EDMONTON – Alberta’s justice minister calls it one of the province’s best kept secrets. On Tuesday, the government offered a closer look at a rare forensics lab that helps investigate fish and wildlife crimes.
“I want to show you what I consider one of Alberta’s best kept secrets,” said Jonathan Denis. “Not many people in fact, know that this lab even exists… This lab is one of only a handful of labs across the globe dedicated solely to supporting fish and wildlife crime investigations.”
The Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Branch’s forensic lab was established in 1978, and now the unit examines hundreds of exhibits every year.
Kelly Semple, with Hunting for Tomorrow, believes the lab is very important for investigations involving crimes like poaching.
“I think it’s critical,” she says. “It provides the science to back up the investigation.”
“The work done at this lab helps provide the evidence needed to bring poachers to justice,” adds Denis.
READ MORE: Grizzly poacher pays hefty fine
“We always have to be on the cutting edge of technology here because it’s forever advancing.”
In fact, Rick Jobin, the forensic unit manager, was recently invited by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to participate in a conference and help develop standards for sampling and analysis in wildlife crime investigations, specifically, ivory poaching.
For Jobin, the work is incredibly rewarding.
“I’m an avid fisherman. I love to hunt as well. I canoe. I love the outdoors. So it’s a bit of a passion of mine,” he says. “My other passion is science.”
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He says the most satisfying part of the work is using the lab to protect the environment, and explains how DNA testing helped solve a recent investigation.
“A grizzly bear case, we had a single hair that was found in the truck box in a pickup truck, stuck in some plywood, and we were able to develop a full DNA typing profile, and link that back to an individual who was guilty of illegally taking that bear,” Jobin recalls.
(Watch above: raw video of the tour inside the Fish and Wildlife Forensic lab)
Denis says commercial and individual poaching has been a problem in Alberta for decades, and he believes it will continue to be a problem.
“I unfortunately think it will be there for decades and that’s why our 143 fish and wildlife officers are a very important part of our law enforcement in this province.”
In response to criticism that Alberta doesn’t have enough fish and wildlife officers, Denis says there hasn’t been one position in the area cut in the last few years and that the government has filled 24 vacancies in the last two years very quickly.
However, in terms of adding additional officers?
“We will look in the future as the need arises, but the need has to be demonstrated. But, I’m confident -with the facilities that we have and our $21 million annual budget in this area – that we’re making a mark.”
In November, the Alberta Fish and Game Association called on the government to more than double the number of wildlife officers.
Association president Gord Poirier said there should be about 250 officers and tougher penalties should be imposed.
The call came after word that officers were investigating the deaths of 26 deer, elk, moose, and a black bear in one area west of Edmonton.
READ MORE: Alberta hunting group says government should double number of wildlife officers
“I think we could always use more officers,” says Semple. “You look at the regions that the guys have, that they’re covering. They’re looking after large regions. They’re dealing with a number of different instances.”
However, when it comes to punishment for fish and wildlife crimes, she says a lot of the power rests with the justice system.
“Sometimes our fish and wildlife officers do everything that they can to make the best case possible, and then it gets into the courts and the judicial system is maybe a bit more lenient than maybe we’d like to see,” she admits.
Public awareness and participation also play a role, she says.
“It’s also really dependent upon people being more involved from a public perspective side of things, where people are more the eyes and ears, and are being aware, and reporting incidents, so that there’s more of an opportunity for fish and wildlife to act on it.”
Acting on those opportunities is Jobin’s responsibility.
“I couldn’t imagine an Alberta without bull trout, without walleye, without big horn sheep or moose,” he says. “And my job is to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
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