Quebec wildlife officers seize caribou intended as gift to Innu Nation

Wildlife officials in Quebec have seized a caribou that was intended to be given as a gift between Indigenous governments in Quebec and Labrador, the Innu Nation says.

Several peopleincluding Innu Nation Grand Chief Gregory Rich were bringing a harvested caribou from Quebec to Labrador on Tuesday afternoon when the officers seized the caribou and fined them, according to a news release from the Innu Nation.

It happened in Ouj-Bougoumou, Que., a Cree communityabout 300 kilometres northwest of Saguenay.

The caribou belonged to the Leaf River herd, a population that has declined nearly 70 per cent over the last 20 years, according to Quebec's Forestry Ministry. Several First Nations and Inuit groupshave taken steps to protect and preserve the herd.

The InnuNation's news release says Richcarried a letter from Chief Davey Bobbish from the ChisasibiCree First Nation, declaringthe caribou as a gift to the Innu Nation and supporting them in taking the caribou to Labrador.

But the wildlife officers did not accept the letter as valid, seizing the caribou, according to the release.

"The practice of historical sharing between the Cree and the Innu of what is now Labrador goes back to long before the assertion of sovereignty by the Crown," Rich said in the release, who called the actions "colonial."

CBC News contacted wildlife authorities in Quebec for comment on this story, but hadnot yet received a response Tuesday evening.

A spokesperson for Rich said he was travelling and unavailable for an interview Tuesday, but he would be speaking with CBC'sLabrador Morningradio show Wednesday morning.

The Innu Nation formally represents about 2,200 Innu people living inLabrador, most of whom live in the communities of Sheshatshiu and Natuashish.