Tłı̨chǫ hunter seeking apology after wildlife charges dropped but harvested caribou given away

A Tłı̨chǫ hunter in Yellowknife is calling for an apology from wildlife officials after they seized caribou meat from him, gave almost all of it away, then all charges against him were dropped.

Malcolm Jaeb said a successful hunting trip with friends and family last January suddenly turned bad when he was stopped by a wildlife officer during the drive home, down the Tibbitt to Contwoyto ice road.

Jaeb said the officer accused him of hunting in a no-hunting zone, laid three charges against him and seized seven caribou he had taken, as well as his rifle, ammunition, boots, snowsuit, jeans and butchering knives.

Jaeb said he had spoken to the same official just days before at a seasonal wildlife office on Gordon Lake on his way to the hunt. He'd asked the officer for a map showing where the no-hunting zone, but the officer didn't provide one, and asked if Jaeb was an Indigenous hunter. 

When Jaeb confirmed he was an Indigenous hunter, he said he was told to hunt at the end of Mackay Lake.

The no-hunting zone was established to protect the dwindling Bathurst caribou herd. The zone shifts with the caribou, which are tracked using satellite collars.

"I've been on Mackay Lake for 35 years of my life," said Jaeb, whose family operates a hunting and fishing lodge there. "If this officer, at Gordon Lake, had said hunt at Portage 49 and north, I would obviously have known where that is. But he didn't say that, he said hunt at the north end of Mackay."

Jaeb said he and his hunting party passed thousands of caribou as they drove to the north end of Mackay Lake. 

"I had a new hunter that I was hunting with, a new family, and I wanted to show them my traditional way and values," said Jaeb. "When we saw herds, we picked the one that was north. We wanted to stay far away from this zone, though they hadn't provided me with a map."

Jaeb said after he took the seven caribou and returned to the family lodge, a different officer approached them. He said the officer asked about their hunt during a brief conversation then left.

Charges dropped

A few days after the tickets were issued, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) applied for and received court authorization to keep the seized caribou and equipment "for the purpose of an investigation, a trial or other proceeding."

But on Thursday, April 8, Jaeb was notified by ENR that it was going back to court to ask for permission to give the caribou away. ENR said it did not have enough freezer space for the meat and did not want it to spoil as the weather warmed up.

The hearing was scheduled to take place the following Monday, four days later.

At the hearing, Jaeb objected to ENR's request, saying he wanted his caribou back. According to a transcript of the hearing, Justice of the Peace Adelle Guigon pointed to a flaw in the ENR request — in the eyes of the law, Jaeb was presumed innocent. In the end, Guigon said she was "splitting the difference" and ordered ENR to give Jaeb back two caribou and distribute the rest.

Five days after the hearing, after repeated calls to ENR about the meat, Jaeb said he received freezer-burned shoulders and hind quarters. As an Indigenous hunter, he said he uses all of the caribou.

"I didn't get my hides, I didn't get my caribou heads, I didn't get any of my organs, a lot of delicacies which a lot of elders love and which my family loves too."

On June 11, the Justice Department gave notice it was staying all charges against Jaeb.

No one at the justice department was available to talk about why the charges were stayed. In an email, an official said, "after a careful review of all of the evidence, a decision was made by the prosecutor that there was no reasonable prospect of conviction."

Jaeb wants a public apology from all of the officials involved in the prosecution as well as the senior officials with the department he contacted about it. He also wants the wildlife division to return everything it seized from him.

"I still do not have my gun. I do not have my knives. I don't have my jeans that they took from me, my boots. Charges have been stayed for two weeks now. Where's my stuff?"

CBC requested an interview with ENR about the case. In an email response issued after deadline, a spokesperson said arrangements had been made for Jaeb to pick up his rifle now that charges have been stayed. 

"We are confident in our officers' professionalism, and review our compliance programs and approaches regularly," the email said. 

The N.W.T. Wildlife Act allows hunters to apply to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources for compensation, but Jaeb said he's not sure how to go about making such an application.