Photograph by: Darryl Dyck, CP
Update by Bears Forever Organization on the Outcome of the Clayton Stoner Case. He was found guilty of holding a resident Limited Entry Hunt tag for a grizzly bear when he was not a resident of the province at that time …Mr. Stoner was fined $10,000 and banned from hunting in B.C. for three years. From facebook page of Bears Forever https://www.facebook.com/bearsforeverbc
As everyone celebrates Clayton Stoner being sentenced today, here are some things to bear in mind:
1) Trophy hunting is not illegal under Settler law. Stoner has simply been found guilty of hunting with the wrong kind of license. We need to make this illegal under Settler law so the activity stops completely.
2) Stoner is also guilty of contravening the Indigenous ban on trophy hunting under Indigenous law, and the Settler courts have no jurisdiction over that.
3) No one would have caught Stoner in the first place if First Nations hadn’t been investing their money and energy in monitoring hunt activity. The Province has NO capacity to effectively regulate or monitor the hunt. That burden falls to us.
4) Justice for the Grizzly shot by Stoner, is important. But what we’re fighting for with the Bears Forever campaign is justice for ALL bears. That won’t happen until the province regulates an end to the hunt. And we won’t stop our work until they do.
You can find out more about what we’re doing at bearsforever.ca
BY SUSAN LAZARUK, THE PROVINCE
VANCOUVER — An NHL player accused of illegally shooting a grizzly bear was expected to enter a plea in provincial court in Vancouver on Friday, but the case was adjourned again to give his lawyer and the prosecutor time to negotiate details.
Clayton Stoner, who grew up in Port McNeill and now plays for the Anaheim Ducks, was charged with five offences under the Wildlife Act for a 2013 hunt in which he shot and killed a grizzly bear on B.C.’s central coast.
All five offences relate to Stoner applying for a resident hunting licence, including making a false statement to obtain a licence, hunting without a licence, hunting out of season and unlawful possession of the bear.
Stoner allegedly would need a non-resident’s permit, which costs at least $25,000, because he lives and works outside of B.C.
Crown prosecutor Jim Cryder and articling law student Justine Davidson, who was acting for Stoner’s lawyer, both requested more time and adjournment to a later court date.
Outside court, Cryder said the two sides are continuing negotiations on Stoner’s expected guilty plea.
The case is being followed by opponents of B.C.’s grizzly hunt, and a number of protesters were in the courtroom and holding signs and petitions to end the hunt outside court.
Photograph by: Darryl Dyck, CP
Cheryl Akida of Burnaby, who was carrying a sign urging the end to grizzly trophy hunting, said Stoner’s hunt was “atrocious” not only because he was after a grizzly trophy but because he “poached” it illegally and because it was the five-year-old grizzly affectionately referred to as “Cheeky.”
She said the bear would have been familiar with human sounds and smells and she wondered “how hard it would have been to shoot him.”
She and others likened Cheeky to Cecil the lion, a well-known lion in Africa shot by a U.S. dentist that made international headlines this year.
Akida said she would like to see Stoner fined and for him to issue an apology for the hunt to First Nations and all British Columbians.
Ross Dixon of Raincoast Conservation said its organization oversees the land Stoner hunted on and if he had sought permission, “the only thing he would have been able to shoot would have been a camera.”
He called for B.C. to end trophy hunting in B.C.
Photograph by: Submitted, Coastal First Nations, www.bearsforever.ca
Stoner has become the focus of a trophy-hunting debate after photos of him holding the grizzly’s head surfaced after the hunt.
