Aboriginal harvesting rights to go on trial in NWT – CBC

Dec 01, 2014

The N.W.T.’s new Wildlife Act came into effect Friday, explicitly stating people with aboriginal or treaty harvesting rights don’t require a licence or permit to exercise that right.

It’s unclear how this may affect the cases of two former Yellowknives Dene chiefs who, over a period of three months, were slapped separately with fines, one for hunting caribou, the other for harvesting firewood.

Earlier this year, Former Chief Ted Tsetta was charged under the territory’s old Wildlife Act for hunting caribou without tags.

In the past, the Yellowknives Dene and GNWT have come to an agreement on how many Bathurst herd caribou they can hunt. Last year they were given 150 tags. In 2014, the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement.