Colville Lake declines to share caribou information with GNWT

At a public session on the impacts of climate change and wildfires on caribou, Colville Lake declined to share its knowledge with the NWT government.

Joseph Kochon, senior administrative officer at the Behdzi Ahda First Nation, explained on Wednesday that traditional laws of the Dehlà Got’įne state they should not speak about things they can’t control, such as the weather or caribou.

“Our Elders are concerned that some of what we are now seeing on the land is a consequence of people engaging in discussions about things that should not be discussed,” he said.

Kochon added while there were things they could speak about, the First Nation has “significant disagreements” with the NWT government about the roles and responsibilities of renewable resource councils.

“We have knowledge that we share about these topics but we are not willing to share them in this listening session,” he said. “We have no trust, no confidence that the GNWT will use any of this information to help our people. Instead, we are concerned that they will use it to find a reason to tell us what we can and cannot do.”

The First Nation, Colville Lake Renewable Resources Council and Ayoni Keh Land Corporation had challenged the territorial government’s tag and quota system, known as the total allowable harvest, for the Bluenose West caribou herd. The territory’s environment minister had rejected a community conservation plan that would have allowed the renewable resources council to manage harvesting.

NWT Supreme Court Justice Andrew Mahar ruled in August that the Sahtu and Dene Métis Comprehensive Land Claim did not prevent the minister from considering a conservation plan drawn up by the community – a ruling that favoured the First Nation. He sent the decision back to the minister, who he said is “the ultimate decision-making authority” when it comes to herd management and conservation.

However, Mahar declined to declare that the minister’s imposition of a total allowable harvest violated the treaty.

The NWT government filed an appeal of the decision the following month, arguing the minister did not misinterpret or misapply the treaty when rejecting the community conservation plan. In court documents, the territory said the key issue is whether each renewable resources council in the Sahtu manages caribou harvest for all other participants in a particular area, or whether it manages the harvest of participants from that community throughout the Sahtu.

Kochon said on Wednesday that western conservation methods conflict with Indigenous knowledge systems and practices, infringing on Indigenous rights.

“We are concerned that until those questions are resolved, proper discussions about the roles and responsibilities of the treaty partners cannot occur,” he said.

“The view of the GNWT appears to be we are only there to be told what to do by the minister. We do not agree with that approach. We want to properly implement the treaty.”

In the legislature on Wednesday, territorial environment minister Jay Macdonald said caribou management is a shared responsibility between the territorial, Indigenous and federal governments.

“This collaborative work is being done as part of the NWT’s well-established wildlife co-management system, where everyone is at the table to help guide caribou management, conservation, and recovery,” he said.

Heather Sayine-Crawford, a representative of the department’s wildlife division in Yellowknife, acknowledged at the listening session that they can’t control wildlife, but said there are actions people can take to help caribou. She said she appreciated the opportunity to discuss those plans.

“We may not always see eye to eye,” she said. “I think it’s important to keep coming back to the table to talk, to listen to each other, to hear each other’s perspective, so that we can come together.”

Wildfires a threat to barren-ground caribou

The three-day public listening session was held in Norman Wells from Tuesday to Thursday. It was hosted by the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Renewable Resources Council and Sahtú Renewable Resources Board with a focus on climate change and wildfire impacts to caribou.

It’s part of a larger five-part hearing that aims to address the question: What is the most effective way to conserve caribou?

The listening session featured presentations by Norman Wells, Tulita, Délı̨nę, Colville Lake, Fort Good Hope, the Tłı̨chǫ Government, NWT government, and Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Jan Adamczewski, an ungulate wildlife biologist, said during the NWT government’s presentation that different caribou herds will respond differently to climate change. He said that’s due to variability among herds and climate change impacts in different regions.

James Hodson, a manager of environmental assessment and habitat at the environment department, said wildfires can affect caribou by reducing the vegetation they eat and making it harder for them to avoid predators.

He said loss of habitat from wildfires has been identified as a main threat to barren-ground caribou.

“It takes a long time for barren-ground caribou habitat to become suitable again after fire,” he said, adding climate change is increasing the size and severity of wildfires.

Kevin Chan, regional biologist for the Sahtu, said other climate change impacts that can affect caribou include heat stress, parasites and diseases, freezing rain events and the loss of permafrost.

Communities want more control over firefighting

Kochon said on Wednesday that when preparing communities for the impacts of climate change, the role of local governments should be to look after their people and the land they use. He said the NWT government should provide them with the resources and support to do so.

“We have seen what happened when a big emergency happened in Yellowknife,” he said, referring to the city-wide evacuation in August.

“We were left on our own. We did what we could with what we had. It taught us that we should never be in a position where we have to rely on the GNWT.”

Other Indigenous leaders also expressed a desire to have more control when wildfires are in or near their communities.

George Mackenzie, former grand chief of the Tłı̨chǫ Government, said Indigenous governments should have the final say over land and wildfire decisions.

“The headquarters office in Yellowknife, the bureaucrats, it’s not their land,” he said.

Jeff Walker, the Department of Environment and Climate Change’s regional superintendent for the Sahtu, said the department doesn’t have funding to purchase equipment or hire extra crews for communities to fight fires on their own. He said there are, however, programs to help communities with training and firesmarting efforts.

“Largely, our commitment is to build capacity and resources within the community to be able to respond more quickly and to have more things in place ahead of a fire coming in or near a community,” he said.

Walker added that in some cases last summer, firefighters were unable to protect cabins and the department could not provide cabin owners with equipment because it was unsafe.

“You have to understand our number-one priority, our number-one value at risk is human life, and that includes firefighters, that includes community members,” he said.