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Squatter troubles on Ingraham Trail
Residents say federal government should do more to stop free-for-all on leased Crown land

Miranda Scotland
Northern News Services
Published Friday, July 6, 2012

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Scouts Canada Yellowknife representative is calling for the federal government to take greater action against squatters on Crown land in the Ingraham Trail area, after the organization had an unauthorized visitor build a cabin on its lot near Pontoon Lake.

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There is concern that the GNWT and the federal government aren't doing enough to keep squatters off the Ingraham Trail. - Miranda Scotland/NNSL photo

"People just move onto the land whenever they want," said Mike Kalnay, NWT area commissioner for Scouts Canada. "If they move onto our property we have to deal with them."

Last year, an aboriginal person erected a building on the Scouts' lot after he got permission from the Yellowknives Dene to build on the Ingraham Trail. Since then, the Scouts have been working with the band and this person to come to a solution, according to Kalnay. The band, however, is refusing to comment.

Kalnay said they have also been speaking with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) on the topic but ultimately they have been left to figure out the situation on their own.

"That would be up to Scouts Canada," said Karen Polakoff, AANDC's regional manager of land administration.

"They can either relinquish the portion where that cabin is to allow the member or owner of the cabin to apply for a federal lease or if they don't want to do that then they can do a civil action to have that cabin removed."

The permission the squatter received from the Yellowknives Dene, Polakoff added, carries no weight.

"(The Yellowknives Dene) do not have any authority legislatively or otherwise to authorize any activity on our federal public land," she said, adding aboriginal people must obtain a lease like everyone else if they want a piece of the property on Crown land.

Still, the Scouts and other lease holders are left with the burden of removing squatters from their lots, which can be time consuming and costly because they have to find out who the person is, track them down, ask them to leave and if they don't they have to take them to court.

Allowing them to stay creates problems too, said Kalnay.

Last month, the Scouts nearly lost their cabin after the squatter's building caught fire.

"Our place could have burned down," Kalnay said, adding the Scouts were lucky someone called in the fire, which was less than a hectare in size.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources said the flames spread from a campfire. Kalnay said he isn't sure if the squatter plans to rebuild.

This was the second unauthorized visitor the Scouts have had on their land in the last five years. Illegal settlers are becoming a big problem, Kalnay said. Over the past 10 years, he has seen the number of squatters on the Ingraham Trail jump to 10 or 20 from one or two.

"The (federal government) needs to take action," Kalnay said. "They can instructively look to what the GNWT is doing."

The GNWT also administers property along the Ingraham Trail, including lands around Walsh, Banting, and the west side of Prosperous Lake. The federal government also administers some lands in these areas. In 2008, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) implemented a trespass enforcement strategy. Bev Chamberlin, who was director of lands administration for MACA until she retired June 29, said last Thursday that the strategy has worked well.

"We used to have quite a problem but we did some work in 2008 ... and we've seen some pretty good success with that policy initiative," Chamberlin said.

"We have seen people remove themselves voluntarily and we think we are doing all that we can at this point given our resources."

In a survey done by MACA in 2006 more than 60 illegal cabins were discovered in the Ingraham Trail area. Currently, there are 26 structures, located up to five km off the federal government's piece of the Ingraham Trail, that are believed to be unauthorized.

According to Chamberlin, anybody that is seen illegally living on the GNWT's portion of the Ingraham Trail is issued a notice of trespass and asked to leave. If they don't comply the issue goes to court. The federal government follows similar procedures when removing squatters camped on federal land that isn't being leased, according to Polakoff.

However, the court's decision doesn't always favour the land owner.

In 2010, MACA took Agnes Christensen to court 10 years after she had moved onto a parcel of land, located just past the turnoff to Dettah, without permission. After a long legal battle the family won the right to stay in their home. Christensen said that it was a victory for her and other aboriginal people who are looking to assert their treaty rights.

"I'm not here to conflict with anybody. I'm just using my treaty rights, which were given to me," Christensen said, adding she is happy the court ruled in her favour. "I pray to God every day and thank him for that. I couldn't have done it without him. I asked him to put me somewhere where he thinks I belong and if this is where I belong then this is where I belong."

Garth Wallbridge, who has owned a cabin on the trail for 30 years, said he believes aboriginal people have a right to be on the land but other illegal occupants don't. He said he would like to see both the GNWT and the federal government doing more to ensure the land is squatter-free.

"What happens is we have title land there, we invest a lot of money in our property, we pay taxes and we are required to meet all kinds of environmental regulations dealing with our disposal of sewage and all those kinds of things and yet squatters aren't," Wallbridge said.

"So here you have a legitimate lease holder that's paying taxes and all that and they're getting hassled and yet 200 yards away somebody would be squatting and the government would completely leave them alone."

Polakoff said the government is doing its best to deal with squatters on the trail.

"It's been an ongoing problem for a number of years and it's something that can't be fixed in a really short time," she said.

"We are concerned for people's property and the protection of the environment and that's our main concern so we are always looking for that."

- see page A10 for a related opinion piece by Walt Humphries

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