Trappers holding their line north of La Loche

Despite the absence of provincial politicians, a grand meeting of Dene people north of La Loche who stake claim to northern trapping areas made big decisions in late January.

The group voted to maintain a camp that’s expanded its presence alongside Highway 955 over the course of several months.

The self-proclaimed “humble” camp of the Northern Dene Trappers Alliance was set up more than 70 days ago, and started off as a blockade to keep exploration companies like Cenovus away from what the group considers its traditional hunting and trapping land.

At the time one of the group’s leaders, Don Montgrand, said the group was letting citizens through but intended to keep industry vehicles from heading north.

In December the RCMP served a court injunction from the Department of Highways to disband the blockade.

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This hasn’t stopped the group from holding an area along that highway about 11 kilometres north of La Loche.

Group representative Candyce Paul describes the living conditions.

 “Living in a trapper’s tent isn’t easy. Especially when it’s -30 C and lower. They’re not built to retain heat. You’ve got somebody who’s gotta stay up all night and keep the stove going.”

This is why the group has started to prepare logs, potentially for a cabin to be built, Montgrand said.

When asked if the government may take issue with a structure going up in the area, Paul said “that’s their call. But more people are intending to get back out on the land. It always has been their land to use as Dene people. And they don’t agree the government has title. And all of these jurisdictional divisions were created by the colonial system. So they don’t want to recognize all those divisions.”

She said the group extended an invitation to people from any government levels, including chiefs, council members, mayors, and the province.

Manitoba Grand Chief Derek Nepinak made the trek out of personal interest, Paul said.

However, according to Paul, the mediator assigned through the province declined to attend “unless it was on their terms with just a couple of people.”

The point of the meeting was to give Dene people a voice, which didn’t jive with what was proposed, she said.

They don’t want “any more closed door meetings. That’s what caused a lot of problems in the first place. With…speculation that deals are getting made because people don’t know,” Paul explained.

She also said the Northern Dene Trappers Alliance requested a list of companies operating in their traditional territory and for those companies’ environmental impact statements through the Ministry of Environment, with no response.

“The government of Saskatchewan says it’s low impact development. Right now they just say it’s just exploration. But with all that traffic, and we saw the traffic going up and down that road, that’s disrupting the wildlife,” Paul said.

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The Facebook group “Holding the line – NORTHERN TRAPPERS ALLIANCE” has documented the happenings around the northern camp.

This includes video of the RCMP arriving on Feb. 4 to remind the group of the injunction against blocking the highway.

When asked about that interaction, Montgrand’s tone got heated.

“They’re only there to protect the wrongs, not the right,” he said in reference to their enforcement of the blockade.

While he acknowledged that RCMP officers are working to take care of their families, he questioned why RCMP officers would come by in the middle of the night.

 “Police are just law people, not politician people. They’ve got no business to interrupt anybody’s life in the first place. We don’t bother them, why should they be bothering somebody that don’t bother them. It’s making it worse,” Montgrand said.

claskowski@panow.com

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk