Exploring Stakeholder: "Government of Canada"

Toronto Star: HALIFAX – Federal conservation officers have seized more than 7,000 lobster traps in the two years since violence flared in Nova Scotia when a First Nation tried to assert a treaty right by fishing out of season. Earlier this month, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans confirmed it had confiscated almost 2,000 traps...

Mar. 16, 2022: Timmins Today – A coalition of conservationists, environmentalists and lawyers want Ottawa’s Ring of Fire environmental assessment process to be broadened in size and scope to include industrial centres like Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury. In a March 15 letter sent to three federal cabinet ministers, the group is calling for a...

Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiation Office – Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs (Assembly) met with Minister Bernadette Jordan, Department of Fisheries and Oceans; Minister Carolyn Bennett, CIR and Minister Marc Miller, ISC to further discuss how the Mi’kmaq will be exercising their right to fish for a moderate livelihood. The Assembly pushed for Canada to accept...

Global News – …a flotilla of non-Indigenous fishermen removed about 350 lobster traps off the coast of southwestern Nova Scotia…under the watch of RCMP, coast guard boats and police helicopters. “The gear that we were collecting was what was in violation of the law,” Colin Sproul, President of the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association...

Ku’ku’kwes News: In a letter dated April 30, the chair for the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) asked Leslie Norton, Canada’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland to explain what Canada has done to: Investigate alleged acts of racism, violence and vandalism against Mi’kmaw fishers and supporters Investigate...

Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiation Office – The community of Potlotek First Nation has now filed a legal proceeding against DFO challenging the validity of the DFO regime in its limitations of Mi’kmaw livelihood harvesting activities. “We are filing for a declaration that the Fisheries Act and Regulations are invalid as against authorized Mi’kmaw harvesters who are...

APTN – Mi’kmaw lobster harvesters in Nova Scotia have launched legal action against Canada’s attorney general, RCMP, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), and 29 non-Indigenous fishers including the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association (BFIFA) for the events around the launch of the Moderate Living Fishery in September 2020...

Department of Fisheries – Introduced a path forward for Moderate Livelihood Fishing Plans based on three key principles: implementation of First Nations Treaty rights conservation and sustainability of fish stocks, and transparent and stable management of the fishery. The Sipekne’katik First Nation and the The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs reject the plan The...

Global News – The Sipekne’katik First Nation has filed a court action against the Attorney General of Nova Scotia to challenge a provincial regulation on purchasing fish products, saying it’s unconstitutional. This regulation orders that any fish products sold in Nova Scotia must be caught and registered under a commercial licence with the Department of...

The Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance (UFCA) – a newly formed alliance of commercial fishery stakeholders, is calling on the Government of Canada to establish clear, lasting, responsible, regulatory oversight for all fisheries – commercial, food, social, and ceremonial. Established in Nov. 2020, the UFCA represents thousands of multi-species commercial fishermen, fishery associations, and associated businesses from...

Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiation Office – Representatives of the DFO Conservation and Protection (C&P) officers, who seized traps from Potlotek and Eskasoni authorized harvesters, refused to attend the consultation discussions (between DFO and Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs) to explain their actions and DFO representatives in attendance said they would not exercise authority over C&P...

Sipekne’katik First Nation awarded an interim injunction “authorizing police to arrest anyone whose interference, blockades or threats keep the community from carrying out its fishery… Chief Michael Sack has indicated that “The plan…includes conservation measures, regulations for the boats and their safety and compliance officers”. The main concern for the non-Indigenous fisherman is the sale...

Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiation Office – Mi’kmaw harvesters from the Potlotek Mi’kmaw community will exercise their inherent right to fish for a moderate livelihood under their communities own self-governed fisheries plan. The harvesters will take to the waters of St. Peter’s Bay on the annual celebration of Treaty Day, a date to recognize and honor the...

Toronto Star – “In its 1999 Marshall decision – borne of a court case against Mi’kmaw fisherman and icon Donald Marshall – the Supreme Court affirmed the right of First Nations to hunt, fish and gather in pursuit of a “moderate livelihood.”” 21 years later, the federal government has failed to define “moderate livelihood. The...

CBC – The Federal Government continuing to rely on a Specific Claims process that according to Peter Di Gangi, a board member at the First Nations-led research centre Yellowhead Institute, is the federal government’s conflict of interest. “The claims are against the federal government. At the same time, it controls the negotiation process, controls the...

Muskotew Sakahikan Enowuk, the traditional Government of the Lubicon Lake Nation, outlined a number of remaining concerns faced by the First Nation, despite a recently announced Treaty Land Entitlement Settlement between Lubicon Lake Band #453 (the “Band”), Alberta and Canada. The Nation is the traditional governance structure of the Lubicon Cree people which has functioned...