Guilty pleas end unlawful hunting case that sparked outrage over treaty rights

In January, Grand Chief Derek Nepinak with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said indigenous hunters were being harassed by farmers who feel the hunters have been trespassing on private land for decades.

At the time, Boucher said indigenous people had been hunting on the land long before Canada or its provinces existed.

“The Creator gave me that authority to harvest and take,” Boucher said. “I beg for us to be understood.”

Boucher could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

Nepinak argued in January that while diabetes rates are soaring among First Nations, his people are being denied access to traditional, healthy food while at the same time, Saskatchewan hands out thousands of moose tags to sport hunters every year.

Nepinak demanded a meeting on the issue with Premier Brad Wall, but Wall said treaty rights don’t trump private property rights or the need for a province to manage its wildlife.

On Thursday, Saskatchewan’s Environment Department issued a news release saying that conservation officers investigated a complaint last December about three moose being shot on land that was posted as off-limits to hunters.

The landowner told investigators he observed three moose being loaded into two trucks on his land, and provided the officers with a Manitoba licence plate from one of the vehicles.

The investigation included search warrants being issued at two residences on the Pine Creek First Nation and DNA testing on the moose meat comparing it to samples collected at the kill site.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Guilty pleas end unlawful hunting case that sparked outrage over treaty rights

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