Premier says he doesn’t know if band is part of surf clam licence

Premier Stephen McNeil says he doesn’t know whether a Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq band is part of a group awarded a lucrative surf clam fishing licence by Ottawa — but he says the licence shouldn’t be awarded if there isn’t one.

McNeil said Friday he’s not concerned about who gets the licence, as long as there is participation by Mi’kmaq in his province.

“It’s not up to me to determine who the federal government issues the licence to,” he said. “What it is for me is to make sure our Indigenous population is part of whoever the licence is awarded to. I’ve been very clear that before that licence is actually issued, Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq need to be part of it.”

Federal Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced Feb. 21 that the licence would go to the Five Nations Clam Company, saying the firm had Indigenous partners in each Atlantic province and Quebec.

But last week, the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq chiefs and the Newfoundland and Labrador government said Five Nations did not have Indigenous partners from either province when the decision was made.

Late Thursday, Chief Aaron Sock of New Brunswick’s Elsipogtog First Nation issued a statement saying the partners in the new Arctic surf clam venture include the Abegweit First Nation from P.E.I. and the Potlotek First Nation from Nova Scotia.

Sock also said the partnership with Cape Breton’s Premium Seafoods Group includes the Innu First Nation of Nutashkuan from Quebec and the Inuit of Nunatukavut in Labrador. Attempts to contact Potlotek chief Wilburt Marshall and Mi’kmaq chiefs cochairman Terrance Paul were unsuccessful Friday.

LeBlanc has confirmed that Five Nations only had “reserved spots” for other Indigenous groups when he announced the winners of the licence competition.