SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Government of the Northwest Territories is seeking a court ruling to confirm its authority over aboriginal subsistence rights.

Fred Sangris, left, former chief of Ndilo, and Dettah Chief Ed Sangris squared off against the government during a public meeting on Monday. - Elizabeth McMillan/NNSL photo

Justice Minister Jackson Lafferty announced Monday he will be consulting with the NWT's Supreme Court to determine whether the territorial government had the authority to impose an emergency hunting ban on the Bathurst caribou herd.

The minister's announcement came just hours before more than 200 community members from throughout the Akaitcho region, infants to elders, as well as representatives from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR), and elected officials congregated at the Explorer hotel on Feb. 8 for a more than three-hour public meeting - the first between the government and aboriginal groups since the ban on hunting Bathurst caribou was imposed Jan. 1.

Premier Roland Floyd and Environment and Natural Resources Minister Michael Miltenberger attended the Dene Nation hosted event, but neither spoke.

A positive ruling by the NWT Supreme Court might not quell opposition to the ban.

John Carter, chief executive officer for the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, garnered a round of applause when he said ENR had arbitrarily removed a treaty right and backed the Dene into a corner, putting them in a position where if they didn't object, they'd lose that right.

"They artificially created an emergency ban to impose their will," he said, adding the conflict could become extremely costly if the aboriginal groups decided to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada and press charges against ENR for unlawfully seizing their caribou.

"It could be the $20 million caribou," he said.

However, the territorial government and the Yellowknives Dene may be on the verge of a compromise that might avoid a costly legal battle.

Some MLAs have proposed lifting the ban for a limited number of caribou. David Krutko, MLA for the Mackenzie Delta, and Kevin Menicoche, MLA for Nahendeh suggested relaxed measures to allow the Yellowknives to continue subsistence harvesting. The suggested communities be allowed to harvest 25 caribou each.

Dettah Chief Ed Sangris said 25 caribou per community wasn't enough.

"How am I supposed to feed 1,300 people with 25 caribou?" he said after watching the exchange from the gallery.

The GNWT continued to defend its conservation position.

Susan Fleck, the department's director of wildlife, said last year's count showed only 32,000 Bathurst caribou remaining; she added continuing to hunt between 5,000 and 7,000 caribou this year could do real damage to the herd.

The ongoing issue is the Yellowknives' position on the department's science. It disputes the research the department has used to determine the Bathurst herd is just a few years from extinction.

The debate has become a showdown between the Dene's right to hunt and conservation.

Sangris said he is all for preservation of the herd, but the government must get the numbers right.

He said, "We as First Nations should at least have some say on how the caribou is managed," arguing more research is needed on how the winter roads to the diamond mines have effected the caribou.

But he also acknowledged something has to give.

"We're not getting nowhere. The only way we're going to move forward is they got to give a little and we've got to give a little," said Sangris.

While many people commended the Dene Nation for defending the aboriginal right to hunt, not everyone wanted to focus on treaty rights. Henry Basil, an elder from Lutsel K'e First Nation, said he thought the dispute had become a "one-sided political arena." He said he'd been hearing from elders in his community that they should work with the government for the best interest of the caribou.

"If it was for only one to two years we could live on fish and wildlife instead of caribou," he said. However, Basil said aboriginal hunters will require government assistance to alter their hunting habits. The GNWT has "money and helicopters ... We've been doing it ourselves for a long time but we don't have the resources to do it ... the government has the resources to help us and preserve our caribou."

"Let's be honest," he said.