediment from the water-beds, stabilize the banks or to address the large ruts from heavy equipment, Gorin said the Acho Dene Koe were wary of exacerbating the situation.

"What's the cost to the environment on the learning curve?" Judge Halifax asked.

The Acho Dene Koe had originally faced 21 charges under the Fisheries Act, the Territorial Lands Act and the Territorial Waters Act. All but two of those charges were dropped until the day of the proceeding, when they were rolled into a single charge.

The band requested two years to pay the $25,000 fine, but Judge Halifax granted them only one. Gorin said the majority of the revenue generated by the band goes into payroll and social programs. The band, he insisted, is not wealthy.

Crown counsel Alan Regel, on the other hand, said the Crown considers the Acho Dene Koe a "large corporation with significant assets." He noted the band made over $1 million on the sale of timber from the temporary road and nearby logging projects, but admittedly didn't know their profit margin.

Halifax ordered that the work in kind be performed over two years, but it is to be supervised by DIAND and the DFO. Halifax said restoration of the sites in question should take priority and ordered the band to report back to the court in one year to update their progress.

Deneron, who suggested the $25,000 would have to be taken from social programs, later said that the band may oppose any new development permits to companies not already operating in the Fort Liard area.