Decades after the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed the inherent right of Indigenous people to hunt and fish, both for sustenance and a #ModerateLivelihood, the Canadian Government has yet to work with the First Nations Peoples signatory to the Peace and Friendship Treaties to establish a reasonable definition of what that means.
Chief Michael Sack said,
“We’ll define our own moderate livelihood. We’re not here to have anybody decide anything for us. We’ll decide as a Mi'kmaq nation and and move forward that way.”
Which is why the Sipekne'katik First Nation decided to establish its own fishery infrastructure, launched exactly 21 years after the SCC’s Marshall decision. Donald Marshall Jr.’s son Randy Sack received the first of the seven moderate livelihood licenses (50 tags each) issued by the Sipekne'katik Fishery to the Indian Brook band on September 17th. To date a total of 10 licenses, each allows the licensee to use a maximum of 50 traps. That is a total of 500 traps. Contrast that with the 900,000 traps used by the Commercial Fisheries.
The reaction by Commercial Fishers has been violent, and Indigenous fishers have faced threats and intimidation, been shot at with flare guns, had their gear stolen or vandalized, trucks and boats destroyed, and since a Lobster Pound that dealt with Commercial and Indigenous fishers was targeted, vandalized and destroyed, others are refusing to do business with them. Today Chief Sack got a Court Injunction to help protect his people and their Moderate Livelihood Fishery.
“Charles: I think a lot of people don’t fully understand what the Indigenous communities’ rights are. They don’t fully understand that the First Nations have rights that are different from the privileges to fish that non-Natives have.” — Hakai Magazine: Mi’kmaw Fishery Dispute Is Not About Conservation, Scientists Say
https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/mikmaw-fishery-dispute-is-not-about-conservation-scientists-say/