HALIFAX — Three years after a First Nation started a self-regulated lobster fishery that sparked protests and violence in Nova Scotia, federal prosecutors are pressing ahead with charges against dozens of Indigenous fishers, some of whom are planning
On Sept. 17, 2020, the Sipekne'katik First Nation issued five lobster licences to its members, saying they could trap and sell their catch outside the federally regulated season.
By December 2022, federal conservation officers had seized more than 7,000 lobster traps as other Mi'kmaq bands started their own moderate livelihood enterprises. But until now, federal officials have said little about prosecutions related to the Indigenous lobster, crab and baby eel fisheries. "We recognize that fisheries ... are of great social, cultural, spiritual and economic importance to many Indigenous peoples, and we remain committed to upholding Indigenous fishing rights, including the treaty right to fish for a moderate livelihood," department spokesperson Lauren Sankey said.
In May, two fishers from Pictou Landing First Nation were convicted of lobster fishery offences committed in 2019. Other court cases are well underway, many of them predating the unregulated lobster fishing that drew national attention in 2020. In several of them, constitutional notices have been filed, stating that the accused plan to argue that their treaty rights have been violated.
Metallic said the problem is that successive federal governments have failed to negotiate permanent agreements that spell out what a moderate livelihood fishery would look like. The Supreme Court of Canada's 1999 Marshall decision said the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy bands in Eastern Canada could hunt, fish and gather to earn a"moderate livelihood," though the court followed up with a clarification two months later, saying the treaty right was subject to federal regulation to ensure conservation.
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