SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The age-old aboriginal tradition of sharing food with each other was at the heart of a not guilty verdict in the meat wasting trial of three men, including the chief of Gameti.
Renewable resources officer Ian Ellsworth displays wasted caribou meat found in April 2013 on Hottah Lake, about 90 km northwest of Gameti. Three hunters from Gameti were found not guilty of meat wastage on May 29. The judge ruled the men had left the meat for other hunters who had agreed to take over responsibility for the kill site and the meat. - photo courtesy of Department of Environment and Natural Resources |
Chief David Wedawin and brothers Frank and Jimmy Arrowmaker were not in Yellowknife territorial court May 29 as deputy judge Brian Bruser cleared them of all 12 charges they were facing. The verdict followed a trial held over several days last December and April in Behchoko. The men were charged after parts of at least a dozen caribou carcasses were found abandoned by wildlife officers near Hottah Lake, north of Gameti, in April 2013.
In handing down the not guilty verdict, Bruser said he is satisfied the three hunters did their due diligence to make sure three other hunters would take over the kill site and that those men had accepted their offer and agreed to take over responsibility for the remaining caribou meat. The NWT Wildlife Act states hunters are not allowed to leave behind any caribou meat deemed fit for human consumption.
Bruser said the way the evidence unfolded during the trial led him to rule the men were not guilty. He ruled he could not find them guilty of some of the charges and not guilty of others. Evidence revealed the accused men had killed about 30 caribou during the hunt and butchered all that they could carry away with them. It was at that time that Frank Arrowmaker left the kill site on a snowmobile to find other hunters who would take it over and clean up the remaining caribou. Bruser said the hunters had done all that could be expected of them in terms of handing off responsibility for the dead caribou. There were an estimated 200 to 300 other hunters on the lake that day, Bruser said. Prosecution witness Leon Wellin, who was in another group of hunters, testified his group had also taken away all the caribou meat they could carry but there was too much meat left behind to clean up. What was not at issue during the trial was whether meat was wasted. Both the defence and the Crown prosecution agreed there were edible parts of at least 12 caribou left behind.
Jimmy Arrowmaker's lawyer Niko Homberg said the judge made the correct decision.
"My client is an experienced, lifelong aboriginal sustenance hunter. He followed all proper traditional practices and Canadian laws regarding the harvesting of caribou," Homberg said. "He was wrongfully charged and he is not guilty."
Peter Harte, the lawyer for Wedawin, agreed the tradition of sharing of meat among aboriginal people was critical in Bruser's verdict.
"I think that if it had just been a group of non-aboriginal hunters who had said, 'Well, I left the meat for them,' then I don't think we would have seen the same result," Harte said.
"It was very interesting to see how the trial judge brought aboriginal tradition into the verdict."
Despite the verdict in this case and other recent charges against aboriginal hunters, Harte does not think wildlife officers and the prosecutor are wasting the court's time and taxpayer dollars.
"Wildlife is a valuable resource to waste so it's very proper for ENR to try to figure out how that happens and to make sure it doesn't happen in the future," said Harte.
Crown prosecutor Roger Shepard said an appeal of the verdict has not been ruled out.
"We are going to consider the decision and analyze it and see if there is anywhere else we need to go from here," he said.
The trial itself will be best remembered for an incident that happened during a break in the proceedings, in the court washroom at the community centre in Behchoko. Afterward in court, Bruser said Frank Arrowmaker showed "a total lack of common sense" for using a urinal beside the one he was using at the time. Lawyer Jay Bran initially sought a mistrial, arguing Bruser's comments showed an appearance of bias against his client. Bran eventually withdrew his motion for a mistrial.
