Landlord padlocks trappers’ association’s offices

Photo by Whitehorse Star

The Yukon Trappers’ Association is in deep trouble financially, and Yukon first nations are being asked to do anything they can to help.

Larry Barrett of the Carcross-Tagish First Nation told aboriginal leaders from across the territory Tuesday that the situation is desperate.

Barrett was among those first nation trappers who founded the association decades ago with renowned trapper Alex Van Bibber and others.

He left it in the 1970s to work on the land claims movement but returned as a member last fall.

But it was only at the association’s annual general meeting last month that he learned the non-profit society is $75,000 in debt and without any means of paying its rent, he said in his address to the annual general assembly of the Council of Yukon First Nations.

Barrett said he and a handful of others have agreed to serve as executive members and do what they can to keep afloat a board of directors that is vastly vacant.

He said he wants an investigation into how an organization that once earned annual revenues of $300,000 could be in so much difficulty.

Granted, he indicated, the price of furs has dropped substantially.

The Carcross-area trapper remembers the days when a prize lynx pelt would fetch $1,200. Last winter, he was getting $72.

The landlord, however, has padlocked the doors of the association’s offices at Paddlewheel Village off the Alaska Highway. Consequently, there isn’t even a chance to retrieve the books to determine what’s gone on.

“And they have also told us to come up with $9,000 by the end of the month or they are taking us to court,” Barrett said.

The tumble into trouble, he said, occurred just over the last 18 months, and the association doesn’t have any ability to seek Yukon or federal government assistance.

Without the storefront that provides Yukon trappers with the convenience of shopping locally for their traps and other supplies, it will become a nightmare for those in the fur industry to order over the Internet, he added.

Barrett said he’s done it, and it’s a headache when you get the wrong order, or receive things you didn’t order, then have to return everything.

Going into the association headquarters and picking up exactly what you need is so much more convenient, he said, noting the storefront also provided a retail outlet for locally produced crafts and goods.

Barrett insisted the trappers’ association is of great importance as a voice and central lobby organization for Yukon trappers.

It is of particular importance these days, in the era of post-land claim settlements for much of the territory because of the apparent bullying by the Yukon government to take over traplines from aboriginal trappers for not trapping enough fur, he told the delegation.

Anything Yukon first nations could do, Barrett said, would not only be appreciated but would help revive the association as a central force to help turn the tide of mounting pressure from the Yukon government on aboriginal trappers.

It was decided by the assembly to address the question Thursday during the time allotted on the third and last day for delegates to bring forward and discuss resolutions.

In a brief statement to the assembly Tuesday afternoon following Barrett’s presentation, deputy chief Angela Demit of the White River First Nation called upon delegates to support the trappers’ association.

Trapping, said Demit, has been an important part of the aboriginal way of life and culture, and first nations need to get involved and stand by the Yukon Trappers’ Association.