N.L. government wins injunction against fishermen amid tense protest at Confederation Building

Newfoundland and Labrador's Supreme Court has granted the provincial government an injunction against fish harvesters who swarmed Confedera‐ tion Building on Wednes‐ day as part of an ongoing protest over fishery regula‐ tions that has led to the postponement of the provincial budget.

The government an‐ nounced the postponement after protesters blocked en‐ trances to the building, re‐ fused to let government workers inside and had phys‐ ical confrontations with police officers and horses. A protester complaining of leg pain and a Royal Newfound‐ land Constabulary officer have been taken from the scene in an ambulance.

Protest organizer John Ef‐ ford Jr. called the budget can‐ cellation historic.

"And I have a feeling it may be cancelled again to‐ morrow, the next business day and the next business day until we get what? Free enterprise," he said. If fisher‐ men don't get their wish, Ef‐ ford, warned there would be more harvesters on the steps of the Confederation Building on Thursday.

In a press release issued shortly after 11 a.m., provin‐ cial government spokesper‐ son Victoria Barbour an‐ nounced the budget's post‐ ponement, until further notice, "due to an unsafe en‐ vironment in which fish har‐ vesters are preventing public service employees from en‐ tering the Confederation Building complex."

"Presently, the conditions are unsafe for employees and visitors to the complex, and there is a threat of vio‐ lence," says the statement.

CBC News reporters at the scene witnessed an intense exchange between a group of protesters and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary around 8:30 a.m. NT, with of‐ ficers pushing them back from an entrance at the rear of the building.

Video from the scene shows public servants strug‐ gling to get through the melee and get to work. At one point, Meghan McCabe, director of communications for Premier Andrew Furey, tried to get through the crowd but was pushed back by a pair of irate protesters

hurling expletives.

"Get back. Don't be stupid," one yelled as Mc‐ Cabe walked backward away from them.

Protesters pleaded with police to not let the public servants inside.

"If you're going to let them in, you're only going to cause trouble for yourselves. And that we will guarantee," said one protester to an of‐ ficer.

Jason Spingle, secretarytreasurer of the Fish, Food & Allied Workers, said mem‐ bers of the union want to be able to go to work the same as employees at Confedera‐ tion Building. He said it was regrettable that an RNC of‐ ficer and a protester, who Sp‐ ingle said broke his hip, were hurt.

"They are working like all of you folks here, and it was unfortunate that someone took too much of a situation there."

Spingle said public ser‐ vants were trying to push their way into work.

"[One] said, 'Where do you think your EI comes from?' in a vindictive way. I mean, shame, it's disgraceful that we got someone work‐ ing in this building that would make that comment. It's a shame."

The fishery generates a lot of money for the province, said Spingle.

"We need to make sure the balance of that wealth is shared fairly and what we put forward to the ministers yesterday, what John [Efford] put forward to the ministers yesterday was more than fair."

WATCH | Furey's com‐ munications director tried to get into work, but pro‐ testers refused:

In an earlier statement, Barbour said they are "re‐ spectfully" asking the fish harvesters to allow employ‐ ees, media and guests into the building "so budget 2024 can be delivered as planned."

The hundreds of protest‐ ers are fish harvesters and supporters, who have been lobbying government to open markets to outside buy‐ ers since early March.

As it stands, they can sell their catches only to buyers inside the province at a price agreed upon by the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union and the Association of Seafood Producers.

The chaotic scene began before sunrise, when Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officers on horseback pushed back protesters as they moved toward the build‐ ing around 6:30 a.m. NT.

WATCH | Protest esca‐ lates outside Confedera‐ tion Building:

"Stay back!" police yelled at the group.

"Is this a public building?" one responded. "Don't we pay for this building?"

'We're tired of being kept down'

Protesters have vowed to stay there all day.

"We just want the right to sell our product where we can," sad Alfred Fitzpatrick, a fisherman from the Burin Peninsula. "They never go to Nova Scotia and tell the crowd up to the Annapolis Valley you can only sell ap‐ ples in Nova Scotia. Why are they telling us we can only sell fish here in Newfound‐ land?"

Fisheries Minister Elvis Loveless says he's willing to meet some of the demands tabled by harvesters and his department has issued an expression of interest for outside buyers for the 2024 snow crab fishery.

But harvesters say their protest is not just about crab - they want similar restric‐ tions lifted on the sale of all species they catch.

Fitzpatrick said he felt Loveless's statements were a "stall tactic" as crab season approaches.

"We're tired of being kept down," he said. "We've got a government that's sitting by and letting it happen and a union that's been too com‐ placent over the years. And this is why we're in the state we're in. But we're here and we ain't going nowhere."

WATCH | Protesters en‐ counter police outside Con‐ federation Building. WARN‐ ING: Explicit language:

The protests have caused also commotion inside the House of Assembly during the current legislative ses‐ sion, as harvesters have taken to the public gallery and refused to heed warn‐ ings to sit down and be quiet, leading to Speaker Derek Bennett removing them from the chambers.

They've also blocked off a provincial fisheries building in St. John's, preventing em‐ ployees from going inside.

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