I heard about this story on CFWE-FM today and I found it interesting.
A Cree trapper from Fort Chipewyan is considering his legal options after a cabin he built was destroyed following complaints from Parks Canada and two First Nations.
Robert Grandjambe Jr., 31, started building his cabin more than a year ago on the south side of Pine Lake, located in Wood Buffalo National Park and straddling the Alberta side of the border with the Northwest Territories.
For Grandjambe, hunting and trapping is more than a hobby; it’s a lifestyle. During the off season, he works as a millwright.
But, the majority of his year is spent in the wilderness, harvesting furs, cleaning hides or preparing for hunts.
Grandjambe, who is a member of the Mikisew Cree First Nation, is allowed to trap in the park and has not been banned from the area. He strategically chose the site of the cabin because it had been unharvested for more than 20 years, but was still accessible year-round for any educational groups wishing to observe a harvesting lifestyle.
“It’s a dying art and a dying culture that is hundreds of years old, interrupted in the 1980s with groups like PETA and the anti-fur, anti-hunting movement that doesn’t understand the culture,” he said on Thursday.
“I’m a fourth generation trapper in this area. Forty years ago, there were many families constantly on the land and it was thriving. These days, the only person I will bump into sometimes is my father.”
Parks Canada is not so sympathetic, though.
The cabin is located near an access road and in a recreational area of the park. The nearby Smith’s Landing and Salt River First Nations also argue they were not consulted prior to the cabin’s construction, but Grandjambe has several complaints with the way the First Nations and Parks Canada treated his cabin, which cost $25,000 to build.
He says the cabin was built on an existing trapline, and that he was told by the First Nations the location did not infringe on their traditional territory.
Grandjambe also says he was not invited to any meetings the First Nations had on the issue, and that he was out trapping when Parks Canada warned his cabin could be destroyed.
“It doesn’t make any sense. There’s been a lot of mixed communication. I’m more than happy to see everyone working together, but if there’s meetings I should have been part of them,” he said.
“I haven’t been banned from trapping but this hinders me from being in parts of my historical territory.”
Parks Canada did not return calls the Today made on Thursday. However, park superintendent Jonah Mitchell told CBC Yellowknife that Parks Canada attempted to work with Grandjambe, and is still willing to help find an alternate site for a future cabin.
“We tried to work with him,” he said. “We started 18 months ago now almost... working with him on finding alternative locations that weren’t on the Pine Lake shoreline. Mr. Grandjambe wasn’t receptive to looking at any other locations.”
http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/201...-national-park
Trapping Cabin Removed by Parks Canada
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