by Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (Oct 27/97) - Six aboriginal hunters from northern Saskatchewan have the dubious honor of being the first to be charged with violating new hunting laws designed to protect wildlife.

The six were charged October 17 for wasting muskox and caribou in Fort Smith.

While provisions are in place for southern aboriginals to come to the North, the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, said it will not tolerate illegal hunting.

"Six residents are alleged to have flown in the NWT, illegally harvested five muskox and four caribou, abandoned meat from the harvest and returned to Saskatchewan with a portion of the kills," said Bob McLeod, western assistant deputy minister of resources.

"The muskox are part of the Thelon herd and are classified as game in danger of becoming extinct."

McLeod said he did not want to talk about the specifics of the charges for fear of jeopardizing the court case.

Neil Scott, environmental enforcement co-ordinator for Environment Canada, also refused to release names or details of the six hunters, but he said he's glad to see more being done to protect endangered species.

"I think the territorial government is making more of an effort to manage resources and wildlife for the residents of the NWT," said Scott.

Subpoena papers were being drawn up for the six hunters last week and will be distributed this week, he said.

Charges were laid under the NWT Wildlife Act and federal Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act.

A territorial court date for the men to appear in Yellowknife has not been finalized.

Though there are no precedents for how stiff a fine can be for illegal hunting, McLeod said it should be around $1,000 for each hunter.

"The incident northeast of Fort Smith marks the first charges for interprovincial transport of illegally taken wildlife to be laid in Canada under the new WAPPRIITA legislation," said McLeod.

Unregulated commercial harvesting in the late 1800s and early 1990s nearly led to the extinction of muskox

Under the NWT Wildlife Act, harvesting of muskox is done on a quota basis and it is illegal to transport game from the NWT without a permit.

For some time now, aboriginal hunters from Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta have been trying to open up borders to hunt freely in the territories.

They also want to change the regulation prohibiting them from participating in various territorial hunting programs, like trap exchanges, hunter compensation and natural disaster compensation.