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[source: NativeNews; Tue, 15 Feb 2000 13:42:41]

NEW BRUNSWICK: Hold Canadian Govt. accountable for attacks

From: CPTnet.editor.guest.48855@MennoLink.org (CPTnet editor, Rochester, NY)
CPTNET
February 115, 2000
NEW BRUNSWICK: Hold Canadian Government Accountable For Attacks on Native
Fishery
 

"We go out to cut wood, they tell us we can t.  We go out to fish, they tell
us we can t.  We go home, they call us welfare bums."  -member of
Esgenoopetitj First Nation

In October 1999, Mikmaq people in Esgeno petitj (Burnt Church, New
Brunswick) were attacked and their fishing equipment destroyed when they
attempted to exercise their aboriginal right to fish. The Supreme Court of
Canada had just affirmed that right, but the Canadian government, police and
non-native fishers did not accept the Court decision.

As a follow-up, CPT sent Janet Shoemaker and William Payne to New Brunswick
in January 2000 and learned of the grave fears among native and non-native
people that violence will break out again when lobster fishing begins in
mid-April. Many people have asked CPT to be present then to reduce the risk
of violence.

Payne and Shoemaker learned that the risk of violence would also be reduced
if aboriginal fishers are compensated for the destruction of their fishing
equipment last fall and if training is offered to aboriginal people seeking
to re-enter the fishery from which they have been wrongly excluded for many
years.

Please write the following people to demand immediate compensation for
losses, and assistance with training for new fishers in time for the spring
fishing season in April.  Please emphasize the Canadian government's
responsibility to deal with aboriginal peoples on the nation-to-nation basis
enshrined in the treaties as new understandings are worked out for the
conservation of fish stocks.
 

Rt. Hon. Jean Chretien
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0A6
Tel.: 613-992-4211
Fax: 613-941-6900
Email: pm@pm.gc.ca
Email: dhalih@parl.gc.ca

   Hon. Herb Dhaliwal
  Minister of Fisheries and Oceans
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0A6
Tel.: 613-995-7052
  Fax: 613-995-2962
 

Mr. Jim MacKenzie
Chief Federal Representative
200 Kent St; Stn. 14E209
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0E6
Tel.: 613-990-0163
Fax: 613-993-3435

Email: mackenziej@dfo-mpo-gc.ca

   Your Member of Parliament
  DFO  House of Commons
  Ottawa, ON  K1A 0A6

U.S. citizens, please write the Canadian Ambassador to the U.S.:

Ambassador Raymond A.J. Chretien
Embassy of Canada
501 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

Washington, DC  20001
Tel.: 202-682-1740
Fax: 202-682-7726
Email: washdc-outpack@dfait-maeci.gc.ca
 
 
 

Background
Mi kmaq people in Esgeno petitj (Burnt Church, New Brunswick) had great
hopes last September when the Supreme Court of Canada acknowledged that
aboriginal people have a right to fish and sell their catch. Native people
were systematically shut out of the fishery twenty-six years ago through
imposed government regulation. For members of First Nations communities on
the east coast of Canada, the ruling, known as the Marshall Decision, points
to the nation-to-nation nature of relations between Canada and the member
nations of the Wabanaki Confederacy (including the Mi kmaq and the Maliseet
Nations) and reaffirms their original treaty rights. The prospect of
earning a living, without leaving their home communities or being harassed
by Canadian government authorities, encouraged Mi kmaq people to invest in
lobster fishing equipment and boats, often putting themselves into debt.

Local non-native fishers reacted strongly against the Marshall Decision,
claiming that fishing by aboriginal people in the fall would reduce the
catch available to non-natives licenced to fish in the spring. On October 3,
1999, commercial fishers from several surrounding non-native communities
joined together and destroyed the native-owned lobster traps, resulting in
the loss of nearly $250,000 of fishing equipment and ultimately a loss of
income of a much larger magnitude. Government officials, including the RCMP,
the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Coast Guard, stood by and
watched as the destruction proceeded. Several weeks later, after some Mi
kmaq community members put out traps a second time, they discovered DFO
officials pulling up and confiscating their traps, under the pretext of
"saving" them from non-native fishers.

In spite of extensive media documentation, only a few non-native fishers
have been charged (with minor offences), and then only after a public
outcry. To date, the Mi kmaq people have yet to receive compensation for
their losses, despite governmental suggestions that this should happen. As
the spring season draws near, and many people are still suffering under the
losses incurred last fall, concerns are mounting that compensation needs to
be addressed immediately so that native fishers can  be ready to fish in the
spring.

CPT calls on the Canadian government and the Department of Fisheries and
Oceans to compensate Mi kmaq people immediately for the cost of equipment
destroyed and loss of income incurred by the cutting, destruction and
removal of their traps in the fall of 1999.  Additionally, since the Mi kmaq
and Maliseet people in New Brunswick have been shut out of the fishing
industry for the past twenty-five years, there is also a need for funding to
train people to regain the skills they were unable to learn from previous
generations of fishers in their communities. ____________________ Christian
Peacemaker Teams is an initiative among Mennonite and Church of the Brethren
congregations and Friends Meetings that supports violence reduction efforts
around the world. Contact CPT, PO Box 72063, 1562 Danforth Ave., Toronto ON
M4J 5C1, TEL 416-421-7079; CPT, POB 6508 Chicago, IL 60680, TEL 312-455-1199
FAX 312-432-1213. To subscribe to news or discussion of CPT issues by
e-mail, fill out the form found on our WEB page at
http://www.prairienet.org/cpt/
 

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