Parks Canada settles with Nahanni guides
Hunting outfitters to Nahanni National Park paid $3.15 million after years-long legal battle
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Monday, January 25, 2016
TTHENAAGO/NAHANNI BUTTE
The last two of four court claims against Parks Canada for the expansion of the Nahanni National Park Reserve have been settled for $3.15 million.
The claims date back to 2009, when the federal government expanded the Nahanni National Park Reserve and created the Naats'ihch'oh National Park Reserve.
The expansion impacted four commercial outfitters who, as part of their operations, conducted guided hunting tours near Nahanni Butte. Sport hunting is not permitted in national parks or park reserves.
Parks Canada spokesperson Kassandra Daze stated in an e-mail that when new national parks are created, Parks Canada "negotiates, on a seller-willing buyer basis, with such companies for the purpose of ending their activity in new national parks."
Two of the outfitters affected, Nahanni Butte Outfitters and Ram Head Outfitters, received settlements of $1.15 million and $2 million respectively in 2015.
That information was published by the federal Receiver General under the Public Accounts of Canada, which includes all settlements and claims involving the federal government and is published on an annual basis.
The identity of the other two outfitters was not provided by Parks Canada.
"When Parliament passed legislation in 2009 to significantly expand Nahanni, the government stated that Parks Canada would negotiate with these businesses to end their hunting activity within Nahanni," Daze stated.
"Parks Canada has reached agreements with all outfitters within the Nahanni area to end their activity. Parks Canada has also reached agreements to end sport hunting in Naats'ihch'oh."
The measures against sport hunting, she added, were taken to protect the ecological integrity of national parks.
Nahanni Butte Outfitters spokesman Jim Lancaster was unable to do a phone interview by press time due to a busy schedule but stated in an e-mail that the settlement was satisfactory.
"If left with the choice, we would rather have seen our rights to operate grandfathered," he wrote.
He declined to discuss details of the settlement, which he said are confidential.
The park expansion reduced the size of Nahanni Butte Outfitters' operation by 80 to 85 per cent, according to Lancaster, and eliminates the meat his company donated to Nahanni Butte every year.
Each year, he said, his company donated between 12,000 and 15,000 pounds of moose, sheep and caribou meat.
The company still plans to run a small operation out of its remaining area near Nahanni Butte. Community officials in Nahanni Butte could not be reached for comment. Ram Head Outfitters did not respond to media requests.
