N.S. blasts feds’ handling of Mi’kmaq fishery dispute
HALIFAX — Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil says federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan has bungled the moderate livelihood file.
“Very dissatisfied, quite frankly,” McNeil said Thursday of Jordan’s handling of the crisis unfolding on the South Shore.
“We are in a position where (all parties) are not sitting at a table to find what is a workable solution. … This is only getting more entrenched.”
Jordan’s press secretary refused to respond to the criticism on Thursday and once again refused to provide the minister for an interview.
The minister has been out of province for most the dispute and is apparently now self-isolating in her home .
Sipekne’katik First Nation chief Michael Sack said he was assaulted Wednesday afternoon by one of the hundreds of non-aboriginal commercial fisherman who blockaded the pound in New Edinburgh where his fishers are storing their catch.
A video of the confrontation shows Sack grappling with a man who is then led away by RCMP. The SaltWire Network could not confirm Thursday if any charges were laid as a result of the incident.
It came after a lobster pound in West Pubnico was vandalized by commercial fishermen on Tuesday night. The pound held lobster caught by Sipekne’katik fishermen attempting to pursue a moderate livelihood fishery.
“Today we are announcing that Sipekne’katik intends to seek civil remedies against individuals and entities that have infringed against our constitutionally protected rights and who are attempting to prevent and frustrate the legal exercise of our rights – all for what the country and First Nations have watched play out in disbelief,” reads a statement issued by Sack on Thursday.
“The willful inaction by our law enforcement in the face of criminal actions against our people, any person is unacceptable. We need to ask, do we find ourselves in a place where we need to protect ourselves? We need to know how can property be damaged, families be threatened, a community’s livelihood be sabotaged in front of us – in front of the world – and the institution that is charged with protecting all people – in their own words simply ‘observing and monitoring’ it all happening?”
Both Sack and Jordan have maintained that discussions around enacting the moderate livelihood fishery are “nation to nation” and so commercial fishermen have no place at that table.
But the premier warned Thursday that having all parties to the dispute at the same table, in the same room, is what is needed.
“We need the federal minister to sit down with all sides in a room. It is not enough to sit down with Indigenous leaders or with fishing associations by themselves.”
Cold Water Lobster Association president Bernie Barrie echoed the premier’s words on Thursday.
His members claim that it hasn’t just been the five First Nations issued moderate livelihood tags by Sipekne’katik First Nation in September that have been fishing St. Mary’s Bay. They claim over 40 First Nation vessels have been fishing the bay outside the commercial season for years.
Data from Fisheries and Oceans Canada show a nearly 50 per cent drop in lobster caught in the bay by commercial fishermen between the 2016-17 season and the 2018-19 season. Licences in St. Mary’s Bay sell for around $800,000.
“The evidence of out-of-season fishing, the retention of undersized and egg-bearing females, and the total disregard for DFO’s role in managing the lobster resource cannot continue,” reads a statement issued by the Coldwater Lobster Association on Thursday.
“Commercial fishers are concerned for the sustainability of the fishery. We believe that the seasons, markets, enforcement and the rules need to be applied to all members of the fishery in order to sustain the industry.”