Lobster dispute heats up

CHIEF CALLS ON PM TO HELP SETTLE NOVA SCOTIA DISPUTE

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs to do more than send tweets to settle an increasingly violent dispute over an Indigenous-led lobster fishery in Nova Scotia, a First Nations chief said Thursday.

“Actions speak louder than words,” Chief Mike Sack of the Sipekne’katik First Nation told a news conference Thursday in Digby, N.S., located about 40 kilometres from where a lobster pound was damaged by protesters.

“They’re sitting in their offices, safe as can be, saying, ‘We need safety out there.’ Then send enforcement down,” Sack said. “Do your job. Protect Canadians . . . . Don’t just tweet about it.”

The RCMP have said about 200 people were present at two violent clashes Tuesday outside lobster pounds in

New Edinburgh and Middle West Pubnico.

Describing the events as a hate crime, Sack asked Trudeau to send additional law enforcement personnel to the area to ensure the violence is contained.

“This truly is systemic racism,” Sack said when asked about the RCMP’s actions. “Does Trudeau care about our people? Does he care about reconciliation? They talk about it, but I don’t see any actions towards it . . . . The RCMP dropped the ball.”

The chief said his council has decided to take legal action against those who are interfering with the band’s self-regulated lobster fishery. “We’ll go after everyone,” he said, adding that his First Nation is considering calling in Indigenous warriors from across the country.

The non-Indigenous protesters say they are opposed to the band’s decision to start a commercial lobster fishing business that has operated outside the federally regulated lobster season since mid-September.

Sack argues Indigenous people in Atlantic Canada and Quebec have a treaty right to fish for a moderate livelihood where and when they want, based on a 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision that cites treaties signed by the Crown in the 1700s.

Many non-Indigenous critics, however, cite a clarification issued four months after the 1999 ruling, stating the Mi’kmaq treaty rights would be subject to federal regulations to ensure conservation of the resource.

Colin Sproul, head of the The Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association, said in an interview he condemns the violent acts but added that they are the product of years of growing concern about the state of the stocks.

“We’re Canadians. We should expect that dialogue is always the way to solve our problems, not through violence,” he said.