David Wedawin, 2 Gameti councillors not guilty of meat wastage
Judge cites aboriginal tradition of meat sharing in decision handed down this morning
David Wedawin, the chief of Gameti, N.W.T., and brothers Frank and Jimmy Arrowmaker have been found not guilty of on 12 counts of meat wastage.
Judge Brian Bruser handed down his decision this morning in Yellowknife, saying that in the aboriginal tradition of sharing meat, the accused handed over responsibility for caribou carcasses to others.
Wedawin and the Arrowmakers were charged last year after a dozen caribou carcasses were found abandoned on Hottah Lake in April 2013. The three were hunting and shot around 20 to 30 caribou.
Witnesses testified that the accused gave some of the animals to three other men: Leroy and Daniel Drybones and Leon Wellin.
The defence argued the accused made a deal with Wellin and the Drybones that they could keep the rest of the caribou if they cleaned up the site.
But the Crown said Wellin and the Drybones never agreed to take all of the remaining caribou.
There's no word yet on whether meat wastage charges will now be laid against Wellin and the Drybones.