SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Fred Sangris said he's mad his application for wildfire relief is still sitting on a desk in a Yellowknife, apparently rejected even though he lost his traplines.

The Yellowknives Dene First Nation trapper said he delivered his application in August, so he was frustrated to find it hadn't been processed. He is trying to access the hunters and trappers' disaster compensation program, he said, which is supposed to refund hunters and trappers whose harvesting has been affected by natural disasters, such as wildfires.

His traplines 80 km east of Dettah burned up in 2014, said Sangris, adding he lost out on up to $8,000 in profits as a result. He said he was told his application still hadn't been processed when he visited the Department of Environment and Natural Resources office a few days ago.

"(The clerk) tried to make the excuse that he told me to report my income," said Sangris. "'I've got my fur sale record, I gave it to you. Why is it still here, why didn't you send it out?'"

Sangris said he was told it was "up to him."

"I said 'Up to me? Well, mail it!'" he said.

On Wednesday, the former Ndilo chief said he visited the office again and was told his application had been denied because he hadn't provided a financial record of his sales. But he pointed to the filled-out section of the application reporting his records.

Sangris said he thinks the department is stalling to avoid adding further costs to the 2014 season. He said because the Yellowknives Dene has been hard on the department's caribou management policy, combined with the political fallout arising from illegal wood harvesting and hunting charges against some members, there is now bad blood between the First Nation and the department. Sangris himself was fined $230 last year for harvesting wood without a permit.

"Yellowknives Dene hunters have been really hard on ENR on caribou issues and our trapline charges and everything, maybe this is a vendetta you know? To get back at us," he said.

Sangris said department officials aren't being transparent about the program.

"We had a meeting with an ENR officer about five months ago, and they only talk about the (the effects from the) forest fires. He was ready to walk away when I said, 'Wait a minute, there's a harvester's compensation program.' He said, 'Yeah, there is but you will have to apply for it.' That was his only comment. Those compensation programs have been available for over 20 years. These officers, they know it does exist but they don't explain it to no one."

He said he learned only one hunter per household can apply for the compensation but since many homes in First Nations communities hold two or more families, many trappers are left out.

"They also have this rule that if you're working you can't apply for it," he said. "That's crazy. In First Nations communities, those families help each other run the trapline. I work Monday to Friday and on the weekend I go out on the trapline. But if I can't do it, my brother goes out. They don't realize that more than one trapper lives in a household."

He said the policy needs to be restructured to consider their needs.

"That policy to me is too English. It's not Northern. It's not Northern ideas," he said. "It's definitely not helping trappers and hunters, they're in the same situation as me."

Sangris said trappers supplement their income from the sale of furs but the meat goes to the dinner table. He said he's worried about food shortages over the course of the winter.

"ENR doesn't see it that way," he said. "Their office in Yellowknife is just not interested in working with indigenous (people). They're interested in watching us on caribou, they're interested in monitoring us.

"Right now there's an election going on and hunters and trappers should be asking those candidates, 'Why is this program not working?'"

He said the Yellowknives Dene have no relationship with the Environment and Natural Resources office in Yellowknife.

"They're all Metis at that office," he said. "There's no Yellowknives Dene or Akaitcho working there at all. They're supposed to be open with us, working with us but we have no relationship with them, nothing."

Department spokesperson Judy McLinton stated in an e-mail compensation is available to traditional harvesters who have suffered loss because of a wildfire. To qualify, harvesters must have a general hunting licence or be a land claim beneficiary, be actively engaged in renewable resource harvesting and prove 25 per cent of their annual income comes from harvesting.

She didn't address Sangris' accusation that the department has embarked on a "vendatta" against Yellowknives harvesters.

McLinton said in Sangris' case he didn't prove 25 per cent of his income came from trapping. She said North Slave staff met with Yellowknives Dene in June to discuss the program.

"An offer was made to set up a separate meeting to help harvesters fill out the applications for compensation for the loss of traplines and/or cabins due to wildland fires," she stated.

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