By Sarah Stone

Province sends mediators to northern trappers’ checkpoint

Dec 4, 2014 | 4:29 PM

Metis trappers are holding their ground at a checkpoint eight miles north of La Loche.

Around 10 Denesuline Metis trappers, local presidents and their supporters made a peaceful blockade on the highway at the end of November.

On Monday RCMP served a court order to the demonstrators and removed the trailer and van that was blocking the road at the call of the provincial government.

Government officials cite public safety concerns for removing the blockade.  

The group is still on the roadside in that area as of Wednesday night but are no longer blocking it.

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However, despite the road being cleared, supporters are still there claiming resources companies in the area are upsetting trap lines and traditional lands.

Metis Nation Saskatchewan president Robert Doucette said he’s been in almost daily contact with the group near La Loche, including the day RCMP showed up to remove the blockade.

“They are still letting people know and what has happened now … it actually bolstered the group there to stand firm on what’s going on in northwest Saskatchewan,” he said, adding Metis people from all over the province are talking about this now.

He feels this brings attention to what he believes is lack of consultation between the government and and Denesuline Metis of La Loche, Ducharme Lake, trappers and traditional resource users.

“It’s a symptom of a larger issue that is occurring across Saskatchewan right now; where the duty to consult process is really failing Metis people,” Doucette said Wednesday.

Any development that negatively impacts Metis and First Nation land needs consultation, according to Doucette. “And that’s not happening right now.”

This hasn’t resulted in a deterioration of traditional lands, he said.

 “These exploration companies are causing some of the greatest damage to the traditional territories of the traditional resource users and the trappers,” he said.

“They… are still concerned about the destruction of the trap lines and the traditional resource user areas.  Game is being scared away.  Their access to their traditional territories are being limited by these companies who are putting up gates and actually chasing them away out of the brush and so I think a review and how these companies are interacting with these traditional resource users’ needs to be looked at.”

Since the trappers created the checkpoint there has been no incidents.  It’s a peaceful protest, according to Doucette.  He said he is talking with the province and some of his MLAs to try and keep the lines open with the trappers, which he wants to lead to a meeting.

“I think it’s time now that Premier Wall did a review of the duty to consult policy with his minister and call together the Metis leaders, the traditional resource users, the trappers and sit down and have a larger meeting like we did in 2007,” he said.

Two mediators are on currently in talks with the demonstrators and looking for a solution.

“Last week when the blockade was still up we – the ministry of justice and the government – asked a couple of mediators if they would go up and meet with the protestors who were on the blockade to see if we could figure what exactly the issues were in the hopes that we could then start on some discussion,” said Kevin Fenwick, deputy minister of justice and deputy attorney general of Saskatchewan.

The two mediators are contracted out and, according to Fenwick, familiar with northern issues.

“So we thought they could bring a certain independence and knowledge of the area to the situation,” he said.

The mediators were there for parts of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week with no resolution.  After the blockade came down, Fenwick said, the protestors reached out to the mediators again.

“Right now we’re just discussing when and who should be able to sit down with the protestors to better identify what the issues are and what could be done to address those issues,” he said.

Fenwick could not give a timeline on when the sit-down meeting would happen, stating he’s leaving that in the hands of the mediators to arrange.  From the government’s perspective, it would like the meeting to happen as soon as possible, he said.

“People talk, people listen, things change.  Obviously the people that are manning the blockage or were manning the blockade are frustrated.  We did reach out to them, you know, to say ‘look talking is a better way to resolve these issues’ so we’re still hopeful that talking can do just that.”

sstone@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahstone84