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CBC
16-05-2025
- CBC
Allegations of caribou wastage after hunt meant to vilify First Nations hunters, former lodge owner says
WARNING: This story contains graphic details. The former owner of a remote lodge in northern Manitoba where recent caribou hunts led to allegations of vandalism and animal wastage says he believes images of dead fetuses at the site were circulated with the intent of making First Nations hunters "look bad." Police are investigating property damage and Manitoba Conservation officers are looking into potential wastage after a break-in and multiple caribou carcasses were discovered late last month at Nueltin Lake Lodge, about 30 kilometres south of the Manitoba-Nunavut border. Nick Scigliano, the U.S.-based owner of Nueltin Lake Lodge, said he found the extensive property damage and dozens of dead caribou during an April 11 check of the site, with multiple pregnant cows and fetuses among the carcasses. Scigliano, the Manitoba Wildlife Federation and the Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters Association have condemned the caribou hunts, and urged the province to intervene. But an RCMP spokesperson said it's believed there were nine caribou carcasses found at the site, and that the hunters involved were likely residents of nearby First Nations communities. Multiple hunting parties may have used the site to clean their caribou since it looked abandoned, the RCMP spokesperson previously told CBC. Garry Gurke, who owned and operated the former Nueltin Lake Fly-In Lodges from 1988 to 2013 with his wife, Lois, says he suspects Scigliano — who bought the lodge in 2020, according to court documents — may not have the same experience with First Nation hunters in the area that he and his wife had. "I was up there almost 30 years and I never, ever had any problem with the First Nation people breaking into my camp," Gurke told CBC News on Wednesday. "I used to bring them in and hunt caribou with them, and they're very, very respectful." Scigliano has not responded to CBC's requests for comment on this story. Gurke said he and his wife had an informal agreement with First Nations hunters to check in on the lodge while the couple was away during the winter. In the decades he and his wife operated the lodge, Gurke said he never saw First Nations hunters waste caribou near Nueltin Lake, adding that they'd employed numerous First Nations people in the area, and that the business typically drew about 500 visitors and between $1-2 million in revenue per year. He believes images of dead caribou fetuses made public by Scigliano and the Manitoba Wildlife Federation on Tuesday were released with the intent to make First Nations hunters "look bad." "There's so much prejudice against the First Nation people," he said. He wants to see the site returned to the First Nations communities in the region. "Fight for your land," would be his message to those communities, he said. "It should be nothing else but a park [that's] owned and operated by the First Nations people." Wastage 'not a reflection of our values': chief Chris Heald, the Manitoba Wildlife Federation's senior policy adviser, says the images were released because "bringing it to the forefront gets the discussion going." Heald, who went to the lodge with Scigliano and police on April 18, said the images were released before the investigations have concluded because surveillance footage at the site continues to show people trespassing to harvest caribou. He also refuted the RCMP's claim only nine caribou were found outside the lodge. He said those nine were the only caribou killed on the day RCMP officers spoke with a group at the site, but were among 50 to 75 carcasses. While some were processed "perfectly," others were left with a lot of good meat on them, he said. "Nobody's questioning the First Nations' right to harvest caribou," Heald told CBC News on Thursday. "It's the wastage that can't happen anymore." Treaty-based hunters are exempt from many of the restrictions that non-Indigenous hunters must obey, including specific hunting hours or seasons and bag limits, according to Manitoba's hunting guide. They can, however, be charged for game wastage under Manitoba's Wildlife Act, a provincial spokesperson said. Northlands Denesuline First Nation Chief Simon Denechezhe says his community, whose ancestral hunting grounds include what is now the site of Nueltin Lake Lodge, is deeply disturbed by the reports of the caribou carcasses. "Our people have always honoured the caribou, understanding its importance not only to our way of life, but to the balance of our ecosystem," he told CBC News in a prepared statement on Wednesday. "What is reported to have happened is not a reflection of our values or practices." The First Nation condemns any possible caribou wastage and wants whoever's responsible to be held to account, Denechezhe said. "The caribou is a very sacred animal [that] has sustained our people for thousands of years, and still is." Legal action between lodge owner, First Nation A recent lawsuit also suggests there may be some pre-existing tension between Scigliano and Northlands, with the lodge owner currently involved in legal action against the First Nation regarding a treaty land dispute in the area. Nueltin Lake Lodge is made up of a network of isolated tourist lodges, outcamps and boat caches that are only accessible via plane, and aims to offer opportunities for tourists to explore northern Manitoba's wilderness through guided excursions, the 2023 lawsuit filed at the Manitoba Court of King's Bench says. The Nueltin tourism network was originally developed in 1977, about a decade before the Gurkes bought it, the lawsuit says. In 2017, a Manitoba Crown corporation took possession, but not ownership, of the network's assets due to defaulted payments, according to the statement of claim. Scigliano purchased the Nueltin tourism network from the Crown corporation for $780,000 in 2020, and the new ownership has spent over $3 million since then in an attempt to revive the business and its connected airport, the suit says. But the lawsuit claims the Nueltin tourism network owner was not properly consulted and was excluded from treaty land negotiations in the area by Northlands Denesuline First Nation, the federal government, the provincial government, and the Treaty Land Entitlement Committee of Manitoba. Northlands entered an agreement with the provincial and federal governments, as well as the Treaty Land Entitlement Committee of Manitoba, in 1999, according to a 2023 statement of defence filed by the First Nation in response to the lawsuit. The agreement was prompted by the fact that the First Nation has not received 94,000 acres (38,000 hectares) of Crown land it was promised when it became a Treaty 10 signatory in 1906, the statement of defence says. The community chose the lands it wanted converted into treaty lands as part of negotiations in 2004, and Northlands says Scigliano was informed in September 2020 that some of the sites it selected were within or near the Nueltin tourism network, the document says. The lands selected by Northlands have yet to officially be transferred to the First Nation, according to its statement of defence. Scigliano's lawsuit asks the court to prevent the transfer from happening before he can be included in the treaty land entitlement process. The First Nation, and the other defendants, have denied that they were obligated to include Scigliano in Northlands' treaty land entitlement process, according to their respective statements of defence. Northlands claims "proper consultation had already occurred at the proper point in time," when the Gurkes owned the Nueltin tourism network. Scigliano "failed and/or refused" to contact Manitoba's director of Indigenous and Northern Relations, as instructed by the province, and proceeded to purchase the Nueltin tourism network the following month, Northlands alleges in its defence. Northlands also claims Scigliano is responsible for any losses he suffered after purchasing the tourism network, and asked for Scigliano's suit to be dismissed, according to the document. In a cross-claim against the province, Northlands alleges the province failed to cancel, or not renew, any permits, licences or leases for the Nueltin tourism network once the business stopped operating in 2013. That was a breach of the province's obligations under the treaty land entitlement agreement, Northlands claims.
Winnipeg Free Press
15-05-2025
- Climate
- Winnipeg Free Press
Free Press Head Start for May 14, 2025
Mainly sunny. Local smoke. Wind from the north at 30 km/h. High 23 C. UV index 8 or very high. Winnipeg was the hottest place in Canada Tuesday afternoon, joining more than a dozen Manitoba communities that shattered local records amid an ongoing heat wave expected to break later this week. Tyler Searle has more here. Hot and dry weather have made conditions worse for wildfires in many areas of the province. Eastern Manitoba's wildfire situation worsened Tuesday as four provincial parks closed and multiple areas were evacuated due to new or ongoing fires that were fanned by strong winds. States of local emergency and evacuation orders were declared for Nopiming, Wallace Lake, South Atikaki and Manigotagan River provincial parks, while areas of Whiteshell Provincial Park and homes northeast of Lac du Bonnet were evacuated. Erik Pindera reports. Ontario's government said a blaze, which started in that province Monday before moving into Manitoba, measured 8,000 hectares. (Ian Farrer photo) In Winnipeg, the wildfire that ripped through north Transcona Monday ruined the livelihood of dozens of people when it destroyed vehicles on a storage lot. 'There was nothing we can do,' Godspower Emajemite said as he stood among piles of smouldering rubble at 568 Gunn Rd. on Tuesday. Melted metal, burnt-out vehicle frames and soot was all that was left at the property, Oluspe Autos and Parts Inc., where people rent plots to store and salvage old cars for parts and scrap metal. Nicole Buffie reports. Godspower Emajemite rents a part of the lot that was burnt by fire. (Mike Deal / Free Press) Today's must-read Premier Wab Kinew promised Tuesday that the people who slaughtered dozens of caribou, including pregnant cows, and dumped their carcasses at the doorstep of American-owned lodge properties in a provincial park, would be punished. 'Anybody who participated in this has no respect for animals, has no right to be able to hunt in this province and will be pursued and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,' Kinew told the legislature in response to questions about the grisly discovery in Nueltin Lake Provincial Park last month. Nick Scigliano, who owns two lodge properties in the park just south of the border with Nunavut, shared video of the grisly scene, discovered April 11, when he chartered a helicopter to check on his properties. Carol Sanders has the story. The grisly scene was discovered on April 11, when lodge owner Nick Scigliano chartered a helicopter to check on his properties. (Nick Scigliano photo) On the bright side Months after thieves broke into a North End meat shop and stole a priceless family heirloom, sparking a community-wide search, a Good Samaritan has returned it to its rightful owners. The vintage cash register had long sat behind Tenderloin Meat and Sausage's window, a tribute to Walter Klopick, the late patriarch of the family business. When the glass was shattered and the empty register was stolen in late February, son and current owner Christian Klopick was devastated and took to social media in an effort to find it. But as the weeks passed, he gave up hope of ever finding it. Friday afternoon, a man walked into the store, dragging a pull cart covered with a tarp, and told the staff he had something of theirs. Malak Abas has the story here. Christian Klopick was shocked to have the vintage cash register, which was a fixture at Tenderloin Meat and Sausage, returned. (Mike Deal / Free Press) On this date On May 14, 1953: The Winnipeg Free Press reported wheat acreage across the prairies was being reduced, but the overall decrease from 1952 was 24,981,000 acres, or 0.9 per cent; the most marked increase in any grains appeared in Manitoba, where farmers were putting four per cent more land in barley and rye. One man was awaiting sentencing and another was being sought in the theft of $21,500 worth of copper wire from a temporarily unused power line of the Winnipeg Electric Company. Read the rest of this day's paper here. Search our archives for more here. Today's front page Get the full story: Read today's e-edition of the Free Press .
CTV News
14-05-2025
- CTV News
‘I can't unsee it': Owner speaks out after caribou slaughtered at his northern Manitoba lodge
Surveillance video from April 2025 shows people on snowmobiles dragging caribou carcasses on Nueltin Lake Lodge in Nueltin Lake Provincial Park, Man. (Nick Scigliano)
Cision Canada
14-05-2025
- Cision Canada
Wildlife Slaughter and Devastating Vandalism Prompts American Lodge Owner to Call for Immediate Action from Government and Police
WINNIPEG, MB, May 14, 2025 /CNW/ - After discovering a mass slaughter of caribou, including cows in the final stages of pregnancy, and catastrophic vandalism on his lands in Northern Canada, an American lodge owner is calling on the government and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to restore law and order. Nick Scigliano, owner of two lodge properties within Canada's Nueltin Lake Provincial Park, discovered the devastation during an April 11 th spring wellness inspection of his float plane dock and buildings which were forcibly entered, severely damaged, and stripped of valuable contents. Further north at his Treeline Lodge, Scigliano witnessed dozens of dead caribou strewn across the snow, stained red with blood. Observation of several individuals, snowmobiles, and packed trails evidence that the lodge was being used as a slaughterhouse. "I couldn't believe my eyes," Scigliano said. "Snowmobiles were chasing caribou across the lake and there were piles of dead animals everywhere." Fearing potential conflict, Scigliano chose not to land and immediately traveled to the City of Thompson and reported the incidents to the RCMP and Conservation Services. On April 18 th, Scigliano and law enforcement together visited the properties and found that the lodge was occupied and another mass caribou killing had occurred in front of the float plane dock. "The destruction was overwhelming — cabins ransacked, furniture burned for firewood, and human waste inside the buildings," added Scigliano. "It's sickening and emotional to see everything destroyed, and even worse, was the tone from law enforcement suggesting little could be done," Scigliano said. Subsequent inspections revealed similar devastation at his second property, Kasmere Lake Lodge, including the burning of parts of a historic log structure for firewood. Among his most disturbing discoveries were the remains of numerous unborn caribou calves left behind in the carnage. "It's senseless," said Scigliano. "This is not subsistence hunting. They killed wastefully and left dead carcasses on my doorstep. These images will haunt me forever." Originally planning to restore the lodges as fishing and eco-tourism hubs, Scigliano now fears the future of the properties and the Park itself is uncertain. "Nueltin Lake Provincial Park was once a symbol of conservation and sustainability. It was Canada's original fishing 'catch and release' lake. It is a pristine wilderness that cannot be allowed to become a desecrated lawless zone," he said. "We need real accountability, and we need government to act. Lawlessness simply cannot be allowed." Nueltin Lake Provincial Park is located approximately 700 miles north of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
CBC
14-05-2025
- CBC
Lodge owner decries killing of caribou on property, but others caution against rush to judgment
WARNING: This story contains graphic details. The owner of a remote hunting lodge in northern Manitoba says he wants answers after he found a "mass slaughter" of caribou and severe property damage there last month, but police warn that images circulating of the dead animals might not tell the entire story. Nick Scigliano, the U.S.-based owner of Nueltin Lake Lodge, says he discovered dozens of dead caribou and extensive property damage during an April 11 check of the site, which is about 30 kilometres south of the Manitoba-Nunavut border. Scigliano returned to the lodge on April 18 with police and conservation officers, as well as members of the Manitoba Wildlife Federation, to get a closer look at the damage on the ground, he said in a Tuesday news release. Pregnant cows and fetuses were among the dozens of caribou carcasses, he said. Scigliano is now urging police and the Manitoba government to take action to "restore law and order." "This is not subsistence hunting. They killed wastefully and left dead carcasses on my doorstep. These images will haunt me forever," Scigliano said in the release. RCMP are investigating the property damage at the lodge while conservation officers look into potentially wasted meat. Manitoba RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Paul Manaigre described the police investigation as "different and difficult," mainly due to the isolation of the area. "The big issue is just trying to talk to everyone," he told CBC News in a May 5 interview. "You've got suspects that could come from 200, 300, 400 kilometres away, and is it possible they might not even be part of this hunting group? Absolutely. There's so many variables at play." However, the hunters are believed to be from nearby First Nations communities, he said. "When I say close, you're probably looking, I think, within 100 to 200 kilometres, so this is still considerable distance even on snowmobiles. I think that's probably the difficult aspect, is identifying those that are using the area." The lodge is located in Nueltin Lake Provincial Park, which was established in 2010 mainly to protect caribou winter migration routes that connect the boreal forest to the tundra where caribou cows travel to give birth, according to the Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters Association. The barren-ground caribou in the area are not at risk but their population is in decline, a 2017 study by the Nunavut government found. "It should go without question that harvesting female caribou during that late winter season when the cows are preparing to have their young displays an utter disregard for the animal or its conservation, regardless of one's race," the outfitters' association said in a Tuesday statement. The association says it has been pushing the province to introduce a unified big-game management system for all hunters in Manitoba, which would include a ban on harvesting females. CBC News has reviewed verified images and video, taken on April 11 and 18, of the caribou carcasses left outside Nueltin Lake Lodge. A two-minute April 11 video shows an aerial view of the lodge from a helicopter window. It's a picturesque scene to start, showing the lodge overlooking a treeline and snowy lake, but soon, reddish-brown coloured stains can be seen splattering the snowy trail. The camera zooms in on piles of fur, with antlers and hooves scattering the path. It's difficult to count exactly how many dead caribou are on the ground just by looking at the footage. 'Being treated as criminals': First Nation hunter Indigenous hunting and fishing rights were guaranteed in the treaties signed between the government of Canada and First Nations leaders, and then enshrined in the Constitution in 1982. Treaty-based hunters are exempt from many of the restrictions that non-Indigenous hunters must obey, including specific hunting hours or seasons and bag limits, according to Manitoba's hunting guide. Myron Cook, a caribou hunter from Barren Lands First Nation in northern Manitoba, wasn't involved in the Nueltin Lake hunt, but knows the area well. He says Indigenous hunters from northern Manitoba, Nunavut and Saskatchewan are known to frequent the region. But he said it's unusual for hunters there to leave caribou meat behind, unless it was damaged, or the animal was old, injured or sick. While Cook said he and other community members try to selectively hunt older male caribou, pregnant cows are harvested from time to time. He was saddened to see the fetuses left to waste, and said some communities treasure the meat. "That meat is prized and given to elders," he said. "Yes, they do eat everything from the caribou. They would eat that fetus. It is a delicacy to some elders." There are certain body parts caribou hunters typically do not retrieve at this time of year, including the hide, stomach, ribcage and head, said Cook. "There's many things there that could have looked like carcasses, but [were maybe] just the scrap piles." Cook hopes the situation comes to a proper conclusion, but says he would liked to have seen First Nations hunters in the area consulted before the Manitoba Wildlife Federation posted images of the dead caribou on social media Tuesday. "I feel that it's a biased, one-sided story, without [any] consultation given to the Dene people. It is their ancestral hunting grounds," he said. "It feels like we are being treated as criminals to practise our sovereign right to provide for our families." He wants people to know that he and many other treaty-based hunters have the utmost respect for caribou, particularly during harvests. "The Dene, the Inuit and the Cree have been harvesting these caribou for generations. It's their sovereign Indigenous right to harvest caribou." 'Can't allow this to happen': Wildlife Federation The Manitoba Wildlife Federation, a conservation organization that represents the interests of hunters, says dozens of caribou carcasses were found buried under deep, fresh snow on April 18. Chris Heald, the federation's senior policy adviser, says staff who went to the lodge at Scigliano's request saw between 50 to 75 caribou carcasses at the site that day. "The meat was way buried down, underneath the organs and the gut piles and the furs," he said Tuesday. "You'd have to have the snow melt to count how many were there." The multiple piles of dead caribou included one pile of 10 carcasses that were "processed well," with most of the meat taken, and they appeared to have been from a hunt earlier in the winter, the federation said in a Tuesday newsletter. It also said federation staff saw five caribou fetuses left at the lodge, alongside multiple caribou with half of the usable meat still in tact. "As a hunter, I'm disgusted they wasted that amount of meat," Heald said. "We need government to lead the discussions — and community leaders need to bring forth the same message — that we can't allow this to happen or there'll be nothing left in the future." Animal cruelty charges difficult to predict: RCMP When asked about the dead caribou during question period at the legislature on Tuesday, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said provincial officials are taking the matter seriously. "I've spoken to people directly who live in this part of the province and who live off the land, and let me say this unequivocally — anybody who participated in this has no respect for animals, has no right to be able to hunt in this province," he said in Tuesday's question period. Kinew said the hunters involved will be "pursued and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law." The RCMP's Manaigre said police were initially told that upwards of 50 caribou carcasses may have been left at the lodge site. "When our officers went and spoke with the group up there, I think by what they were told, the count was nine," he said. "You can kind of see how rumours can spread fast." The hunters RCMP encountered at the lodge site on April 18 were very co-operative, Manaigre said, adding the hunters may have been surprised to learn that the site was not abandoned. "We could be looking at a property vacant for five, six years. It's easy how it could be construed by the locals as being abandoned," he said. "From what it sounds like, there's probably been quite a few groups using this place as a staging area for the hunting in that area, so I guess when these guys were there, the damage had been done over quite a long period of time." The Wildlife Federation's Heald says the lodge was well-maintained, and would not have appeared abandoned. Manaigre said it's difficult to predict whether any of the people involved in the caribou hunt could face animal cruelty charges. "If they're hunting as they normally hunt, to me, I don't see it. But if it was just a slaughter of animals for no reason, then I could maybe see that," he said. "But from what it sounds like, based on the descriptions on scene, the animals were cut up and meant for consumption." The logistical planning for that kind of hunt is complex given the number of people and equipment required to process multiple caribou, he said. "Caribou's quite a large animal. You're not going to just shoot it and bring it as is. You're going to want to clean it to minimize the weight." Manaigre said it's believed the parts left behind at the lodge were mainly the shoulder portions of the caribou. He cautions anyone who see images of the caribou at the lodge site to hold their judgment until the police investigation is completed. "People are going to see short snippets, or photos, that may not tell the whole story," he said. "I'd like to err on the side of caution and think that a lot of the people doing the hunting have the expertise, and know what part of the animal's needed [versus] what's not."
