SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Unless squatters voluntarily vacate or the territorial government reinstates a policy of leasing recreational land, there will be no quick end to battles over illegal cabins in the Yellowknife area.

"We just can't go onto a site and burn a cabin or tear the thing down," said Bev Chamberlin, director of land administration for Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA).

"We have to give people a chance to refute our claim that they are trespassing. That's in the legislation."

MACA has, over the past several months, publicly stated that it will evict illegal trespassers but that has only resulted in a handful of legal actions to date.

The legislation sets out a process that can take years to resolve: an illegal cabin is posted with a notice of trespass. After 30 days, if the cabin remains, a final notice is posted, giving the occupant a further 30 days to respond. If the final notice is ignored, the matter heads to court.

"If it's an egregious trespass and damage is being done to the environment, we can make the final notice as short as we deem appropriate," said Chamberlin, "but everybody gets their chance to go through the court system.

"Once it's in the court system it just kind of chugs and churns along until everybody has had their day."

Clem Paul, a former president of the North Slave Metis Alliance, has been fighting MACA for the right to build a cabin on Prosperous Lake since 2003. Paul's lawyer, Ken Staroszik, said his client has rights to the land because indigenous Metis of the North Slave region are signatories to Treaty 11. Both sides in the dispute have filed statements with the Supreme Court, but the case has yet to be argued.

Summing up the current situation, Chamberlin said there are 26 legitimate leases in the Banting, Walsh and Prosperous Lakes area. Of those, four were issued since 2008 under the now-suspended interim trespass enforcement strategy.

The interim strategy, which encouraged trespassers to come forward voluntarily and apply for a lease, was suspended in the Yellowknife area in December 2009 while MACA develops a recreational leasing policy framework, Chamberlin said.

In addition to Clem Paul, MACA has an ongoing court case over a cabin on Walsh Lake. Legal action was initiated on another site on Walsh Lake and one on Banting Lake, but those cabins are being removed voluntarily.

Chamberlin said one additional site on Walsh Lake was posted with a final notice in June. Legal action on another five sites, two on Walsh Lake and three on Prosperous Lake will be taken "as resources permit."

"Our inspections are continuing throughout the summer and may reveal more," said Chamberlin. "If more trespassers are discovered, legal action will be initiated against them if they choose not to voluntarily vacate the sites."

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