Tahltan in Standoff with Province over Hunting Rules

Amanda Follett, The Tyee

It's a crisp mid-October day and moose brisket simmers over an open fire at the site known as Eight Mile on the Telegraph Creek Highway. A black pickup rolls to a stop at the orange barricade and Fred Moyer springs to attention, rushing his lanky frame over to the vehicle. Raised voices and occasional laughter emerge from the quad-toting couple. Eventually the pickup reverses, turns, then roars back toward Dease Lake.

Moyer's shoulders sag as he returns to the fire. He's just turned away his cousins.

"I even turn our own people away. I say, 'If I can't go hunting, why should you?'" he says. "It's sad, but it has to be this way."

Members of the Tahltan Nation say they will continue blockading two major hunting areas in northwestern B.C. until Environment Minister Barry Penner agrees to discuss what the nation describes as unchecked hunting in its traditional territory.

However, in a meeting held Wednesday, the Tahltan were told by government spokespeople that the province would not negotiate while barricades are in place.

Continue reading here.