Pine Creek First Nation Chief Charlie Boucher. Photo courtesy of pinecreekfirstnation.com.
Two Manitoba First Nations men have pleaded guilty to illegal hunting in Saskatchewan in a case that sparked outrage among First Nations leaders in Manitoba earlier this year.
They accused wildlife officials of harassing the First Nations hunters, who were simply exercising their treaty rights to provide food for their families.
It is the kind of investigation you would expect in a murder case, but in this instance, it was all about who killed three moose near Canora, Saskatchewan in December 2015.
DNA blood samples from the kill site were matched with meat seized from the home of the chief of the Pine Creek First Nation and the home of his nephew. RCMP also matched the rifles to spent cartridges recovered at the kill site, which was private land.
54-year-old Charlie Boucher and his 40-year-old nephew, Georgie Lamirande were each fined $7,500 when they recently pleaded guilty in Yorkton Court.
Saskatchewan’s Environment Minister, Scott Moe, says it was a thorough investigation.
“I wouldn’t say we always go to those lengths, but it isn’t abnormal for us to go to lengths like GPS on vehicles to track to a kill site and to use measures like DNA analysis, ballistics analysis,” he said. “You know, the conservation officers have a number of different tools at their disposal.”
During the height of the dispute last January, Chief Boucher accused the Saskatchewan government of harassing and bullying Indigenous hunters and denying them their treaty rights to feed their families.
Mounties exercised search warrants on the reserve in December, seizing rifles and moose meat.
The farmer who owned the land filed the initial complaint in December of 2015, reporting two trucks with Manitoba plates were loaded with three moose carcasses harvested on his land, which was posted as off limits to hunter.