YELLOWKNIFE - John Andre calls it "absurd" that an American businessman would sue a foreign government but that's just what the outfitter says is his only option.

Fearing what he believes is an Environment and Natural Resources-driven campaign to mislead the public about caribou numbers to justify "wiping out" the outfitting industry, Andre says he'll sue.

"Without question I'm going to sue the government (of the Northwest Territories)," he told Yellowknifer Tuesday afternoon, adding ENR caribou numbers would not stand up in court.

Monday, Andre and outfitter colleague Boyd Warner filed a judicial review of the government's decision to reduce outfitters' caribou tags and its recommendation to the Wek'eezhii Renewable Resource Board that further reductions are necessary. Andre said hiss next step is a multi-million dollar lawsuit that could top $14 million.

"If I thought for a second (ENR's) numbers were good, I'd fold up my operation like a $20 tent in a high wind," he said. "This is not just about 10 small operations being railroaded out of business, it's that you've got a government body up there that's absolutely misleading everyone; it's environmental fraud, against aboriginal people, the general public and us."

To back up his argument, Andre has compiled ENR's own statistics to question the department's assertion that the Bathurst herd has declined from 472,000 to 128,000 since 1986. Andre contends that government-imposed herd divisions, an ever-evolving census methodology and changing calving grounds over the past 25 years have compromised the reliability of ENR numbers.

In 1999, Andre purchased Qaivvik Ltd. and then Caribou Pass Outfitters in 2003 because, according to him, both were sound investments as the region "had the healthiest herds in North America."

"This issue is not about the aboriginal people versus the outfitting industry. Aboriginal people have the first right with the caribou, that's the law of the land and I respect that,"

Andre said, adding he believed all user-groups have and could continue to co-exist in a sustainable manner.

According to Warner, a meeting last Friday between ENR officials, outfitters, several MLAs and Yellowknives Dene Chief Fred Sangris made little headway, despite the fact the ministry conceded some 429 caribou of the 5,774 it attributed as harvested from the Bathurst herd were actually taken from the Bluenose East herd.

The change in numbers puts the entire Bathurst harvest - aboriginal, outfitter and resident - at just 0.17 per cent above the desired threshold.

"I asked (ENR) publicly if they were going back to the WRRB to correct their numbers and their answer was 'no,'" said Warner. "That's just flabbergasting. Why would you not correct the information when you know it's wrong?"

In the legislative assembly Monday, Kam Lake MLA Dave Ramsay, who attended Friday's meeting, asked Environment Minister Michael McLeod if he would instruct his department officials to inform the WRRB that ENR provided "inaccurate information. "

"It would be inappropriate for me to comment on these issues at this time," McLeod responded.

Sangris would say little about the meeting, apart from expressing his doubts about ENR's caribou numbers.

"The problem is ENR," he said. "It's not getting their homework done and that's all I'm going to say."