{"id":106650,"date":"2026-07-09T11:34:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T15:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=106650"},"modified":"2026-07-09T11:34:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T15:34:53","slug":"indigenous-fisherman-guilty-of-defying-sockeye-fishery-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/09\/indigenous-fisherman-guilty-of-defying-sockeye-fishery-closure\/","title":{"rendered":"Indigenous fisherman guilty of defying sockeye fishery closure"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bob Mackin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prince George Citizen An 81-year-old Alexandria First Nation member was found guilty of unlawfully possessing sockeye salmon, according to a Provincial Court judgment released at the end of June. In Williams Lake Provincial Court on Feb. 11, Judge Linda Thomas gave oral reasons after a trial that took place sporadically between 2021 and 2025. Thomas Leonard Billyboy, the judge ruled, failed to provide, on a balance of probabilities, that he exercised reasonable care to avoid committing the Fisheries Act offence. Billyboy was stopped by Department of Fisheries and Oceans officers on Sept. 5, 2019 during inspections on Highway 20 West before Sheep Creek Bridge. Officers found Billyboy had fished during a sockeye fishing closure. None of the six Tsilhqot’in National Government (TNG) member… <\/p>\n

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By Bob Mackin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prince George Citizen An 81-year-old Alexandria First Nation member was found guilty of unlawfully possessing sockeye salmon, according to a Provincial Court judgment released at the end of June. In Williams Lake Provincial Court on Feb. 11, Judge Linda Thomas gave oral reasons after a trial that took place sporadically between 2021 and 2025. Thomas Leonard Billyboy, the judge ruled, failed to provide, on a balance of probabilities, that he exercised reasonable care to avoid committing the Fisheries Act offence. Billyboy was stopped by Department of Fisheries and Oceans officers on Sept. 5, 2019 during inspections on Highway 20 West before Sheep Creek Bridge. Officers found Billyboy had fished during a sockeye fishing closure. None of the six Tsilhqot’in National Government (TNG) member... <\/p>\n

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Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nIndigenous fisherman guilty of defying sockeye fishery closure - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/09\/indigenous-fisherman-guilty-of-defying-sockeye-fishery-closure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Indigenous fisherman guilty of defying sockeye fishery closure - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Bob Mackin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prince George Citizen An 81-year-old Alexandria First Nation member was found guilty of unlawfully possessing sockeye salmon, according to a Provincial Court judgment released at the end of June. In Williams Lake Provincial Court on Feb. 11, Judge Linda Thomas gave oral reasons after a trial that took place sporadically between 2021 and 2025. Thomas Leonard Billyboy, the judge ruled, failed to provide, on a balance of probabilities, that he exercised reasonable care to avoid committing the Fisheries Act offence. Billyboy was stopped by Department of Fisheries and Oceans officers on Sept. 5, 2019 during inspections on Highway 20 West before Sheep Creek Bridge. Officers found Billyboy had fished during a sockeye fishing closure. 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