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The situation turned stressful last summer, he said, when Xeni Gwet’in representatives ordered his operation off the river.

“It got crazy. We were floating down the river watching bears and the wardens are screaming and yelling at us and saying the river is closed. We stopped and worked through it, but it looks really bad when you’re an outfitter. … It was very bizarre.”

The problem, McCutcheon explains, is that people who visit the tourist businesses such as his use the surrounding area now owned by the Xeni Gwet’in.

“We have lodging in an area where the public can no longer walk, ride, bike or hike. It would be like the Fairmont (Hotel) guests not being allowed to walk around Vancouver.”

In December, he received a letter from the Xeni Gwet’in ordering him to “immediately remove from your website and marketing materials any reference to unauthorized and planned activities in the declared title area and that you cease immediately all such advertising related to the declared title area. We advise you once again that any future commercial activities planned by you or your company in the declared title area require valid authorization and approval of the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation Government.”

“The title lands agreement was made with no transition plan in place to support the existing landowners and business operators, and this responsibility falls on both governments,” McCutcheon said. “Essentially, we are trapped in the middle and our business is being held hostage.”