Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Should Be Treated the Same in New Firearms Ban, Says NWT Gun Owner

Rifles on display at an Ottawa hunting store in a file photo. CP Photo/Jonathan Hayward

Willard Hagen flew bush planes in Canada’s far north for 30 years, negotiated one of Northwest Territory’s largest Indigenous land claims, and even tangled with the RCMP over some improperly stored and unregistered firearms back in 2005.

“[Police] were looking for a lost trapper so I let them use my cabin about 60 miles out of town, had a bunch of guns there and they grabbed them,” Hagen recalls. “They ended up dropping all the charges, but it was pretty ridiculous.”