Boat tours prompt charges
Alleged violations took place during Old Town Ramble & Ride
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Friday, October 2, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Boat tours offered as part of Old Town Ramble & Ride this summer by businessman Wayne Guy violated the NWT's Tourism Act, according to charges filed in territorial court last month.
Wayne Guy, skipper of the Naocha One, guides his vessel through the waters of Great Slave Lake in 2012. He has been charged with providing boat tours and advertising them without a licence during Ramble & Ride. - NNSL file photo |
Court documents show Guy, owner of Guy Architects and a board member of Ramble & Ride, has been charged with conducting tourism activities - boat tours - without a licence on Aug. 1 and Aug. 2.
He is also charged with advertising tourism activities without a licence on those same dates.
An ad placed in Yellowknifer July 31 indicates Yellowknife Bay boat tours were being offered those days as part of the festival every hour between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. at a cost of $20.
"Take a ride around Yellowknife Bay with Wayne Guy on his boat the Naocha," the Ramble & Ride website continues to state. He has offered the tours in previous years.
Guy made a short appearance in court Tuesday morning. He told deputy Judge Robert Halifax he plans to plead guilty on Wednesday.
He declined to address the allegations to a reporter outside the courtroom.
"Let's wait until next week and I think that will explain everything," he said.
Violating provisions of the Tourism Act can result, for a first offence, in a fine up to $10,000 and/or up to six months in jail. For subsequent offences, the person could face a fine up to $25,000 and/or up to a year in jail.
Guy was the founding president of Summit Circle Developments, which was behind the 76-unit CAVO condominium in the Niven neighbourhood.
