Sheila Karkagie on death threat: ‘I was scared, I was hurt’

“I was scared and I was hurt,” says Sheila Karkagie of Tulita, N.W.T., of a death threat she received at her home last week.

On Jan.16, Karkagie says she answered the phone, only to find a strange voice at the end of the line with a nasty message: "If you don't keep your mouth shut somebody is gonna kill you.”

Karkagie has been a vocal opponent of hydraulic fracturing in the Sahtu region.

The call came after Karkagie spoke publicly about what she alleges is a conflict of interest.

She told the CBC that several past directors of the Tulita Land and Financial board are in a conflict of interest, by taking contracts with some oil and gas companies, after having recommended that a fracking project near the community go ahead.

Karkagie says she doesn't know who made the threat, but she knows she’s doing the right thing.

“I'm fighting for my dad's land, because this is his land, his trap lines, his everything; our means of living, our backyard, our everything!”

Sheila is right by saying she doesn't want anything contaminated- David Etchinale, elder

Karkagie says she doesn't feel like she has the support for the community, but at least one elder, David Etchinale, is standing behind her.

“Sheila is right by saying she doesn't want anything contaminated and polluted on her land and water,” Etchinale said in Slavey.   

“She is concerned about this fracking on the land. It would destroy the water. Sheila is concerned about her future generation.”

Karkagie says she has made a formal complaint to the RCMP.