Photos, video of dozens of dead caribou evidence at Innu hunting trial

Hundreds of photographs of a caribou slaughter in Labrador are before the provincial court in Labrador, evidence of an alleged illegal hunt by Innu.

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The 300 photos and 30 videos were taken by fish and wildlife officers in 2013 and show bloody kill sites with dozens of caribou carcasses.

They also depict men transportingthe dead animals bykomatik a traditional sledand loading them onto a small plane.

Ten men from Sheshashiu are accused of illegally hunting caribou from the George River herd in Labrador, less than two months after the province brought in a five-year ban on killing animals from the herd.

The men have pleaded not guilty to charges ofunlawfully possessing big game, obstructing or resisting a wildlife officer,and failure to comply with big game licence requirements.

Photos questioned as proof of identity

Much of this week has been taken up with a voir dire, which is covered by a publication ban, with lawyers arguing over what should be accepted as evidence in the trial.

Earlier in the trial, fish and wildlife officers havetestified that they saw dead caribou andInnu hunters in the Shipiskan and Snegamook Lake areas of Labrador in January, February and March of 2013.

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The accused were identified by officers from some of thephotos entered by the Crown.

But the judge and defence have raised questions about how, and whether, witnesses canidentify the accused based on those pictures and video some of which were taken from the air, others from the ground.

Aboriginal rights

The identification of the suspects is only one avenue the defence plans to use to represent its clients.

If the judge finds enough evidence that the accused were hunting, the defence says it will argue that it is their Aboriginal right to do so.

When the hunting ban was announced in January 2013, former grand chief Prote Poker said it was an infringement on theInnu traditional way of life, and they would continue to take 300 animals a year

Fish and wildlife officers testified earlier in the trial that they found what they described as an Innu Nation caribou hunting permit at one of the kill sites.

An Ontario-based charter aircraftcompany, Wilderness North Air of Thunder Bay,had its plane detained and searched during the 2013 investigation.

Pilots admitted to transporting caribou to Sheshatshiu. The company pleaded guilty topossession of big game animals in violation of the Wildlife Act, and paid a $1,000 fine.

The trial is expected to adjourn until another court date in the fall.