Illegal hunting charge stayed
Charge against ex-Ndilo chief Ted Tsetta for hunting caribou without licence shelved after diversion agreement signed
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A charge of illegal possession of wildlife laid against Ted Tsetta, former chief of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation in Ndilo, has been stayed in territorial court.
Dene national chief Bill Erasmus says Tsetta is protected by treaty rights and never should have been charged. - |
Tsetta was charged in February 2014 after hunting caribou without a valid wildlife tag on Drybones Lake northeast of Yellowknife, near the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road. The charge, laid under the NWT Wildlife Act, has been resolved using an alternative measures diversion agreement, signed between Tsetta and the NWT Attorney General June 7.
Tsetta did not want to get into the terms of the agreement when contacted by Yellowknifer on Monday. However, he did say that he was relieved by the decision.
"I knew I was right all along," he said. "I should not have been charged in the first place. We've been here for thousands of years. All I am doing is exercising my rights."
The Dene Nation pledged its support for Tsetta last summer and its national chief, Bill Erasmus, applauded the decision in a news release issued on Friday.
"Mr. Tsetta did not do anything wrong other than exercise his treaty and aboriginal rights to hunt within the Yellowknives Dene First Nation territory from which he belongs," he stated. "We strongly believe that the Wildlife Act of the NWT, which the Dene never approved, is not applicable to our people and does not have more force in law than our treaties."
In a phone interview with Yellowknifer on Monday, Erasmus said he is calling on the territorial government to immediately stop laying such charges against members of the Dene Nation under what he calls the "controversial" wildlife act.
"The treaty itself says that we have the right to hunt and trap and fish like we always did," said Erasmus, adding treaty rights supersede legislation. "(The act) assumes they have control over caribou and we need to find out where they got that control because it didn't come from us."
Tsetta and Erasmus said last year they intended to fight the charge by filing a constitutional challenge under section 35 of the Constitution Act. That is the section that recognizes and affirms indigenous rights. Erasmus stated the decision to stay the
charge was the right one.
"It shows that all governments must respect, in the best interest of treaties, that our rights are valid and binding," Erasmus stated. "We did not extinguish our aboriginal right to hunt, trap and fish in our own lands."
Roger Shepard, the government prosecutor in the case, stated in an e-mail to Yellowknifer the diversion agreement provided a satisfactory resolution to both sides without the matter proceeding to trial.
"This matter had been before the court for quite some time and given the specific facts and considerations involved in this case, both parties were in agreement with proceeding with an alternative resolution rather than proceeding to trial," Shepard stated, adding the diversion agreement is not part of the court record so he couldn't share it with Yellowknifer.
Shepard stated to Yellowknifer last year the territorial government views the wildlife act as a law of general application, meaning it applies to all individuals in the NWT.
The stay of the charge means the government could refile it, usually within one year of the stay. Shepard says he does not expect that to happen.
