Skipper fined for offering tours without licence
Businessman tried to argue GNWT has no jurisdiction over Great Slave Lake but judge sees things differently
Robin Grant
Northern News Services
Friday, July 1, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A judge has rejected a Yellowknife businessman's argument that the territorial government has no jurisdiction over the waters of Great Slave Lake after he was caught offering boat tours without a tourism licence.
Wayne Guy, skipper of the Naocha One, guides his vessel through the waters of Great Slave Lake in 2012. He was found guilty of providing boat tours and advertising them without a licence during the 2015 Ramble & Ride. - NNSL file photo |
Wayne Guy had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of conducting a tourism activity without a licence and two counts of operating a tourism business without a licence but then tried to have the charges stayed, arguing the NWT Tourism Act cannot be enforced on Great Slave as its waters fall under federal jurisdiction and the territorial government has no jurisdiction to regulate activities there.
He was found guilty of the charges and fined a total of $2,300.
Guy was charged after being found to have violated the Tourism Act during last year's Ramble and Ride on Aug. 1 and 2.
An ad placed in Yellowknifer on July 31 indicates boat tours of Yellowknife Bay were offered on those days as part of the festival every hour between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. at a cost of $20.
In her written decision dated June 10, territorial court judge Bernadette Schmaltz wrote that while the federal government has jurisdiction to regulate navigation and shipping on Great Slave Lake, the NWT Tourism Act does not create a significant intrusion on Ottawa's jurisdiction.
"Even if federal administration, control or ownership of land or water exists, that does not automatically create an area in which all territorial laws are excluded," Schmaltz explained in her decision.
"Only if the territorial legislation encroaches too far on a federal head of power, or impairs the core a federal undertaking, or frustrates the purpose of a federal legislative scheme, then it may be that the territorial legislation may be invalid or of no effect."
Because of this reasoning, Schmaltz found the NWT laws regulating and managing tourism apply in this case.
"If a marriage took place on one of the houseboats on Great Slave Lake, it would be absurd to assert that the Northwest Territories Marriage Act could not apply," she stated. "Or if alcohol were served or sold on a vessel anchored on Great Slave Lake, that compliance with the Northwest Territories Liquor Act would not be necessary, or that the Northwest Territories Motor Vehicles Act had not application to those using the ice road to Dettah."
Violating provisions of the Tourism Act can result in a fine of up to $10,000 and/or up to six months in jail for the first offence, and $25,000 and/or up to a year in jail for subsequent offences.
