The Mi’kmaq peoples of Mi’kma’ki, which is now called Nova Scotia, are being attacked by white supremacist lobster fishers because they have an Aboriginal Treaty right to fish and to a moderate livelihood. Full stop. That’s it, that’s all. Call it what it is.
What is happening on the East Coast has nothing to do with conservation or concern for overfishing. It is quite the opposite. White commercial fishermen are outraged that Indigenous peoples are exercising their inherent right to fish and sell their catch. They are outraged that non-white people want to make a moderate livelihood for themselves, and they are outraged that people are supporting the Mi’kmaq and not them.
Mi’kmaq peoples, along with all other Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island, have constitutionally recognized and protected rights. The Mi’kmaq have the right to fish and the right to make a “moderate livelihood”. Mi’kmaq people have the inherent right to fish on the waters off Nova Scotia which is both constitutionally protected and affirmed by the highest courts in Canada; non-Indigenous people don’t.
The tensions on this right to fish have been boiling over in Nova Scotia for decades, not just weeks. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has been notorious in their charging of Mi’kmaq fishers for fishing out of season or fishing without licenses, sending a message to the rest of Nova Scotia and Canada that it is the Mi’kmaq people who are doing something wrong, not the other way around. The DFO should have instead been spending their time implementing the Supreme Court of Canada’s decisions on Aboriginal and Treaty rights, inherent rights, and earning a moderate livelihood. If they had focused their time and money on that, the Mi’kmaq people would have been safely on their boats with their lobster traps instead of paying fines and, recently, defending their lives. Boats are being torched, people are being brutally attacked, and Canadian enforcement is standing by and watching.
The R v Marshall, 1999 SCC decision affirmed that Indigenous peoples, specifically the Mi’kmaq, have a treaty right to hunt, fish and gather in pursuit of a moderate livelihood due to the Peace and Friendship Treaties of 1760 and 1761. These Treaties affect New Brunswick, PEI, parts of Quebec, and, you guessed it, Nova Scotia.
With their Treaty right and the SCC decision behind them, the Sipekne’katik First Nation opened its own fishery in September. September is considered the lobster off-season for fisheries in the area, however, as Treaty right holders, the off-season does not apply to the Sipekne’katik First Nation. The SCC ruled that off-season fishing is a constitutional right of the Mi’kmaq people. Their ability to fish and earn a livelihood is fueling the racist attacks.
So, let’s get this straight: the non-Indigenous peoples in Nova Scotia, who are predominantly white, are outraged to the point of violent action because Indigenous peoples have the constitutional right to fish, to fish off-season, and to earn a livelihood… Read: white supremacists are violently attacking and partaking in illegal criminal activity against Mi’kmaq peoples, fishery equipment, lobsters and lobster traps because they’re mad they don’t get to fish in September, or you know, only earn a moderate livelihood?
And this outrage is coming from commercial fishermen: let’s not forget that. Meaning those who fish purely to make livelihoods that are not legally capped at “moderate”. Is it so outrageous that Indigenous peoples should be allowed to make money? To put food on their tables and clothes on their backs? Shouldn’t we all be outraged that they can only do so to a “moderate” level? Shouldn’t we all be outraged that Indigenous peoples can’t sell their fish for more than moderate levels?
This is all perpetuated by the colonial state, enforcing the values and morals of those who have no concern for the conservation of the lobster, nor those who have any respect for the Treaties they are part of. Not to mention the lives of Mi’kmaq people. None of this is new, so stop acting like this is so crazy; us Indigenous peoples have been enduring this for centuries. It’s time for everyone else to step up with us. Stop tweeting about it and get to work. You’re all Treaty people too. Don’t forget that.