N.W.T judge to decide if more voices will be heard in Colville Lake's caribou challenge

An N.W.T. Supreme Court judge said he has "a lot to think about" after listening to applications from two more organizations that want to be involved in a challenge of how a herd of caribou are hunted on Colville Lake's traditional territory. 

Justice Andrew Mahar is tasked with deciding whether the Sahtu Renewable Resources Board (SRRB) and the Inuvialuit Game Council can participate in Colville Lake's challenge of a decision the territory made last spring. 

In May 2021, Environment Minister Shane Thompson rejected the SRRB's decision to allow a local conservation plan to replace the government's tag and quota system, which is referred to as the total allowable harvest. 

The Bluenose West herd's range includes the area between Great Bear Lake and the Arctic coast around Paulatuk. Government surveys pegged the herd's population at about 21,000 animals at the time — but it has since declined further, according to the most recent data, to about 18,440 caribou. Back in 1992, surveys said the herd consisted of 110,00 caribou.

The Colville Lake Renewable Resources Council, Behdzi Ahda First Nation and Ayoni Keh Land Corporation challenged the decision last year.

Local leaders expressed skepticism about the territory's figures and also the government's approach to conservation during caribou management meetings hosted by the Sahtu board in 2020 — with Bedzhi Ahda First Nation Band Manager Joseph Kochon calling the tag and quota systems "legacies of colonial conservation." 

Maren Zimmer, a lawyer representing the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Attorney General, argued Wednesday the SRRB wanted to bring new evidence to the case that was outside the scope of the judicial review and that it would need to be addressed in a separate review.

Senwung Luk, who is representing the organizations who made the initial challenge, said they "took no position" on the SRRB joining the process because they thought the SRRB would be joining the judicial review — not creating a new matter. 

He said it would be a "great unfairness" to Colville Lake, if the fact the SRRB didn't raise its concerns in a "timely manner" ended up delaying a decision on the challenge for years.

"We think it's still possible to do it all in one proceeding and we think it would be the fair thing to do," he said.

Mark Underhill, who is representing the SRRB, said it would be "not just" and "not convenient" to start a separate review but that the board was prepared to "start new" if needed. 

On Tuesday, he said the minister's decision to quash the board's conservation plan was "premature" and a "violence against the spirit of the treaties and to truth and reconciliation." 

John Donihee, who represented the Inuvialuit Game Council, argued Tuesday his client should be part of decision-making for the herd because the animals migrate through multiple settlement regions of the Inuvialuit, the Sahtu and the Gwich'in. 

Justice Mahar thanked the parties for their submissions as they came to an end Wednesday afternoon, and said that he would "hopefully" deliver his decision before the end of April.