A court in Nova Scotia, Canada has dismissed a lawsuit launched against a fishery run by the Sipekne’katik First Nation claiming it was illegal.
Canadian lobstermen, under the Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance (UFCA), sued the Sipekne’katik First Nation in 2024 arguing no treaty rights existed for the fishery and that First Nation fishers shouldn’t be allowed to access lobster in the fall in St. Marys Bay, Nova Scotia. The lawsuit was the culmination of an ongoing dispute between commercial lobstermen and the Sipekne’katik First Nation after the First Nation started a fall season for lobster outside the standard federally regulated season.
Tensions mounted in 2020 as a coalition of fishermen demanded Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) end the fishing, escalating to where First Nations were calling for military aid amid threats of violence.
In 2021, the Sipekne’katik First Nation filed its own suit seeking a declaration that the group had the right to fish, and the DFO struck an agreement with them in October 2021 that allowed them to set up to 3,500 lobster traps in the fall season.
The UFCA objected to that deal and claimed the actions depleted the lobster fishery in St. Mary’s Bay. The group then launched its lawsuit.
Now, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Ann Smith has ruled against the UFCA, calling the lawsuit “fatally flawed.”
Smith wrote in her ruling that the UFCA lacked the standing necessary to proceed with its lawsuit.
“It is for Sipekne’katik to determine how and when, if at all, it wishes to engage with Canada over its asserted treaty right to engage in a commercial fishery in St. Mary’s Bay,” Smith wrote. “The Supreme Court of Canada has clearly stated that because of the special relationship between the Crown and First Nations, the preferred approach to engaging with the issue of aboriginal and treaty rights is through negotiation, not adversarial litigation.”
Smith wrote that the UFCA’s pleadings lacking standing meant they must be struck in their entirety.
“The Court lacks jurisdiction to hear it and the claim is clearly unsustainable,” Smith wrote.
UFCA President Colin Sproul said in a statement to the CBC that the group disagrees with the judge’s conclusion and that it is exploring the possibility of an appeal.
“The court’s decision is silent on how those who have a long historical interest in the fisheries can get answers to questions that neither the federal government nor Sipekne’katik appear to want to answer,” he said.
