WOOKIE
12-05-2005, 06:51 AM
PUBLICATION: Calgary Herald
DATE: 2005.11.30
BYLINE: Daryl Slade
Native family members fined $36,857
Three members of an aboriginal family have been fined a total of $36,857 after being convicted of 39 charges of illegal hunting and trafficking in big game stemming from an undercover sting operation in 1997-98.
Provincial court Judge Allan Fradsham meted out $14,432 in fines on 23 convictions against Beatrice Moosemay, 60, of Calgary; $13,685 on 12 convictions against her son Errol Bear, 37; and $8,740 on four convictions against Bear's wife, Gloria Chartrand, 38, both of Edmonton.
"As individuals with Indian status, the accused persons have rights not enjoyed by others in Alberta," Fradsham said in a sentencing hearing on Tuesday.
"In my view, the accused persons, when they committed the offences . . . seriously abused those enhanced rights, and the penalties imposed should reflect that."
Fradsham also ordered the offenders to advise the nearest Fish and Wildlife officer prior to any plan to hunt for the next five years, in order that they be monitored.
The sentencing ended a lengthy investigation, dubbed by the province's Fish and Wildlife Division as Operation Duckfoot. Thirteen others were previously sentenced to a combined $31,662 in fines and 55 months in jail.
Moosemay had previously been convicted of unlawfully hunting on occupied land.
"The three accused evidenced a cavalier disregard for the provisions and intent of the Wildlife Act," Crown prosecutor Danny Elliott said in seeking the substantial monetary penalties.
Defence lawyers Jim Lutz and Alias Sanders had argued the Crown could have laid charges much earlier than it did but chose to wait while the accused committed more offences.
Court heard that an undercover officer infiltrated the hunting group and accompanied the accused persons as they drove to rural areas near Sundre and west of Calgary between March 1997 and November 1998.
They were subsequently charged with transporting loaded firearms, discharging firearms from vehicles and road allowances, hunting moose and other big game out of season and without licences, trafficking in big game, hunting without regard for safety of others, and hunting on occupied land without consent.
"The illegal harvest of moose for illegal commercial purposes has the potential to have a serious negative effect on the moose population," said Doug Nichols, intelligence co-ordinator for the special
investigation section of Alberta Fish and Wildlife.
"It also reduces the hunting opportunities for licensed recreational hunters."
Nichols noted there were 74 complaints of such illegal activity in trafficking of wildlife and fish in the Calgary area alone between 1990 and 1995, prompting a covert agent to be hired in 1996 to identify and prosecute such offenders.
DATE: 2005.11.30
BYLINE: Daryl Slade
Native family members fined $36,857
Three members of an aboriginal family have been fined a total of $36,857 after being convicted of 39 charges of illegal hunting and trafficking in big game stemming from an undercover sting operation in 1997-98.
Provincial court Judge Allan Fradsham meted out $14,432 in fines on 23 convictions against Beatrice Moosemay, 60, of Calgary; $13,685 on 12 convictions against her son Errol Bear, 37; and $8,740 on four convictions against Bear's wife, Gloria Chartrand, 38, both of Edmonton.
"As individuals with Indian status, the accused persons have rights not enjoyed by others in Alberta," Fradsham said in a sentencing hearing on Tuesday.
"In my view, the accused persons, when they committed the offences . . . seriously abused those enhanced rights, and the penalties imposed should reflect that."
Fradsham also ordered the offenders to advise the nearest Fish and Wildlife officer prior to any plan to hunt for the next five years, in order that they be monitored.
The sentencing ended a lengthy investigation, dubbed by the province's Fish and Wildlife Division as Operation Duckfoot. Thirteen others were previously sentenced to a combined $31,662 in fines and 55 months in jail.
Moosemay had previously been convicted of unlawfully hunting on occupied land.
"The three accused evidenced a cavalier disregard for the provisions and intent of the Wildlife Act," Crown prosecutor Danny Elliott said in seeking the substantial monetary penalties.
Defence lawyers Jim Lutz and Alias Sanders had argued the Crown could have laid charges much earlier than it did but chose to wait while the accused committed more offences.
Court heard that an undercover officer infiltrated the hunting group and accompanied the accused persons as they drove to rural areas near Sundre and west of Calgary between March 1997 and November 1998.
They were subsequently charged with transporting loaded firearms, discharging firearms from vehicles and road allowances, hunting moose and other big game out of season and without licences, trafficking in big game, hunting without regard for safety of others, and hunting on occupied land without consent.
"The illegal harvest of moose for illegal commercial purposes has the potential to have a serious negative effect on the moose population," said Doug Nichols, intelligence co-ordinator for the special
investigation section of Alberta Fish and Wildlife.
"It also reduces the hunting opportunities for licensed recreational hunters."
Nichols noted there were 74 complaints of such illegal activity in trafficking of wildlife and fish in the Calgary area alone between 1990 and 1995, prompting a covert agent to be hired in 1996 to identify and prosecute such offenders.