Why is the N.W.T. targeting aboriginal hunters? Lawyer asks

The lawyer for a Dene elder charged with hunting caribou says he doesn't know why the territorial government is targeting aboriginal harvesters.

Three members of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation have been charged this year.

Jonas Cassaway and Ted Tsetta were charged for hunting caribou without tags in February.

In January Fred Sangris was charged for cutting firewood without a permit.

Larry Innes, a lawyer who divides his time between Yellowknife and Labrador, is representing Jonas Cassaway.

When we see circumstances like Mr. Cassaways, where hes apprehended in the course of carrying out aboriginal and treaty protected rights, we have to wonder why the GNWT is doing this, he says.

The charges against Cassaway have been stayed, but Tsetta and Sangris cases will go to trial later this year. Both have pleaded not guilty.

The territorial government says it can't comment on the cases because they're before the courts.

But Innes says the law is clear: the harvesting rights of aboriginal people are not to be infringed except for the purpose of conservation, public health or public safety.

Even if the crown feels it has a justification on conservation grounds, theres still quite an onerous process the government has to go through to justify their infringement.

Innes says concerns about conservation are better tackled by working with aboriginal governments to come up with a common set of procedures, so the groups themselves can manage the conduct of their members.

Odd, of course, that the N.W.T., which has been at the forefront of many of these best practises, chose not to apply them here.

Now that Cassaways charges have been dropped, he and Innes are preparing an application for the return of the caribou that was seized from him. They hope to be heard in front of a Justice of Peace in the coming weeks.

Innes says the government has no reason to keep the animal, and Cassaway needs it to feed his family.