By GORDON DELANEY Valley Bureau
Chronicle Herald - Halifax
Nov. 30, 2006
CAMBRIDGE — Annapolis Valley First Nation Chief Brian Toney says he’ll go all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, if necessary, to fight a charge of illegal moose-hunting.
Mr. Toney was charged after a trip last month to the Cape Breton Highlands, where he bagged a moose during the non-native moose hunt. In the past, the courts have upheld native rights to fish, hunt and harvest any time in Nova Scotia.
Chief Toney said in an interview that he is baffled by the charges against him, since the Supreme Court has ruled that natives have the right under the Treaty of 1752 to hunt and fish.
The Annapolis Valley First Nation band appoints a few hunters each year. Whatever is taken is brought back, divided up and distributed to band members, beginning with the elders who live on the reserve, he said.
The problem appears to be that he took two non-natives hunting with him to help carry the moose. He said he has to do that because he had heart surgery recently and needs assistance.
The two non-natives have also been charged with hunting moose without a licence.
Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Diane LeBlanc said Wednesday that Mr. Toney has the right to hunt moose in Nova Scotia. But he has been charged with being a party to the offence, under Section 104 of the Nova Scotia Wildlife Act.
"A person who accompanies or assists another person can be charged with the same offence and is liable to the same penalties," she said.
"Obviously, as a Mi’kmaq he doesn’t have to have a licence, but someone who is charged under this would have been involved in something with other people who were being charged." She said Mr. Toney has also been charged under the Criminal Code with obstruction of a peace officer. He is scheduled to appear Jan. 8 in Baddeck provincial court.
The conservation officers did not seize the moose when the men were stopped in the woods, after they learned that Mr. Toney is one of Nova Scotia’s 13 Mi’kmaq chiefs.
But a week ago, more than a dozen officers raided a house in Kings County and seized about 45 kilograms of moose meat, sources say. The home was not on the reserve.
Mr. Toney said the meat was being cut and wrapped there before being brought back to the reserve to be distributed to band members.
"According to the courts, we (natives) have the right to barter, trade and harvest," he said, adding that the band has an arrangement with non-natives to carve up the meat. "It’s a cheap way of getting it cut and wrapped."
Chief Toney said that as a heart surgery patient, he has permission from the Department of Natural Resources to take two people to help him when he’s hunting, and they don’t have to be native.
He said all 13 chiefs have been concerned about reports that conservation officers are harassing native hunters this year.
The issue was discussed at a recent meeting of the chiefs.
These latest charges could also have political ramifications.
Lawrence Toney, a former chief and now band councillor at the Annapolis Valley First Nation, said the reserve will withdraw from all negotiations with the province in light of the charges.
"How can we negotiate in good faith when they’re charging our hunters?" he said.