Fresh from a legal victory in federal court earlier this year, Great Slave Lake's Trophy Lodge now has a business licence.
The news comes from Andrew Moore, one of Trophy Lodge's co-owners. He said they purchased the lodge in the fall of 2022 and applied for a licence shortly after but were denied.
"In the spring of 2023, Parks Canada denied our licence, so basically we've been waiting a little over a year now to get our licence situation resolved."
Trophy Lodge is located within Thaidene Nëné National Park Reserve, which was established in 2019. In 2022, Trophy Lodge was sold and the new owners applied for a licence.
Parks Canada first denied the application for a licence, citing a need for reconciliation with Indigenous people, according to federal court documents.
Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled Parks Canada decision to deny the lodge a licence as unfair. With a second chance at hand, Moore said everyone was now able to come to an agreement on the conditions of their licence.
Those conditions include an operating area, the number of guests they have, and respecting sacred, Indigenous locations in the area, said Moore. He added they have a lodge capacity of 16 people a week.
"We were all thrilled," said Moore, talking about his reaction to finally getting a licence. He said they got the news in the third week of June and clients can start booking trips for this weekend.
The lodge, located 170 km east of Yellowknife by air, will be open seven days a week, said Moore. "Typically the way that trips run at Trophy Lodge is people flying in Saturday and they would stay there for a week, and they would fly out the following Saturday."
Air Tindi and AHMIC Air are the two companies providing flights to the lodge, Moore said.