MILTON, ONTARIO
A five-year investigation into events that took place more than 11 years ago in Nunavut and the NWT has led to a Toronto-area man being fined $8,000.

A host of the reality TV show Canada in the Rough and two members of as hunting party were fined in an Ontario court for possessing muskoxen taxidermy mounts from Nunavut and wood bison trophy mounts from the NWT. - photo courtesy of YouTube

Thomas Pigeon, host of the hunting adventure show Canada in the Rough, was part of a team that travelled to the North between March 9 and April 9, 2003 to gather footage for his reality television show.

The group, which also included two professional film crews, were led by hired guides to areas where the animals were known to be found, such as Victoria Island, which straddles the Nunavut/NWT border.

Approaching the animals by snowmobile, the group breached territorial legislation mandating hunters must remain at least 1.5 kilometres from a muskox and one kilometre from a wood bison for the purposes of hunting them by motorized vehicle.

On May 2, Pigeon plead guilty and was fined $2,000 for unlawfully possessing in Ontario a wood bison that was killed in the NWT and fined $4,000 and $2,000 respectively for unlawful possession in Ontario of two muskoxen and one wood bison killed in Nunavut and NWT.

"The taxidermy mounts of the animals were possessed in Ontario by the defendants continuously until they were seized by Ontario conservation officers in April 2011," according to a news release.

In June 2012, two other members of the hunting party – William Troubridge of Elora, Ont., and Roger Davidson of Stouffille, Ont. – were fined $4,000 and $1,500 respectively for unlawfully transporting and possessing three muskoxen killed in Nunavut.

The investigation initially began five years ago, when the matter was brought to the attention of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

The department tasked conservation officers with obtaining a search warrant to seize footage and taxidermy mounts from Pigeon and his production company, Dancing Buffalo Productions Inc.

Enforcement specialists from Nunavut and the NWT were consulted to analyze the raw, unedited footage and compare it to the commercially-produced television episode, which were significantly different.

They were able to determine Pigeon and his group were well within 1.5 kilometres of muskoxen and one kilometre from wood bison when they were killed, therefore giving the hunters an unfair advantage and violating the 'fair chase' hunting concept that gives animals a chance to escape capture.

Steve Pinksen, assistant deputy minister with the Nunavut Department of Environment, said that legislation was a remnant from the 1970s.

"It's legislation we inherited from the NWT," he said.

"Muskoxen are fairly easy to approach on vehicle and they have natural defences that are very effective against wolves, but not against weapons. The idea is to not make it too easy and level the playing field."

The muskoxen were even herded by the guides, using snowmobiles, to make it easier to select and kill the right ones.

Pigeon was not charged for any illegal hunting activity since the statute of limitations, which was one year at the time, had long expired.

When the Nunavut Wildlife Act came into force in 2005, the statute was removed, Pinksen said.

Steve Aubry, an enforcement manager with the Kemptville Enforcement Unit of the Ministry of Natural Resources, was also involved in the investigation.

He said they were able to proceed with a search warrant based on their cooperation with specialists from Nunavut and the NWT.

"After we looked at the raw footage it appeared that there were probably some breaches of local legislation," he said.

"So we shared that information with contacts we made in NWT and Nunavut, who reviewed the footage against the final, commercial footage. Because of that we were able to proceed not for hunting violations, but for possession violations."