Kirsten Larsen
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jan 18/99) - Hunters and trappers in the Treaty 11 region have just begun to see the benefits of a hunting assistance fund that was implemented in the GNWT five years ago.

The Western GNWT Harvester Assistance Fund was implemented in the west in 1994 and modelled on a program that began in the Eastern Arctic.

The GNWT set up a $15-million budget to distribute to First Nations bands for the purpose of improving and encouraging hunting and trapping in the NWT. The program requires the bands to match the money allotted to them, and that has made it difficult for some bands.

The Treaty 11 communities are the most recent to access the program -- they are also the last of the bands in the NWT to do so.

Like the Sahtu, the Treaty II communities within the regions decided to apply to the program individually.

Corporate help

Money from community support funds from large companies like BHP and Diavik have helped North Slave communities like Rae-Edzo and Gameti build up some revenue to access the harvester program.

"It's difficult to come up with that kind of money," said Lana Paulson, band manager for the Gameti First Nation Band. "We used money we got in benefits from DIAVIK and BHP."

Gameti was able to come up with $76,500 to match the first instalment of the $229,500 they will receive over three years through the program.

Archie Wetreade from Gameti was going to take out a bank loan to buy a snowmobile, but when he heard about the assistance fund he applied to the program instead. But Wetreade did not get the snowmobile for free. He had to pay for a portion of it and the band paid for the rest with the government fund.

"Lots of people bought Ski-Doos like me," said Wetreade. "I believe two or three people bought themselves a tent and other items so they could go out on the land trapping and hunting."

In Gameti, 25 people received assistance from the fund and more applications are yet to be reviewed.

John Stephenson, senior advisor for the wildlife and fisheries division of the GNWT, said the money allotted to the bands can be used in a variety of ways.

"They have the ability to set their own criteria (to distribute the fund)," said Stephenson. "They can use it to support related business development that will benefit harvesters, they can ask people to put an amount (towards their desired purchase) or they could give it to them outright."

The administration of the project is left to the organization and discretion of each community as well. Funding for the administration comes out of the local wildlife committee fund provided annually by the GNWT. The committee is responsible for reviewing community projects as well as reviewing applications from local hunters and trappers.

The review process has yet to be completed in the communities of Wha Ti, Wekweti and Rae-Edzo.

Paperwork mounting

The Dechi Lao'i First Nation Band in Wekweti is handling the fund, but since the recent resignation of the band manager and elections, the band has been slow to deal with the paperwork.

The band plans to put $15,000 towards the first year of the three-year fund, totalling $106,607. The $15,000 has been set aside from cash equity funds and is waiting to be put into an account.

Wha'Ti First Nation has also designated its $246,016 fund to run in instalments over three years. The band has the first instalment and is expecting to distribute funds to the first set of applicants by next month.

The Dogrib Rae Band in Rae-Edzo has not determined how it will distribute the $1.3 million it has been allotted. The band applied for the fund in 1996, which manager John Ivy said was aided by BHP community assistance funds.