A nearly $260-million initiative by the federal government aimed at expanding fisheries access to First Nation communities is being met with questions from Mi’kmaw and non-Indigenous representatives alike.
The three-year project by Fisheries and Oceans Canada was included in last month’s fall economic statement under the heading of Indigenous reconciliation.
The aim is to “further implement the right of 34 [Mi’kmaw] and Wolastoqey Nations and the Peskotomuhkati Nation at Skutik to fish in pursuit of a moderate livelihood under the 1760-61 Peace and Friendship Treaties, as upheld in the Marshall decisions,” according to a statement from DFO spokesperson Axel Rioux.
“Funding can be used towards the purchase of access, vessels and gear, and to support development and testing of governance and management structures, as well as participation in discussions with DFO at fisheries negotiation tables, with the aim of reaching long-term collaborative management agreements.”
The department would not make anyone available for an interview.
Mi’kmaw chiefs have questions
A spokesperson for Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn, a group that negotiates on behalf of Mi’kmaw chiefs, said in a statement that officials are still trying to determine what the federal program could mean for Mi’kmaq and their treaty right to fish.
“While we appreciate DFO expressing support for our court-affirmed right to fish for a livelihood, their proposed funding framework also raises a number of questions, which will need to be discussed further amongst the nation and with DFO,” Crystal Dorey said in a statement
Dorey said those conversations are scheduled to happen in the coming days.
In a letter last week to commercial industry reps, regional director general of DFO Maritimes Region said the funding through the Atlantic Integrated Commercial Fisheries Initiative is to assist First Nations gaining additional commercial fisheries access through “willing buyer/willing seller transactions in the open market.”
“Our renewed support will continue to be guided by the three key principles publicly announced by the department in 2021: conservation and sustainability of fish stocks; implementation of treaty rights; and transparent and stable management of fisheries,” wrote Doug Wentzell.
More than $1B spent
Since the Marshall decisions, which said First Nations have a treaty right to fish for a moderate livelihood but also Ottawa can exert limitations if there are justifiable concerns about conservation, the federal government has spent more than a billion dollars in an effort to increase First Nations’ access to various fisheries.
The statement from DFO noted that one difference in this case is that First Nations will use the funding to negotiate directly with willing sellers to buy things such as licences, boats and gear.
In his letter to industry, Wentzell said DFO remains committed to maintaining open communication and collaboration with the fishing industry to advance reconciliation and support transparency related to the implementation of Indigenous rights.
But one commercial industry rep said the department is going about it the wrong way.
“This is not related to fairness or reconciliation,” Colin Sproul, president of the Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance, said in a recent interview.
“The truth is that Atlantic Canada’s coastal communities have paid their share of the price of reconciliation that deserves to be borne by all Canadians equally.”
Sproul said past efforts by Ottawa to buy fisheries access for First Nations members has served to drive up the price of licences and gear for anyone looking to get into fishing. It’s also not ensured all members actually have the ability to fish, he said, because some First Nations choose to lease those licences out to non-Indigenous fishermen.
That’s prompted ongoing concerns from commercial fishing representatives about illegal fishing that happens outside regulated seasons and is not associated with treaty fisheries.
Rights require ongoing adjustments
Sproul said the issue could be solved if the federal government made regulatory stipulations that licences transferred through this new program can only be fished by treaty rights holders.
“That one regulation can solve this problem for everybody,” he said.
In his statement, Rioux said DFO does not have targets for the percentage of the overall fishery or individual fisheries to be transferred to First Nations in Atlantic Canada.
He said the Supreme Court of Canada acknowledged in the Marshall decisions that what is required to implement the right to fish would vary over time from community to community, resource to resource, and species to species.
“Therefore, the right to fish in pursuit of a moderate livelihood is not frozen in time and requires ongoing implementation and adjustments over time,” he said.
