SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Premier Floyd Roland says he wants to clear up the question of the territorial government's authority to ban hunting of the Bathurst caribou herd once and for all, even if it means hearing they made the wrong decision.

Speaking in the legislative assembly on Feb. 10, Roland called posing a question to the NWT Supreme Court a "risky move" to make.

"If the question comes back and it clarifies that indeed the GNWT was not on the same ground as we believed we were, then we will have to change our policies totally from here," he said. "This is setting for the record, clarifying who actually has the authority so that this is not a question that has to come up for further debate in the future."'

Justice Minister Jackson Lafferty announced Monday that the GNWT would be consulting with the NWT Supreme Court over whether or not it had the authority to impose an emergency hunting ban that went into effect Jan. 1. But Norman Yakeleya, MLA for Sahtu, said members of the legislative assembly should have been consulted before cabinet made the decision to take the issue to the courts.

"It's just a ploy that they don't want to deal with this right away. They're going to drag it out," he said. "It's fighting our people."

Yakeleya said he hoped cabinet would still meet with aboriginal groups but he said going to court wasn't the way to accomplish that.

He said there should be more consultation about what exactly is being asked of the court because the outcome will depend on the wording of the question.

"It's very scary the way they (could) make their wording" he said, "They should be talking to the aboriginal leaders."

On Monday, nine MLAs passed a motion urging the territorial government to confer with aboriginal parties about the ban on hunting the Bathurst caribou herd in the North Slave. The six members of cabinet present for the vote abstained.

Michael Miltenberger, minister of Environment and Natural Resources, said cabinet was waiting for direction from MLAs. Whatever judgment the Supreme Court arrives at, it won't be any time soon. As of Thursday afternoon, the GNWT hadn't filed the motion that would be the first step in a lengthy legal process.

Ian Blackstock, a lawyer with the Department of Justice, said the department's legal division is in the process of drafting the question. He said they're drafting a notice of motion about the GNWT's jurisdiction to regulate hunting of barren ground caribou but said the exact wording hadn't been determined.

Blackstock said he anticipated the motion would be filed "in the next week or two."

The Legal Questions Act allows the territorial government to ask a legal opinion and pose an abstract legal question, said Blackstock. The act requires the GNWT give notice to the federal attorney general and interested parties, which Blackstock said includes aboriginal groups in the NWT.

Calling the process similar to litigation, Blackstock said there will be a hearing, after which the GNWT and interested parties will have opportunity to respond with written and oral arguments at another hearing. Blackstock said the judge presiding over the case would likely render their judgment at a later date. He said it was difficult to estimate how long the process would take.

"They don't happen overnight, it could take weeks or a couple months depending on what happens and what arguments are made," he said.

If any of the parties aren't satisfied with the judgment, they could appeal it to the NWT Court of Appeal and then, if needed, to the Supreme Court of Canada.