Mi'kmaw Chiefs Declare a State of Emergency
The Assembly of First Nations is coming under fire for exercising their rights under a treaty signed in the Treaty of 1760-61. According to the treaty Mi’kmaq have a right to barter and trade any goods they can acquire by hunting, fishing, and gathering, so they can make a moderate living. In the 1999 Marshall Decision, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the treaty rights of the Mi’kmaq and other Nations along the Atlantic coast when it was disputed.
Mi'kmaw are facing aggression from non-Indigenous fishermen in Saulnierville, Nova Scotia where Sipekne'katik First Nation is launching a fishery. They are having their boats surrounded, so they are unable to drop their traps and engage their rights.
Trina Roache reports for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network says, “There's only conflict when there's money at stake, right? This is a multi-billion dollar industry, and so there's a lot at stake. When inherent rights butt up against Canadian interests, that's when it's a problem."
Photo of the Monument Peace Treaty 1752, Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia by Hantsheroes (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Sept. 23, 2020
What has the federal response been?
Chief Sack attended a meeting with Fisheries Minister Jordan, Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett and other chiefs on Sept. 21, during which they discussed the ongoing dispute.
Following the meeting, the two ministers released a statement affirming that the Mi'kmaq have a constitutionally protected treaty right to fish in pursuit of a moderate livelihood. The statement said officers from the Fisheries and Oceans Department, the RCMP, the coast guard and from public safety are being deployed to help with any dangerous situations.
Council of Canadians’ statement on Mi’kmaq assertion of the right to fish for a moderate livelihood
The Council of Canadians supports the Mi'kmaq treaty right to fish for a moderate livelihood, protected by the Peace and Friendship Treaties of 1760/61, reaffirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada with the Marshall decisions of 1999.
The federal government has had 21 years to work with Mi'kmaq Nation to address this need, and has failed to do so. It has repeatedly referred to the sale of fish by treaty rightsholders outside of the DFO regulated fishing season as "illegal." This is a dangerous mischaracterization that has fed into tensions between non-Indigenous and Indigenous fishers.
The Council of Canadians is calling on the federal government, specifically Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett, to protect the Mi'kmaw fishers exercising their treaty rights. The Federal government must clarify to the public that exercising treaty rights is entirely legal. Ministers Jordan and Bennett must continue actively working with the Mi'kmaq Nation towards implementation of a moderate livelihood fishery. The Federal government has a responsibility to prevent further violence and restore peace and safety for Indigenous fishers.
We ask our members and supporters to be in solidarity with treaty rightsholders and to call for a swift and peaceful resolution to this conflict. Please click here to learn more about how to support Indigenous fishers.
Ottawa needs to settle lobster dispute before things get worse
An article on the Welland Tribune published this update today.
The lobster trade isn’t for the faint of heart. There are dangers on the cold Atlantic waters, uncertainty over prices, and plenty of worries about the sustainability of the livelihood.
But what it should not entail are boats and vehicles being set ablaze. Violence on wharves. Or angry mobs surrounding and damaging lobster storage facilities, plundering catch, and hurling racist insults and threats to burn out the people inside.
But that’s what First Nations fishers have been facing in southwestern Nova Scotia.
And worse still, this dispute shows every sign of escalating further if the RCMP continues to stand around and watch these violent and criminal acts by commercial fisherman without doing anything about it. And the federal government doesn’t put more urgency into bringing all sides to the table to sort out their differences peacefully.