SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A caribou outfitter has written a letter to MLAs asking them for support in anticipation of the release of an independent report by an Alberta-based research group contracted to look at potential flaws in territorial government caribou counting methods.

Caribou outfitters have been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by government policy, says Boyd Warner, who is eagerly awaiting an independent report from the Alberta Research Council looking at government caribou counting practices. - NNSL file photo

The Alberta Research Council report was expected in September, but was delayed to allow for review by two Alaskan biologists. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) received a draft report in November.

John Andre lives in Montana and owns two caribou outfitting businesses in the NWT. He says the government statements claiming caribou populations have crashed are a hoax.

Last November, Andre and two local outfitters dropped a lawsuit they filed against the territorial government when restrictions were put on their yearly tag amounts due to what the outfitters saw as flaws in caribou population estimates from ENR.

As a concession, the government agreed to have the Alberta Research Council look into the government's methodology in collecting caribou population data.

The government implemented a percentage harvest on the Bathurst caribou herd - split from one large herd into the Bathurst, Bluenose East, Ahiak and Beverley herds, based on genetic evidence - and that cut into tag limits.

Andre also contends small or inaccurate male-female ratios have been used as samples in some cases. He said he wondered how caribou populations could be decreasing when - from numbers he has examined from government information - there were 354,000 caribou estimated in the NWT and Nunavut in 1980 and 1,188,000 today.

Andre said government policy - including reducing outfitters to 75 tags per year based upon "emergency measures" - has been based upon misinformation.

Andre said if the report finds the government is at fault he hopes outfitters will be reimbursed, shake hands and move on.

Boyd Warner, owner and operator of Bathurst Inlet Lodge, said he believes the report would support much of what the outfitters have been saying. He said if the report finds the government mismanaged the situation, outfitters should be redeemed.

"You have to be accountable for your actions and we're going to hold (the government) accountable one way or another," said Warner.

The final report should be released in early January.

Michael Miltenberger, minister of Environment and Natural Resources, said he has seen the draft report but did not want to comment on what it contained because it was still being reviewed.

Miltenberger said the government will accept the recommendations that come out of the report, which will also be made public.

Warner said he has concerns that the government has seen the preliminary report and is not sharing it with outfitters.

"We were told and assured that within 14 days of them getting the report, we would get a copy of it," he said. Warner has not yet seen the report.

Warner said tag limits have put nearly all caribou outfitters on the verge of bankruptcy.

Two years ago, he employed five full-time staff in Yellowknife. Today, he is the only full-timer with his outfit.

Andre said hunters are taking their money elsewhere.

"In Quebec, each outfitter gets unlimited tags and there are 43 outfitters there. The Northwest Territories has set up a system now where each individual outfitter just can't survive taking this few hunters," he said.

Andre said he used to get 420 tags between his two outfits.

He said it has cost him half a million dollars this year and it has cost the NWT between $800,000 and $1 million in tourist dollars.

"Given the current economic climate, that's not a lot of money, but every little bit helps," he said.

He is no longer able to employ 15 workers during the fall season.

Andre said he is considering legal action if the government does not move to help outfitters should the report justify their claims.