SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Yellowknives Dene First Nation has decided to cancel its traditional fall caribou hunt and it is pushing for the government to put greater limitations on sport hunting and resident hunters.

Dettah Chief Ed Sangris says the community caribou hunt has gone on for generations but they decided to cancel it this year after hearing preliminary caribou numbers were down significantly this year. - NNSL file photo

"We're trying to step in and say, 'Hey, listen, this has gone on too far.' We can't just sit idly by," said Dettah Chief Ed Sangris.

"It was a hard decision. It's one of the things we wrestled with - is this going to be the beginning of the end?"

Community leaders made the decision at a Sept. 8 chief and council meeting. They deliberated over it for more than five hours after representatives from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources told them the Bathurst caribou herd numbers are way down, from 150,000 two years ago to 30,000 in a population survey taken this spring.

A representative from the department said final numbers won't be known until the end of October.

The community's decision doesn't mean individual Yellowknives hunters won't be able to hunt, but it does mean the band won't sanction hunting or pay for transportation.

"It's not that we're going to stop the fall hunt altogether, just that we're concerned about the numbers," said Sangris. "It's part of our way of ensuring there's caribou for future generations."

He said they considered to cancel next year's hunt as well but decided to assess that after the territorial completes a photo census of the herd.

Sangris said the community hunt harvests 100 caribou for the community freezer, and the four designated hunters kill one or two each for their own households. Last year the hunt cost the community $50,000.

Sangris said the community hunt has been going on for generations. Before they rented planes, the Dene people took dog teams and canoed up to the Barrens.

Sangris attributes the declining caribou numbers to a combination of industry activity and sport hunting.

In a release issued Thursday, the Yellowknives asked the territorial government to cancel the sport hunt and institute a lottery system for resident hunters.

Speaking before a presentation from Rio Tinto - owner of Diavik diamond mine - at the band office in Dettah, he said the company's argument that the mine doesn't affect the caribou population is the "understatement of the year, or the century."

Sangris said he'd like to see resident tags - currently at two bulls per hunter per year - reduced to one tag per person, if not eliminated entirely. Up until 2006, resident hunters were allowed to harvest five caribou a year of either sex.

"They should just eliminate it altogether or reduce it to the point where caribou populations go back up," said Sangris.

"Residents don't need caribou. They have the availability of food. But we're the First Nations people. They don't have high-paying jobs, they need to put food on the table for their family. They shouldn't be issuing more than one tag for residents because that's a contributing factor to the decline."

Bryan Rendell, owner of Wolverine Guns and Tackle and a resident hunter, says he thinks cancelling the community hunt is a positive decision.

"It's very important that they do that and at least try to work together," he said.

"If you're going to do something, you've got to do it all around, you can't just do it to one party. That's what they've done so far. First they picked on the outfitters then they did the private sector. If you look at the volume, I'm sure more caribou are killed by community hunts than by the other two combined."

But Rendell is concerned about the push to limit residential hunters and sport hunting for out-of-territory hunters. He says all caribou hunting should be monitored

"It's very unfair," he said. "Taking three tags from local residents doesn't put that many caribou back in the herd, the majority come from community hunts."

Rendell said cancelling the sport hunting industry will damage tourism and the economy.

"It's going to affect a lot of other businesses - airlines, gas station, grocery stores," he said.

He said sales at his store declined by 20 per cent after the number of resident hunting tags was reduced in 2006.

Outfitter Amanda Peterson said she doesn't agree with pointing fingers when it comes to declining numbers.

"If there is a decline in the population, everyone needs to do their part," she said. "It's great for the Yellowknives Dene to get involved and contribute to the health and wellbeing of the herd."

But Peterson said cancelling the sport hunting industry is a "very scary prospect."

"That's fairly extreme. It would have a severe impact on our business and the economy of the Northwest Territories," she said, adding her family-owned and operated business at Point Lake already experienced a big drop in revenue when the government reduced their number of sport hunting tags to 75 from 132.

Sangris blames the government for failing to properly monitor the caribou while continuing to allow sport hunting when caribou populations were declining.

"All these years the government has been playing a game where they want to generate revenue from wildlife. Our ancestors always told us, if you sell the food, you're going to lose it. The government likes selling our caribou."