Lindberg Landing concerns intensify after vehicle vandalized

Some residents and leaders in the NWT’s Dehcho region are calling for leases to be terminated in Lindberg Landing after a vehicle was vandalized following work to remove a gate in the area.

In a ruling earlier this month, the NWT Supreme Court ordered Clinton Leussink, a leaseholder in Lindberg Landing, to remove the gate at the entrance to the main access road to the area off Highway 7.

Leussink had maintained he did not install or own the gate and was unable to remove it.

Justice Sheila MacPherson said if Leussink failed to take down the gate by September 5, the commissioner of the NWT could do so and staff could be accompanied by RCMP to complete that work.

NWT RCMP spokesperson Josh Seaward told Cabin Radio in a statement that police from Fort Liard attended Lindberg Landing “in a peacekeeping capacity” on Monday at the request of the Department of Environment and Climate Change.

Seaward said after officers left, the Fort Liard detachment received a report that a vehicle parked in the area had been vandalized, “receiving numerous slashed tires and broken windows.”

He said RCMP are investigating and no charges have been laid.

The NWT government did not respond to Cabin Radio’s request for comment by the time of publication.

‘We will not tolerate disrespect’

Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation Chief Kele Antoine told Cabin Radio in a statement that the territorial government had hired Nogha Enterprises, the First Nation’s economic development arm, to remove the illegal barricade.

Chief Antoine said after the work was completed, the company’s truck and equipment were vandalized. Its windows were smashed, tires slashed and a radiator punctured, he said.

“This is Treaty 11 land. The vandalism of our equipment at Lindberg Landing is not just an attack on property – it is an attack on the values and laws that guide us as Dene People,” Antoine stated.

“The conduct we witnessed does not align with Dene Laws or the way our people have lived on this land for generations – with respect, balance and harmony.”

Antoine said people have lived at Lindberg Landing for many years without conflict and alleged it was “only after certain individuals arrived that the balance was upset.”

He said leaders want leases in Lindberg Landing to be terminated and are committed to restoring harmony in the area.

“We will not tolerate disrespect to our people, our lands or our way of life,” Antoine stated. “Our treaty rights give us both the responsibility and the authority to protect this place.”

Increasing tensions

Lindberg Landing is an isolated area beside the Liard River, located around 50 km from Nahanni Butte and three kilometres from Blackstone Territorial Park.

There are currently 10 leases in Lindberg Landing.

The area has historical and cultural significance to Indigenous people in the region, who have long hunted and fished there.

Lindberg Landing is part of a larger area subject to an interim land withdrawal, which protects the land from further development during the Dehcho land claim process.

For some residents in surrounding communities and at least one long-term leaseholder, relations have worsened in recent years with three families who moved to Lindberg Landing in 2021.

Those three families now collectively hold six leases in the area, including those held by Leussink, who is a joint tenant on four leases with Susan Lindberg, a senior who has long lived at Lindberg Landing.

Stephen Herrett, another longtime leaseholder in Lindberg Landing, and some residents in surrounding communities allege the newer leaseholders are responsible for deliberately obstructing the main access road as well as the road leading to Herrett’s property, among other issues in the area.

Herrett said he has since moved to Fort Simpson due to the conflict.

“I lived there for 40 years before those people came there. I hunted, fished, gardened. I had a home there and they basically damaged my home to the point where I can’t live in it,” he told Cabin Radio.

“They definitely did all they could to discourage me from living there.”

Nahæâ Dehé Dene Band Chief Steve Vital has said residents of Nahanni Butte no longer travel to Lindberg Landing as they feel harassed and unsafe.

‘This has to stop’

Connie McNab, a member of Tthets’éhk’édélı̨ First Nation in Jean Marie River who lives in Fort Simpson, said she takes her mom to the area every year and it used to be a welcoming place.

McNab said she no longer feels comfortable doing so and worries about women and children living in Lindberg Landing, as well as people who hunt in the area.

“I’m at the point where I’m livid about it,” she said, adding she is considering starting a petition.

“When are we going to take a stand and take control of our lands and our resources, and make sure things like this don’t happen?”

McNab said people are “divided” and some feel the newer leaseholders are nice to Susan Lindberg. She said she hopes issues in Lindberg Landing are resolved in a respectful, peaceful way.

“This has to stop,” she said.

Lindberg told Cabin Radio in an email in October 2024 that the new residents had made it possible for her to continue living in Lindberg Landing. She described them at the time as “honest, hard-working, thoughtful, kind and helpful.”

In May, Justice MacPherson ordered Aiden Hoven to vacate and remove structures from Lindberg Landing, finding he had been illegally occupying the area. Leussink had said Hoven was helping him operate a sawmill and the structures were temporary.

Leussink has previously denied allegations of wrongdoing.

In October 2024, he told Cabin Radio that “every relationship we try to have is based on being friendly, getting along,” and attributed some issues to a lack of communication and misunderstandings.

He more recently claimed to the court that he has been harassed and has safety concerns with people driving in Lindberg Landing.

Leussink declined to speak to Cabin Radio on the record for this article.

Sarah Pruys contributed reporting.