Yellowknives cry fraud over caribou tags
RCMP are investigating Dettah chief's signature appearing on tags without permission
Laura Busch
Northern News Services
Published Monday, March 17, 2014
DETTAH
RCMP have confirmed they are investigating an allegation from Dettah Chief Ed Sangris that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) used his signature on caribou hunting tags without permission.
Police received the complaint last week, said RCMP spokesperson Barry Ledoux, who provided few other details as "the investigation is so new."
Sangris' signature appeared on past caribou tags distributed to Yellowknives Dene harvesters with permission when ENR and the First Nation agreed to a species recovery plan for the herd, whose population plummeted to a low of 32,000 animals in 2009 from 350,000 animals in the mid-1990s.
Restrictions on harvesting the herd includes a ban for non-aboriginal harvesters and a limited harvest for aboriginal hunters. Since 2010, 150 tags have been distributed to each the Yellowknives Dene and Tlicho harvesters.
This year, the Yellowknives and ENR failed to agree on a management plan, yet Sangris' signature, as well as the YKDFN logo, appears on tags distributed by ENR to membership, said Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus.
Not only is using a chief's name without permission disrespectful, Erasmus alleged, it may be fraudulent.
"It's about control. ENR is assuming they have control and they can act accordingly, which means for them to tell the Yellowknives Dene how and when and where to harvest," he said.
"We have every due respect for aboriginal rights, treaty rights, but the issue of wildlife conservation and preservation trumps all other concerns," Environment and Natural Resources Minister Michael Miltenberger told News/North before the allegations surfaced.
"But if you're within a band area within the zone of the Bathurst herd, if you don't have a tag, you can't hunt there.
"If you don't have a tag, whoever it is, you will be charged."
The forgery allegations are the latest of a string of legal woes between the First Nation and the territorial government.
On Tuesday, two Yellowknives men are due to appear in court over Wildlife Act charges for the illegal possession of wildlife. On Feb. 5, former Ndilo Chief Ted Tsetta had his gun and caribou meat seized by ENR wildlife officers for hunting without a tag.
Jonas Cassaway is also scheduled to appear on similar charges. More information on his case was not available by press time.
Also, Fred Sangris is scheduled to enter a plea before a territorial court judge March 25 regarding charges under the Forest Management Act for illegally harvesting firewood.
ENR declined to comment on any of these cases because the forgery allegations are under investigation and the other matters are still before the courts. Spokesperson Judy McLinton deferred all questions to the RCMP.
Ledoux said more information on the caribou tag investigation should be available in about one month.
- with files from Daniel Campbell
