Territory seeking injunction against band
Lands department wants immediate halt
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, March 30, 2017
TTHENAAGO/NAHANNI BUTTE
The territorial Department of Lands is seeking an immediate injunction against Nahanni Butte for work the band has been undertaking on a road next to the community.
Nahanni Butte Chief Peter Marcellais said the band had asked for the department's assistance in putting together an application for a land use permit in early February and has been waiting to sign off on the final application.
"After more than 48 days, our operating season is coming to an end and the use of heavy equipment is pointless as we will soon be under spring thaw conditions," Marcellais stated in an e-mail.
"Once again, we are confused by government officials who claim to want to work with us to help us navigate the complex bureaucracy ... and when it's obvious they cannot simplify the process in a logical manner, they resort to calling attention to their self-importance and need to 'protect' the public.
"We look forward to an explanation for their actions and will meet them in the Supreme Court if this is their venue of choice."
The band has had members working for the past two months to slash brush and clear the road, which used to be an old logging road.
On March 28, the department filed a notice of injunction with the Supreme Court of the NWT, according to documents provided to the Deh Cho Drum by the Nahanni Butte Dene Band. The injunction is scheduled to be heard in Yellowknife on March 31.
Department of Lands spokesperson Toni Riley confirmed the department has filed for an injunction, but did not comment further. The injunction seeks to stop Nahanni Butte band members and associates from "trespassing" on territorial lands, and comes one day after the department filed a statement of claim with the courts regarding the road.
With the NWT Commissioner as the plaintiff, the statement of claim seeks unspecified damages, costs, an injunction against the band and possession of the road, arguing the band has "damaged territorial lands."
The document claims territorial lands in the Nahanni Butte region are controlled by the commissioner until Nahanni Butte's land claims are settled.
The band does not have a land use permit for its work on the road. According to the document, Nahanni
Butte's actions are "tantamount to trespass."
Allegations of trespass relate specifically to uses of the land that would usually require a land use permit, such as the use of equipment weighing more than 10 tonnes.
At the beginning of March, band manager Mark Pocklington told the Deh Cho Drum elders in the community ran out of firewood, a situation which prompted the band to declare an emergency.
Pocklington said the band needed standing dead trees, of which there are plenty along the old logging road.
But in the statement of claim, the Department of Lands denies an emergency was so pressing the band didn't need a land use permit.
"Even if the lack of firewood is an emergency, the commissioner says there are other less destructive means to obtain firewood for the elders," the claim states.
The department claims Nahanni Butte is trying to speed up development of Prairie Creek Mine by getting around an environmental assessment process required for construction of a road to the mine.
Currently, a proposed all-season road to the mine is before the Mackenzie Valley Review Board.
The sole proponent for that road is Canadian Zinc Corporation.
Although the road Nahanni Butte is clearing does not overlap with the proposed all-season road, the claim notes they follow "the same general path."
