Métis Elders temporarily denied hunting access on Taltson Winter Road – NNSL Media
Métis Elders Kenny Hudson and Earl Evans were temporarily denied access to the Taltson winter road, but a spokesperson from the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) contends there was no intention of depriving the pair of their Indigenous hunting rights.
The road, which runs to the east of Fort Smith and is owned by NTPC, opened on Feb. 28. The following morning, Hudson and Evans set out to hunt moose on the surrounding land.
As they advanced down the road, they passed a truck owned by Rowe’s Construction, a firm that the power corporation contracted to work on the route. The truck allegedly followed them, turned on its light bar and stopped the pair, and later called a large plow from farther down the road to create a blockade.
“We pulled aside [for the truck] and [the driver] opened the window and said, ‘Where are you guys going?’” Hudson recalled. “I said, ‘We’re just going hunting.’ He said, ‘Oh no you’re not. You can’t go down this road.”
“I told him, ‘You know it’s illegal to interfere with Aboriginal harvesters.’ He says, ‘You’re not going anywhere,’ and pulled right in front of us across the road.
