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Another nail in the coffin
Caribou outfitter considers suing the GNWT over losses

Terrence McEachern
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, October 13, 2010

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - For Barry Taylor, a recent report that recommends the ban on caribou sport hunting in the NWT continue for another three years is "one more nail in the coffin" for his business.

NNSL photo/graphic

There will be no caribou for Yellowknife-based outfitters should the territorial government adopt a recommendation to ban the sports hunt until at least 2013 to prevent further losses to the dwindling Bathurst herd. - NNSL file photo

"I guess I'm out of business until 2013," said Taylor, owner of Arctic Safaris, a Yellowknife-based outfitter company that has specialized in hunting caribou for 28 years. "If you've got no tags, you've got nothing to sell - you've got no product. If you have no product, there's no point in opening the camp," he said.

On Sept. 8, the Wek'eezhii Renewable Resource Board released its long awaited response to a series of recommendations brought forward in a joint proposal by the territorial and Tlicho governments last year over a steep decline in Bathurst herd caribou numbers. The board's report recommends a harvest target of 300 Bathurst caribou and 2,800 Bluenose-East caribou annually for the next three years, and that the new rules should be enacted on Jan. 1, 2011.

The recommendation came a day after the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources signed a two-year agreement limiting the number of Bathurst caribou that can be harvested to 150 and other herds of caribou, including Bluenose, at 250.

Judy McLinton, manager of public affairs and communications for the GNWT Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said discussions with ENR, the Tlicho Government and the Yellowknives Dene First Nation were based on 300 Bathurst caribou.

McLinton said the Wek'eezhii recommendations for the number of caribou harvested are for Wek'eezhii area and the Yellowknives agreement covers only caribou in the Chief Drygeese area. Both areas reside in the "no hunting management zone," a 120,000 square-km area north of Yellowknife.

Both the agreement and the recommendation were in response to a 2009 population study that determined the number of Bathurst caribou had dropped to 32,000 animals from 120,000 in 2006.

Regardless, neither the agreement nor the board's recommendations allocate any caribou for outfitters.

Last year, Taylor was issued 75 hunting tags for his camp located about 320 km north of Yellowknife. At $6,000 per person for the flight and accommodations, that adds up to $450,000 in lost income. Since the ban was first implemented on Jan. 1 this year by Environment Minister Michael Miltenberger said he's had no income from his business and has had to layoff all 10 to 12 people working for him.

If the caribou ban lasts until 2013 as the board recommends, that'll be four years outfitters will be out of business. Taylor said even if tags are eventually reissued, the damage may have already been done. "You have to go out and let the world know you are back in business. And then you look at all the people that had hunts cancelled this year - four or five hundred. Do you think they want to come here again and take a gamble?"

Great Slave MLA Glen Abernethy said outfitters should be reimbursed for money they lost as a result of taking bookings and deposits in advance for hunting trips on the assumption they would receive tags for 2010.

"It wasn't about compensation for losing the industry, it was about compensation because ENR gave them inaccurate direction and advice, and they relied on that information and advice and booked some hunts, and then that cost them so they lost money," he said. "I'm still pursuing that. I still think the government has some responsibility because ENR told them they'd be fine for 2010."

Taylor said he is considering filing a lawsuit against the GNWT for the losses he's incurred since the ban. "This is a big financial hit. Most of us are saying 'the day is coming and we're going to have to sell out - and there's our retirement money. We've been investing for years, now we don't have that. Our camp's worth nothing. They're just big liabilities," he said. "Somebody's responsible. It's not anything that we did wrong. We were encouraged to build and expand these businesses. Somebody's got to give us some compensation."

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