Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services

Taltheilei Narrows (Nov 12/01) - One of the North's exclusive fishing lodges could be facing a legal battle with a territorial band over allegations it bulldozed a graveyard.

Archie Catholique, chief of the Lutsel K'e band, said elders in his community believe workers employed by Plummer's Great Slave Lake Lodge, at Taltheilei Narrows on Great Slave Lake, bulldozed part of a graveyard and moved markers to build a runway extension -- a charge the lodge denies.

The graveyard sits off to the side near the end of the runway about 91 metres away.

"(Court action) is where we're headed, unless (they) want to negotiate," said Catholique. "It's something we've been throwing around."

Chummy Plummer, owner of Plummer Arctic Lodges, of Winnipeg, said the accusations have come as a surprise.

Arctic Lodges owns one other lodge in the Northwest Territories and one in Nunavut.

"We just can't believe someone can accuse us of something like that," said Plummer in a phone interview from Winnipeg.

In a prepared statement released Oct. 29, Plummer, said there is no evidence bulldozing grave sites took place.

"We are not aware of any graves located under the airstrip and to the best of our knowledge there has never been a grave disturbed by construction (at the lodge)," read the statement.

Shane Jonker, spokesperson for Arctic Lodges said they do not plan to negotiate compensation.

"We don't negotiate rumour," said Jonker.

Plummer's Lodge extended it's gravel runway after renewing its lease for 30 years in 1980 with no opposition.

But Catholique said he didn't think anyone in his community was contacted but there was no way to confirm it.

According to recent reports, the Department of Indian Affairs said no one in the community objected to the lease, but they didn't indicate who was contacted.

The lease runs out in 2010 and Catholique said if a court challenge doesn't pan out they'll contest the renewal.

Plummer's Lodge has been around since the 1950s. The federal government issued its first lease in 1952 and renewed it three more times in 1966, 1972 and 1980 with no opposition.

The lodge is a Plummer family legacy.

According to Plummer, his father, Warren, and his grandfather, Chummy, used the site in the late 1930s. Plummer said he has a photo from 1938 of his father and grandfather standing near the site where the lodge is now.

Plummer's grandfather ran a pool hall in Yellowknife in that era. But the Chipewyan used the land long before the days of float planes and lodges.

According to land use maps prepared by University of Minnesota at Duluth anthropologist David Smith for the Berger Inquiry, the area around Plummer's Lodge was well known for its fishing years before contact with white traders.

By the 1960s people deserted semi-permanent camps because the young people wanted to be closer to schools and hospitals.

"There's old men used to live there...They all pass away so after that we didn't stay around there. They started moving back to Lutsel K'e. So after they build up the school, that's the reason all people started moving down here," Lutsel K'e elder August Enzo said in a September CBC interview.

Smith said the Chipewyan knew the place as K'hadel, a place where the water doesn't freeze.

"In the summer many people from different parts would gather there to fish and meet relatives and friends they hadn't seen for a long time," said Smith.

He said he doesn't think elders would make spurious accusations about something as important as a burial site.

"Lying is something not taken lightly (by elders)," said Smith.

Despite various visits by DIAND officials, historical researchers and former territorial Premier Don Morin, no one has found any evidence of destroyed sites, but none have checked beneath the gravel extension."A lot of my people have been hurt mentally by this," said Catholique. "They can't go there to visit relatives."

Plummer said he wants to sit down with the band and work things out. The sides have made contact and are planning to meet."I just don't understand it, we hear a lot of crazy things," said Plummer. "The lodge has been my life."

Plummer said he doesn't know if the lodge will stay within the family.

"You never know, we even heard the Lutsel K'e people are interested," said Plummer. Catholique denied ever broaching the subject with them.