Wild meat black market in Kahnawake

While the trade in wild meat is strictly prohibited in Quebec, it is possible to obtain moose or deer at ridiculous prices by responding to Facebook ads.

Wild Bush Cuts Kahnawake, a business on the Mohawk reserve on the South Shore of Montreal, has been displaying its products and prices transparently on the social network for two years: $12 per pound of moose and $8 per pound of deer , $25 for a whole goose, etc.

By purchasing a whole deer carcass, our Bureau of Investigation paid even less: $85 for 57 pounds of deer in vacuum-packed pieces, or $1.50 per pound. It’s less than chicken breasts on special at $4.49 per pound this week at IGA.

To get your hands on the game, all you had to do was place an order by text message at the number indicated on Facebook, then make an appointment with the butcher, Shane Stacey, in Kahnawake.

It is prohibited to sell, buy or exchange moose or white-tailed deer flesh, unless the animal comes from a hunting farm, according to the Act respecting the conservation and development of the wildlife.

But Shane considers that he does not sell meat, but a butchery service. He defends his activity as a means of defending his ancestral rights (see other text below).

A clandestine butchery

Located on an unnamed gravel road, Wild Bush Cuts Kahnawake does not appear on maps. Without the GPS coordinates transmitted by the young butcher, it would have been impossible to reach our destination.

On site, two containers between the trees and the houses, a black pick-up, a scale hanging on a hook. Through the half-open door, we can see two large white freezers inside.

In Facebook, Shane posted an image of himself inside what appears to be a cold room. He poses between two rows of carcasses suspended from two stainless steel rails, a deer head in his hands.

When we arrived, the young man in his twenties received us outside. The product came in two cardboard boxes with the order number written in marker on them.

Slipping us a handwritten invoice, tax free, Shane explained to us that he had killed five or six deer with his brother and cousin and had kept the smallest for us.

We then took everything to the Eurofins EnvironeX laboratory to check the safety of the product. According to the analyses, “the meat is of similar quality to what you would find in a grocery store,” said Lynda Rodrigue, the laboratory representative.

A queue of customers

The young butcher invited us to order “any time” and said he could supply moose too. On the other hand, he stressed that he would have to be patient to receive them, because around twenty customers are already waiting in his order book.

To obtain one, the client must pay $650 to pay the hunters before the hunt. Shane then charges $1.70 per pound of moose meat upon delivery. In total, an average moose weighing 500 pounds cut and packaged can cost $1,500.

The young man hunts himself and displays his catches on social networks. But he also sources his supplies from other indigenous hunters elsewhere in Quebec.

– With the collaboration of Patrick Campeau, Jean-François Cloutier and Annabelle Blais

Between poaching and tradition

Wildlife agents are walking on eggshells, because they cannot intervene in indigenous territory against an activity which in their eyes is similar to poaching.

“The law applies to everyone, but when we get into indigenous rights, in claimed territories, it is up to the ministry to give directives,” explains the president of the union of wildlife protection agents of Quebec, Martin Perreault, uncomfortable. “In the territory of Kahnawake, we are prohibited from entering,” he adds.

No infraction or fine was therefore imposed in Kahnawake.

In comparison, in April, 81 individuals in Gaspésie were sentenced to fines totaling $316,750 for similar activities, as part of a vast anti-poaching operation. Hugues Roy, from Carleton-sur-Mer, alone had to pay $68,525 for “illegal sale and illegal purchase of game,” among other things.

Not in our culture

Our Bureau of Investigation tried for two weeks to speak to the chief of Kahnawake, Cody Diabo, without success. In an interview with - on November 22, he affirmed, however, that the sale of game is not in the culture of the community:

“In our culture, we hunt for subsistence, so we will not sell our hunting products.”

The owner of Wild Bush Cuts, Shane Stacey, however, indicates in an interview that he is not the only business of his kind in Kahnawake. So much so that he receives visits every two months from health inspectors mandated by the Band Council to ensure that his products are fit for consumption, he says.

Version modern du troc

Serge Simon, the former grand chief of the other Mohawk community in the region, that of Kanesatake near Oka, explains that barter is an age-old practice of the First Nations and that exchanging for money is a version modern of this tradition.

“In a modern world, we need money to buy things. I cannot exchange 25 furs for a hunting rifle,” he explains, adding that the sale of game allows families to have access to traditional food, even if they cannot hunt.

Mr. Simon believes, however, that a discussion is necessary between First Nations, so that this practice is regulated to ensure the preservation of the resource.

Political claim

The owner of Wild Bush Cuts butchery, Shane Stacey, claims the right to continue his business activity in the name of defending his nation’s ancestral rights. The Bureau of Investigation spoke with him by telephone, after purchasing a deer from him incognito.

What does your business consist of?

We do subsistence butchery. We supply according to the seasons. In the fall, it’s deer season, then there’s fish season, etc. What we’re trying to do is reintroduce game and traditional food into our community.

You say it’s subsistence, but at the same time you hunt and then you sell the meat, so it’s commercial. No?

We hunt, but this service is free. What we charge people is the butchery service, not the price of the carcass. It’s a business so we can’t do butchery for free.

Where do you hunt?

We hunt all around Kahnawake.

What we’re trying to do is encourage our friends, our families, our community to hunt on our unceded territory because it’s our right, so we have to exercise it if we don’t want to. lose it.

So this is a political demand?

That’s exactly it.

We also help people who have low incomes. By paying only the butchery fees for one deer, they have meat for almost half a year for really cheap.

The police in Quebec believe that it is illegal, that it is poaching to sell wild meat. What do you say to that?

They are too greedy, they want to keep everything for themselves. It would be poaching if I was caught at night with spots killing deer, if I was hunting near houses or something like that. But I don’t do that, I know the rules about guns.

Shane Stacey’s words have been translated and condensed for easier reading.

Martin Perreault, president of the Quebec wildlife protection officers union, explains:

The sale and purchase of wild meat is a major offense under Law C 61.1 on the conservation and development of wildlife. The minimum fine is $2,500 plus fees, or a little over $3,000 per transaction, for both the seller and the buyer. Bartering is also illegal, according to the law, so you cannot exchange meat for a service, for example.