RCMP have appealed for help from the public over a vandalism incident near Lindberg Landing in mid-September.
The damaged truck belonged to Nogha Enterprises, the Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation’s economic development arm, which the First Nation said had been hired by the territorial government to remove an illegal barricade.
In an August ruling, the NWT Supreme Court ordered Clinton Leussink, a leaseholder in Lindberg Landing, to remove a gate at the entrance to an access road off Highway 7.
If Leussink did not do so, the territorial government was authorized to hire someone to step in. (Leussink declined to speak to Cabin Radio on the record when approached last month.)
That was the latest development in a years-long conflict involving Leussink, other Lindberg Landing leaseholders and some Dehcho residents and First Nations.
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How the Nogha Enterprises truck came to be vandalized during its September 22 trip to remove the gate remains unclear.
On Friday, RCMP said they were seeking information from the public about the incident.
“The vehicle, a tractor trailer, received numerous slashed tires, broken windows and other damage,” police stated.
“No witnesses have come forward as of yet.”
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Dehcho First Nations statement
The vandalism received condemnation from Indigenous leaders in the Dehcho.
“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,” Chief Kele Antoine of the Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation told Cabin Radio shortly after it had been reported.
Later, in a separate statement, the Dehcho First Nations said RCMP – who the judge said could accompany the Department of Environment and Climate Change and its workers to remove the gate – had “vacated the site before the work was completed and the vandalism took place as soon as they left.”
Dehcho Grand Chief Herb Norwegian accused RCMP of a “shocking dereliction of duty,” quoting a CBC report that Norwegian said implied police had handed off the investigation to the NWT government.
“The RCMP have effectively announced that racist attacks and vandalism aimed at Dene in our own homeland will not be investigated or prosecuted,” Norwegian alleged.
Police stress they are investigating
However, RCMP said in a statement that the report in question included “misinformation.”
“Fort Liard RCMP recently attended Lindberg Landing in a peacekeeping capacity to support ECC in their duties, as we have previously. After departing the area, we received a report that a vehicle parked nearby had been damaged,” a police spokesperson told Cabin Radio.
“The RCMP has an open investigation into the vandalism, which is a Criminal Code investigation. We did not state that ECC would be investigating the vandalism, rather we indicated that ECC was the primary agency in the Lindberg Landing leaseholder matter. Questions surrounding that investigation should be directed to them.
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“We have reached out to CBC for a correction on their article.”
A clarification – which, in newsroom parlance, is seen as a smaller alteration than a correction – was added to the CBC’s report on September 29.
Explaining their reference to the “Lindberg Landing leaseholder matter,” RCMP said an ongoing investigation regarding land leases at Lindberg Landing is the GNWT’s responsibility, but the vandalism incident is an RCMP matter.
Meanwhile, Norwegian said Dehcho leaders had passed a unanimous resolution authorizing him to “take whatever action may be necessary to protect Dene people and Dene lands.”
What that might mean in practice was not specified.
The Department of Environment and Climate Change told Cabin Radio it would not comment as the matter is before the courts.
While that may be the case, how the issue remains before the courts following the NWT Supreme Court’s August ruling was not clear. Asked for clarification, ECC did not respond.
