Fine levied for illegal hunting

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A Squamish First Nation member has had a $2,400 fine levied against him by the Williams Lake Provincial Court for illegal hunting.

Originally James Andrew, a Coast Salish man, was charged with six counts under the Wildlife Act, but half the charges were dropped. Andrew pled guilty Aug. 6 to two counts of illegal possession of dead game and one of hunting on someone else's license.

A non-Native man, Kerry Webster of Squamish, had charges stayed by the Crown.

Conservation officer Andrew Anaka, in court for the decision, recognized the legal right of First Nations to hunt year-round, but said that right can only be exercised within the hunter's traditional hunting grounds.

Andrew claimed he had the permission to hunt on traditional Tsilhqot'in lands near the Alexandria reserve on Nov. 7, 2001, where he bagged an antlerless mule deer and a two-point mule deer out-of-season. In addition, a bull moose was in the back of the truck occupied by Andrew and Webster that was detained on Hwy. 97 south of Williams Lake.

Anaka said, "The Supreme Court of Canada has said that Native hunting rights are a communal activity and those rights are to be exercised in a Native (hunter's) traditional hunting territory." He added, "It's a communal right. A single person cannot give permission."

The court heard that Andrew produced a limited entry hunting permit for the moose, making it a legal kill. But he also showed the same type of permit in his brother's name, telling conservation officers that his brother had shot the doe and gone ahead of them in another vehicle. The next day, when Squamish officers interviewed the brother, they were unconvinced he was a hunter.