Misdeeds appear related to lobster fishery

Rash of violence and fires in Digby County quieting after more police assigned to area

Things have started to quiet down in a section of Digby County after several weeks of violence, vandalism and arsons.

The problem has primarily been in the Municipality of Clare, the part of the county policed by Meteghan RCMP. Sgt. Jeff Leblanc, who leads that office, said it appears to be connected to the lobster fishery, but isn’t a renewal of the violence in 2000 between people in the local commercial lobster fishery and members of the indigenous fishery. Rather, it’s suspected that it involves non-native supporters of the indigenous

nd fishery and those in the local commercial fleet.

By the end of April, the office had more than a dozen investigations underway, including a Molotov cocktail being thrown into a home, other fires, shots fired at a house, threats, assaults, mischief and a front-end loader being used to drive through a building.

One of the assaults resulted in the victim being hospitalized, but no one was hurt in any the fires.

RCMP set up a dedicated investigative team and brought more members to the area to assist and be a noticeable visual deterrent.

That seems to have worked, Lebanc said.

“Knock on wood, we haven’t had any new incidents reported to us,” he said.

“In the last couple of weeks since we’ve upped our manpower, we haven’t had any more.”

Members of the community are scared, Leblanc said, and police have been publicizing requests for anyone who has been victimized to contact them.

“We heard there was stuff going on a few weeks ago where someone was being intimidated, but they wouldn’t report it out of fear it would cause more issues for them,” he said.

There are about a dozen victims so far. There have been arrests in some of the threat cases, but most of the investigations are still open with no charges laid.

Leblanc said anyone who has been threatened can call Crime Stoppers or his office anonymously, as can anyone with information on any of the other incidents.

Residents and business owners with cameras around their properties are being asked to ensure they are in good working order, and to call if they captured images or video of suspicious activity.