The Yukon government is seeking a court order for the removal of four new buildings at a big game outfitting concession along the Bonnet Plume River.

The government contends the buildings including a two-storey 'cook shack' with room for accommodations were erected illegally by Bonnet Plume Outfitters, without permits nor permission.

Barbara McLeod, a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, said Monday the company has not fulfilled the government's request to provide evidence required to show legal tenure of the site.

The government requested legal proof earlier this month.

But in response to a request from the territorial lands branch to provide proof of permission to build and occupy the site, Chris and Sharron McKinnon write that government representatives visited the site last August and said nothing of a stop-work order.

The letter received from Bonnet Plume last Thursday indicates the buildings were photographed and measured. The company was assured the cabins were within allowable sizes and far enough away from the high-water mark.

'We asked if everything was OK with our buildings; we were told that they were not issuing us a stop-work order, which is something they could have done,' reads the letter sent Thursday to the Yukon government.

'So, we continued with the contruction of the cook cabin.'

The Alberta-based McKinnons have decided they will no longer be commenting publicly on the case, but instead will work through the legal channels.

Chris McKinnon did say by phone this morning, however, that government representatives did indeed visit the wilderness site known as the Copper Point Camp.

He said he is declining to release their names because he doesn't want to get anybody in trouble.

The employees, he said, know who they are, and can identify themselves when they're ready.

McKinnon noted they were good to deal with.

The letter from the McKinnons to government lawyer Michael Winstanley also indicates the couple sought advice about the building plans from the Mayo government office but were forwarded to the Whitehorse office of the lands branch.

According to the letter, the couple met for over an hour with senior lands manager Bryony McIntyre and 'left the meeting believing that we could build the new cook cabin.'

Lyle Henderson, director of the lands branch, has indicated that no one in his department provided the McKinnons with any permission nor indication they were permitted to build anything.

The government lawyer said today he is not in a position to comment on the suggestion in McKinnon's letter that government representatives visited the site during construction.

Winstanley said court documents seeking removal of the buildings would be filed this afternoon, including sworn statements from individuals.

Answers to questions are likely to be found in the documents he planned to file this afternoon, the lawyer indicated.

Government spokesman Ron Billingham explained this morning that once the application to have the buildings removed is filed with the court, Bonnet Plume Outfitters will have seven days to acknowledge and respond to the government's intention.

Once a response is received, a judge will set a date to hear the matter, he said.

If there is no response within the seven days, Billingham added, the judge will order the buildings removed but will provide the company with an additional 30 days to make submissions to the court.

Construction of the buildings has raised the anger of the First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun. The Mayo-based Northern Tutchone government wrote a letter to the lands branch in September expressing its concern about no consultation prior to cabins being built on a wilderness site within its traditional territory.

There is also an indication from an employee of the first nation that the Yukon government was aware more than a year ago, in the fall of 2005, that three smaller sleep cabins had already been built.

Evidence suggests construction of the lodge or cook shack did not begin until July of this year.

The McKinnons have stated previously, and reiterated again in their Dec. 14 letter, that they are good corporate citizens just trying to earn a living while making significant contributions to the Yukon economy.

Relocating one of their base camps to Copper Point made sense for safety and logistical reasons, they maintain.

The McKinnons maintain they were always acting under the belief they were doing nothing wrong, and did not mean to upset anybody.