Mi’kmaq Asserting Treaty Rights
Mi’kmaq in Nova Scotia fighting for their inherent rights and treaty rights to be respected to hunt, fish, and gather.
The Peace & Friendship Treaties of 1761-1762 guarantee the rights of Mi’kmaq to catch and sell fish, as affirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada in the R v. Marshall case in 1999. As set out in Marshall, the Mi’kmaq have a right to fish for a “moderate livelihood.” Due the inaction of the federal government to implement the Marshall SCC decision after 21 years, on September 18, 2020, Sipekne’katik First Nation announced its own self-regulated livelihood fishery, as a sovereign people. As was the case in Esgenoopetitj (Burnt Church), the Mi'kmaq have a conservation management plan that is not to be controlled by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). Licenses and tags were distributed during a peaceful ceremony and celebration, while more than 50 non-Indigenous fisher boats surrounded the harbour, forming a blockade and infringing on the legal treaty rights of Mi’kmaq peoples.
That evening, Mi’kmaq fisher fleets were just metres offshore checking lobster traps when non-Indigenous fisherpeople began to chase them and fire flares at their boats. Mi’kmaq fisherpeople have faced other forms of harassment and discrimination, including damage to their boats and vehicles, and stolen fishing gear and cut buoy lines. They have been denied goods such as fuel, bait and accommodations at Nova Scotian businesses.
Associated Instagram accounts:
@justicegruben
@sabredam
@junnygirldecolonized
@kukuwes_news
Associated Twitter accounts:
@Mikmaq_Star
@Kukukwes
@TheAgentNDN
@MikmaqRights
