SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Parks Canada staff quelled fears that non-aboriginal residents will be blocked from hunting within the boundaries of the proposed Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve during public consultation Dec. 9 in Yellowknife.

Asked if non-aboriginal residents will be allowed to subsistence hunt within park boundaries, Lee Montgomery, manager of the Park's Canada's park establishment division's office in Yellowknife, said accommodations will be made to allow non-aboriginal and aboriginal subsistence hunting to continue within the park, but the particulars of the arrangement will be up to territorial politicians once public consultations and the proposal are complete.

"We've heard a lot of people coming forward with issues with regard to local users," she said, adding provisions have been made in establishing some of the more recent parks to allow traditional and subsistence hunting to go ahead.

"We are hearing from a number of individuals about harvesting and firearms," she said. "A response has not been determined by Parks Canada. With the consultations we're conducting now, we're open to continued discussions."

Montgomery said the land claims need to be settled between the Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation (LKDFN) and the NWT Metis Nation - both nations' lands overlap the boundaries of the proposed national park portion of the reserve.

"There will also be negotiations between NWT and Parks Canada and it is often within those sorts of establishment agreements that things like traditional users are identified and uses that traditional users will continue to exercise are identified," said Montgomery. "That is down the road aways. We are anticipating to get a signal from them in the future as to when we can re-engage."

The people of Lutsel K'e are excited Parks Canada is moving ahead with public consultations about the proposal, according to Steven Nitah. The LKDFN's lead negotiator on the topic said the community plans to market itself as a hub for tourists travelling to the park.

Approximately 12,000 square-kilometres are set aside for territorial designation and the remainder is earmarked national park lands.

One of the members of the public asked for a specific estimate on the number of tourists the park could expect, and Shana MacDonald, senior negotiator on the topic for Parks Canada, said the department doesn't have one.

Residents attending were also concerned that establishing a park and designating Lutsel K'e as the hub could disrupt tourism operations already visiting the area.

Guided outfitted hunting isn't permitted in national parks and Cathy Bolstad, executive director for NWT Tourism, said she's heard from some tourism operators who are licensed to operate within the future park boundaries they are worried they'll lose the ability to work in the region if the proposal goes through.

Steve Ellis - assistant-negotiator on the initiative for the LKDFN - said as far as he knows, outfitter operators working in the area don't actually enter the park so their business won't necessarily be affected.

Montgomery said the deadline for public consultation on the matter was supposed to have already closed, but public input will be accepted into January.

One man in attendence, Mike Burns, said residents have been waiting "for a very long time" to have their say on the proposal.

A public session hosted by the territorial government was held in the summer of 2014 explored interest in the idea, said Montgomery, and now Parks Canada is completing its part of the work.

She said the election has delayed the project while new territorial and federal government divisions are sorting themselves out.

"That is the reason for the delay," she said.

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