Spence Bay (Jan 17/05) - A Nunavut judge has ruled against the return of three narwhal tusks to a group of hunters in Taloyoak.

Saul Kooktook, Kokiak Peetooloot and David Tucktoo were each charged with hunting narwhals without a licence or tag in September 2001.

Justice Robert Kilpatrick acquitted the men in October based on a lack of evidence after a July ruling stating their charter rights had been violated during the investigation.

The Crown then applied to keep the tusks from the men, saying they were illegal without the proper tags.

Defense attorney John Wonnacott argued three narwhal tags still in evidence could be placed on the tusks to make them legal.

In a judgement read in the Iqaluit courtroom on Jan. 12, Kilpatrick agreed with the Crown, stating that current laws make the tusks illegal unless a tag is affixed.

During the trial, Wonnacott did not argue his clients' right to subsistence hunt as outlined in the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.

"Because he refused to hear any evidence, there's nothing before the court to say the hunters have a right to those tusks," said Crown attorney Christine Gagnon, outside of court.

Under the marine mammals regulatory regime used to manage narwhal harvesting, Inuit are not defined as beneficiaries, Kilpatrick said in his judgement. The tusks are now with the minister of Fisheries and Oceans. Though he holds no power to determine the fate of the tusks, Kilpatrick recommended that the tusks not be destroyed because of their importance to the Inuit and Inuit culture. A Crown appeal of the acquittal is expected to be heard sometime in May.

Another six men from Taloyoak are scheduled to stand trial on similar charges in their home community on April 25.