The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs have rejected its portion of a CAD 259 million (USD 180 million, EUR 172 million) offer from the Canadian government to support commercial fisheries access, claiming the funding undermines their treaty rights
“This proposal raises serious alarms,” Chief Wilbert Marshall, co-lead of the assembly’s fisheries portfolio, said in a statement. “[The Department of Fisheries and Oceans'] approach reminded us of earlier initiatives from the 2000s, which failed to respect and uphold our inherent rights. Our treaty right to fish is not a commercial fishery.”
The Canadian government have offered the funding to Atlantic Canada’s First Nations, which they can use to purchase fisheries access, fishing gear, or vessels, DFO told the Chronicle Herald in a statement. The government further claims that participation in the program is voluntary and does not invalidate First Nations’ claims to a livelihood fishery.
However, the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs claims the offer is an attempt by DFO to force First Nations harvesters into the federal government’s license-based system instead of respecting treaty rights to a livelihood fishery.
“The proposed funding could impose constraints that would affect our treaty rights. We have built a better way forward, and the trust we have built within our communities and with our harvesters through our community-based harvest plans would be jeopardized if we even entertained these new agreements with DFO under this proposal,” Chief Gerald Toney, another co-lead of the assembly’s fisheries portfolio, said in a statement.
The assembly met on 22 January and agreed to reject the government’s offer.
“We want to make it clear: Our rights are not for sale,” Marshall said. “This proposal would have created a direct impact on our rights, and we will not stand for that.”
Meanwhile, Canada’s Parliament has been prorogued following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement that he would be stepping down as soon as his Liberal Party names a successor. In a statement, the Fisheries Council of Canada called on the government to continue working on fisheries issues throughout the transition.
