Court overturns seizure of outfitter’s concession

A six-year-old order seizing a big game hunting area from Klaas Heynen has been quashed by the Court of Appeal for the Yukon Territory.

A six-year-old order seizing a big game hunting area from Klaas Heynen has been quashed by the Court of Appeal for the Yukon Territory.

Justice Mary Saunders issued an order Monday overturning the March 2002 decision by then-Liberal Environment minister Dale Eftoda.

The decision was unanimously supported by the two other justices who heard arguments last June from lawyers representing Heynen and the Yukon government.

“For these reasons, I would set aside the order and grant an order quashing the minister’s decision of March 27, 2002, revoking the concession in issue,” Saunders wrote, referring to the reasons behind the superior court ruling.

The government would have to go to the Supreme Court of Canada to appeal the decision. The Supreme Court, however, would first of all have to agree to hear the case.

Heynen could not be reached for a reaction this morning.

Neither Environment Minister Elaine Taylor nor department officials were commenting this morning.

“Right now the department is reviewing the decision and has not gotten around to what our next step will be,” Department of Environment spokeswoman Nancy Campbell said this morning.

The concession, which surrounds the Whitehorse area, remains intact, and has not been issued to any other outfitters, she said.

The past president of the Yukon Outfitters Association, Alan Young, said Monday’s decision corrects an immoral and unjust act by the government, which stripped Heynen of much more than a hunting concession.

“They took a lot of his pride,” he said.

Young said he did not object to Heynen having to pay for his convictions under the Wildlife Act.

But taking away his ability to make a living, and seizing an asset probably worth $1 million at the time, went light years beyond what was justified, he suggested.

“I honestly felt personalities played into the outcome of the decision, and it was morally wrong.”

Heynen was convicted in 1999 of several infractions under the Wildlife Act on matters related to his outfitting business. He was fined $20,000, and paid the penalty.

Eftoda suspended his outfitting privileges in 1999, and announced in 2000 the Yukon government was seizing the concession permanently, as was the minister’s right.

The outfitting community reacted strongly. It suggested it was against the laws of natural justice to move in and seize the assets without any means of allowing Heynen to sell the concession and recoup 30 years of investment in the business.

Outfitters called upon the government to at least allow Heynen the opportunity to sell, to no avail.

Subsequent attempts by Heynen to negotiate an arrangement with the incoming Yukon Party government also failed.

Heynen sued the government in 2005 for lost revenue of $325,000 per year, as well for the value of the lost concession.

The case was dismissed by the Yukon Supreme Court in July 2007, on the grounds Heynen took too long to take legal action.

Heynen argued, however, that he was partly preoccupied by attempting to negotiate a deal with the government to avoid court action.

Heynen appealed, and the matter was heard in June 2008.

Saunders found the trial judge failed to give adequate weight to the seriousness of the seizure and its impact on Heynen’s life. The trial judge did note the seriousness of Eftoda’s actions, but did not mention it in arriving at the decision to dismiss Heynen’s suit, the appeal justice noted.

The justice also wrote that more consideration should have been given to Heynen’s position that he did not proceed with formal legal action because he was trying to reach an out-of-court settlement.

Young said among the convictions registered against Heynen were a finding of guilt for providing only one guide for two client hunters, when the law requires one guide for every hunter.

Young noted that in every other jurisdiction in Canada that he knows of, and he’s been in the business for 26 years, one guide for two hunters is legal.

The government, he said, essentially destroyed Heynen’s ability to make a living on a regulation prohibiting what is a common practice everywhere else in the country.

Ten years ago, the concession was likely worth $1 million, but is probably worth $2 million today, or even close to $3 million, he said.

Young said when an industrial company - a mining company, or a logging company - breaks the rules, the government gives it a fine. It doesn’t doesn’t shutdown the business or go in and seize all its trucks, he said.

“I mean, you don’t take the only livelihood the guy had for 40 years,” he said.

Back in the day, however, government officials maintained the seizure of the concession was the last step in dealing with Heynen, and not the first.