Latest news with #AssemblyofNovaScotiaMi'kmawChiefs
CBC
17-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
On the banks of a Nova Scotia river, Mi'kmaw elver fishers defy Ottawa
As night falls along the banks of the Fitzroy River, Tabitha Morrison pauses from dipping her net for baby eels, and explains why she believes Ottawa's rules shouldn't govern Indigenous fishers. "We're out here trying to make a living," said the Mi'kmaw fisher in an interview Tuesday about 50 kilometres west of Halifax, where headlamps of 15 other fishers intermittently brightened the tidal waters. "There are catch limits we follow .... We have the right to self-govern ourselves and that's exactly what we're doing," said Morrison, 38. The member of Sipekne'katik First Nation was harvesting baby eels, known as elvers, migrating along the waterway — even as the federal Fisheries Department had assigned the harvesting rights in the river to a non-Indigenous, commercial licence holder. After chaos and violence on the water led to the closure of last year's elver fishery, the Fisheries Department transferred half the total catch from commercial licence holders — without compensating them — to Mi'kmaw communities. The government's goal for the 2025 season was to create a calmer, monitored fishery, where new Indigenous participants would harvest elvers within a federal system that tracked the catch from the river to the point of export. Twenty Mi'kmaw communities were asked to become "new entrants," receiving almost 5,000 kilograms of the roughly 10,000-kilogram total allowable catch per season. Prices vary, but in recent years, the juvenile eels have fetched between $3,000 and $5,000 per kilogram before they were shipped to Asia. However, three First Nations, including Sipekne'katik, have sent letters rejecting participation in the new system, saying that their treaty rights prevail over federal regulations, and indicating they'll operate their own quotas and monitoring system. Tegan Maloney, 18, was among the Sipekne'katik fishers on the river Tuesday, saying that harvesting elvers has become a spring tradition for his family over the past three years. The harvester said that when Ottawa's offer to his community, located about 60 kilometres north of Halifax, was presented at a meeting earlier this year, fishers made it clear the quotas they would receive under the new system weren't enough. "It wasn't much for our community," he said of the Fisheries Department's offer. "We have closer to 200 fishers ... and when that gets split up, and with lower prices [this year], that doesn't end up being much," he said. He said Sipekne'katik created its own fisheries plan, with each community member required to keep a catch log, with a maximum of 12 kilograms of elvers allocated to each fisher — more than double the five kilograms per fisher the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs says other bands accepted under Ottawa's plan. Also on the river late Tuesday night was Mark Weldon, a veteran commercial fisher with Atlantic Elver Fishery. He's been an elver fisher for more than two decades and recalls many years of working quietly in groups of two or three. Under Ottawa's new system, the number of rivers his company is allowed to access has shrunk to five from 10, he said. In an interview, the 62-year-old said he's noticed the occasional arrival on the river of Mi'kmaw fishers "making a statement," adding, "it's been kind of encumbering us and we keep looking over our shoulders and it makes me a bit nervous, to be quite honest." "There is a lack of political will to police it properly.... I just called [fisheries officials] to report illegal dippers here this evening." For his part, Maloney said his fishing is part of a fundamental treaty right, rather than "a privilege" bestowed by the federal government. Meanwhile, he noted there has been growing hostility with federal fisheries officers in recent days. Last week, tensions erupted on the Tangiers River, east of Halifax, when an Indigenous fisher was arrested following an alleged altercation with an officer. Maloney says he sees fisheries officers "everywhere.... They are taking gear without pressing charges. Many times throughout the years, I've had gear taken from me that was never returned ... and I was not charged." Asked if his band and the eight commercial licence holders could coexist under a single system, Maloney said, "not this year," but he added that "in the future I hope we can have a respectful and sustainable fishery for everybody." The federal Fisheries Department said in a March 18 letter to Sipekne'katik's chief and council that it has sought "with limited success" to consult the band "for many months." Doug Wentzell, director of the Maritimes region, wrote to Chief Michelle Glasgow to indicate he remained available to discuss the federal offer. The chief did not respond to an emailed request for an interview. WATCH | Matthew Cope also plans to fish for baby eels without DFO authorization: At the riverside, a Mi'kmaw fisherman will defy DFO's elver plan 24 days ago Duration 7:08 Matthew Cope plans to fish for baby eels in the coming weeks, but the Millbrook First Nation man will do so without authorization from the Department of Fisheries. He expects to be stopped and even arrested by fisheries officers, but maintains he has a treaty right to fish for elvers. He spoke to the CBC's Richard Cuthbertson. Morrison says if her band submitted to the federal system, she and other fishers would be subject to "being micromanaged" by the government. "It's another form of systemic racism.... We're out here trying to make a living, trying to make a little money and we're being labelled as poachers, and I don't think half of Canada even knows about our treaties," she said.
CBC
28-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Mi'kmaw chiefs reject fracking in Nova Scotia
Days after Premier Tim Houston's government passed legislation that lifts the provincial moratorium on hydraulic fracturing for onshore natural gas, Mi'kmaw leaders in Nova Scotia are making their position clear and threatening legal action. "The Mi'kmaq of Nova Scotia and the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs continue to remain opposed to hydraulic fracturing and will not see it happen in our unceded and traditional territory," reads a letter to the premier that is signed by the 13 chiefs who comprise the assembly. The letter was posted on social media Thursday night. On Friday, the assembly released a statement saying that they are looking into filing an injunction into the province's law-making process on fracking and uranium mining because the government is making decisions "about the lands and waters in the unceded and traditional territory of the Mi'kmaq, without any real consideration of the rights holders." "Environmental racism is a real thing," Chief Michelle Glasgow is quoted as saying in the release. "The Province of Nova Scotia and Premier Houston are making decisions and moving at a speed that appears rooted in racist and colonial practices. They continue to marginalize the voices, position and concerns of the Mi'kmaq." New direction for government The chiefs have been at odds with Houston and his government since a recent policy shift by the Progressive Conservatives that focuses on the development of the province's natural resources. When Houston announced the new direction in January, he said the province needs to develop its natural resources to make Nova Scotia more financially self-sufficient at a time when Canada faces the threat of tariffs from the United States government. In announcing the shift, Houston said his government was taking on unnamed special interests and professional protesters whom he accused of pressuring previous governments and holding back the province's economic development potential. The premier was after a letter from the assembly reminding him of the legal requirement for First Nations consultation. Houston heard from the assembly about the need for consultation again following the introduction of Bill 6, the legislation that lifts the fracking moratorium and ban on uranium exploration and mining. That prompted a meeting with the premier, L'nu Affairs Minister Leah Martin and the chiefs. Interest from industry On Tuesday at Province House, Houston told reporters that the meeting he and Martin had with the chiefs was "productive." The government needs to "continue to have a discussion with [the chiefs] and involve them and share more information with them as things go forward," the premier said. In its statement Friday, assembly members said they were speaking out to dispel any notion that they were "properly consulted and/or on board with these recent provincial decisions." "These implications are inaccurate and skirt the truth about how discussions with the Mi'kmaq are really going." The Progressive Conservatives pushed ahead with Bill 6 unamended despite the concerns of the chiefs and members of the public who made written submissions and in-person presentations to the legislature's public bills committee. Although there was industry support for uranium exploration and mining during that committee meeting, there were no supportive presentations for fracking. Energy Minister Trevor Boudreau later told reporters that officials in his department are aware of companies with interest in the legislative changes happening in Nova Scotia. Boudreau said lifting the fracking moratorium is "an opportunity for us to look at what is the art of the possible." "A hundred per cent of our natural gas either comes from or flows through the United States," he said. 'It's time to have the discussion' Earlier this week, the premier acknowledged the pushback the plan to lift the fracking moratorium has received. He and Boudreau have been steadfast that no project would be approved without a rigorous environmental assessment that shows it can happen without compromising environmental or human health. "It's OK for Nova Scotians to have a bit of nervousness about a change in having these discussions," said Houston. "That's OK. I share that. That's why we know that we'll have an effective process going forward, but it's time to have the discussion on the development of our natural resources. For the most part, I think Nova Scotians are on board with that."
CBC
05-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
N.S. Mi'kmaw chiefs say they should have been consulted on natural resources legislation
Social Sharing The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs is again calling out Premier Tim Houston for a lack of consultation as the provincial government pushes a new emphasis on natural resource development. A letter from the chiefs to Houston on Tuesday criticized the premier for not consulting the assembly before his government tabled legislation that, among other things, would create the potential for fracking for onshore natural gas and repeal a ban on uranium exploration and mining. "The assembly has strongly opposed hydraulic fracturing and uranium mining in the past," reads the letter signed by Chief Carol Potter, Chief Cory Julian and Chief Tamara Young. The chiefs go on to say "it is unacceptable" for the government to fast-track natural resource extraction that could affect the environment and their treaty rights. "All resource extraction developments and strategic level planning decisions impacting our unceded lands must be accompanied by consultation and discussions of compensation and mitigation." The proposed changes are part of Bill 6, omnibus legislation MLAs are debating at Province House. Since January, Houston has said the province must do more to harness natural resources to help make Nova Scotia's economy more stable and self-sufficient at a time when the entire country faces economic threats and uncertainty associated with tariffs from the United States government. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump confirmed that his government is moving ahead with 25 per cent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico. In their letter to the premier, the chiefs write that they are not opposed to "ethical and well-planned" development that respects their treaty rights and provides opportunity for their people. "However, when the province pushes through hurried legislative changes that reverse longstanding policies in the name of Nova Scotia being 'open for business,' it sends a clear message that our rights and our voices do not matter to this administration." Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton told reporters at Province House that the tabling of the bill represents the start of a conversation, one he was adamant would include Mi'kmaw leadership. "Those consultations have to happen. There's no question about that," he said. "We respect the relationship we have with our Mi'kmaw chiefs and that's not going to differ. We will have consultation and conversations with them on every single project." Rushton said there was urgency on the part of the government to get the bill before the House as it contends with a new economic reality under the Trump administration. He said that was also a contributing factor in the government pursuing the initiative, despite not campaigning on it during the recent provincial election. Since the renewed emphasis on resource development, Houston and his government have portrayed themselves as taking on unnamed special interest groups and "professional protesters" they say have prevented the province from previously capitalizing on its resource potential. Rushton shied away from the adversarial tone the premier and some ministers have taken on the issue, saying "everybody has a special interest in everything" when they come to him. "It doesn't matter what side it is. I consider all points of views when they come to my table to have those conversations." 'Disrespectful and surprising' NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it is "unbelievably important" for the government to consult with the Mi'kmaq, something that she noted is required by law. "It is, I think, disrespectful and surprising that this isn't something that this government would have considered when springing this natural resources strategy upon us," she told reporters. Interim Liberal Leader Derek Mombourquette said it is "completely unacceptable" that there was not consultation with the assembly before Bill 6 was tabled. The Mi'kmaq "bring knowledge, they bring a wealth of experience and history to it and it really builds the foundation of social licence for these projects," he told reporters. A focus on critical minerals The chiefs previously wrote to Houston last month to voice concerns about a lack of consultation before the session at the legislature started and there were strong signals that something like Bill 6 was coming. They also wrote to the government last fall regarding concerns about consultation on legislation related to offshore wind development. The premier was in Toronto on Monday and Tuesday for the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference to promote opportunities in the province. The government announced on Tuesday that the Natural Resources Department would use $1 million in federal funding for projects to study how critical minerals can be extracted from new and previously developed sites, such as historic mine tailings sites, and to create a model of critical mineral potential in the province.
