Latest news with #Mi'kmaw
CBC
4 days ago
- General
- CBC
'It's frustrating and tiring': Another western Newfoundland daycare faces government delays
The Mi'kmaw Cultural Foundation in Stephenville is trying to open a registered child-care centre in a newly leased building, but it's stuck in a limbo period while waiting on provincial government approval to move forward with renovations. "It's frustrating and tiring. We are exhausted," Jeffrey Young, president and CEO of the foundation, told CBC News. Young applied for the child-care capacity initiative funding through the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in early January. The funding program is designed for not-for-profit organizations, like the Mi'kmaw Cultural Foundation, to develop regulated child-care services where the need has been identified. He said there was a strong response from staff in the regional office, but he is stuck waiting for an approval from the minister's office for the next phase of the project. "It's been this ongoing … silence and no responses. We were initially told by one of the employees in the department to give it a six-month period for you guys to be open. That was in January. We are coming up on six months and we don't even have Phase 2 approved by the government," said Young. The approval would allow renovations, staffing and furniture purchases for the newly rented space, which already has multiple conference rooms, playrooms, two kitchens, bathrooms and access to the outdoors. Young said he has emailed and phoned the department's current and old ministers, and contacted opposition parties about his concerns. Just 24 kilometres away in St. George's, child-care operators face similar frustrations with governments this month, as they wait to open a registered daycare to accommodate an already long waitlist. Young says he is getting calls and emails every day from Stephenville residents wanting to know when the daycare might open. "We needed this daycare yesterday, not tomorrow. People are needing this service now. If the government don't speed things up, we are going to be losing people in our community, and maybe even our province," he said. "Because the services are not here. People want to go to work." While the Education and Early Childhood Development departments wouldn't do an interview with CBC News, Angela Sullivan, a communications director, sent an e-mailed statement. "The department carefully evaluates each submission to ensure a thorough and fair assessment process. The process considers overall project timelines, commitments to other child-care projects, and long-term viability of projects," Sullivan wrote. There was no mention of the specific southwest coast daycare delays. The Mi'kmaw Cultural Foundation was established over a decade ago to preserve and promote the Mi'kmaw culture in the province. Members work on community-based programming and focus mostly on youth. The goal is to open a registered Indigenous child-care centre and offer the service and employment opportunity within the Bay St. George area. "They are not recognizing the value of the programming we want to offer," said chairperson Ang Brockway. She says culturally relevant learning for children is always beneficial. "We want them to learn from authentic people in our communities who grew up on the land and know these things. We are really committed to offering that type of learning and environment." The Education Department says the government is focused on improving access to high-quality and affordable child care for families across the province, and it's trying to increase spaces to ensure families have access to child-care services. Brockway says her foundation is sick of broken promises and their application is very straightforward with no requests for new builds or massive renovation costs. "They have agreed to the reconciliation piece. They have put it out there that they are ready to do this work. But we are coming up against these barriers that make us think … are you really ready to do reconciliation work or are you relying on the people on the ground working to make everything happen?" Brockway said. "We could have [a] culturally relevant daycare, which is something our province is really lacking." As for Young, he is sitting and waiting for government officials to call so he can move on with the next stage. He says the organization has enough money reserved to rent the large building until the end of the summer.
CBC
29-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Gambo students hope to educate others about Truth and Reconciliation through new art exhibit
A student art exhibit in Gambo, N.L. is honouring the life and legacy of a Mi'kmaw police officer, one year after his death. Patrick Gehue always advocated for Indigenous rights, said his wife Colleen Fox. "He never hid his story. It was never dramatized," Fox told CBC News. "It was all of the good and the bad that prevailed from Indigenous life when you're on a reserve, and then to amalgamate." Gehue, a member of Sipekne'katik First Nation, was the first from his reserve to become a regular member of the RCMP. He moved to Twillingate after finishing basic training. Fox said Gehue closely followed the Indigenous belief that people matter, and she wanted to celebrate his life by creating a project that would educate others about the issues faced by Indigenous people. That led her to reach out to Mi'sel Joe, former chief of Miawpukek First Nation. Joe suggested Fox also contact Jo-Anne Broders, a teacher at Smallwood Academy. Fox said they quickly came up with the idea of the student art project — called Patty Boy's Project — focused on Truth and Reconciliation and the 94 calls to action. "I said perfect. That's a perfect match, it will keep it local, it will keep in Indigenous," said Fox. "Pat would have been so proud of that." Joe had known Gehue since 1988. Gehue had gone to Conne River as part of a police squad with a dozen other officers. He said Gehue was the only police officer to call him by his chief name in Mi'kmaw, Saqamaw. Joe said he's proud of the students for the work they've done. "It's young people, like at the Smallwood Academy, that are going to be future leaders of this country and this land," said Joe. "If they already know what the TRC is all about … then it makes an incredible difference going forward." Student Leah Hunt created a canvas showing her interpretation of the 13th call to action, which calls for acknowledgement that Aboriginal rights include Aboriginal language rights. The painting is of a girl whose long braided hair is being cut. "This signifies that they were cutting off her culture, and I had words from Mi'kmaq and Inuit culture in the braids so it shows they were also cutting off her language," Hunt said. "I know that to spread more awareness, and the importance of understanding the past, it'll truly make our futures brighter, and I hope that every school in Canada can teach this." Student Joseph Bennett created a piece based on his interpretation of the 50th call to action, which calls for equity for Aboriginal people in the legal system. The painting is of the scales of justice, said Bennett, with the Canadian and Mi'kmaw flags on either side. He said he was inspired by the CBC documentary Forgotten Warriors about Conne River's fight for recognition. "It took men having to starve themselves in a hunger strike to push that legal front. That doesn't show much equality in the legal system," said Bennett. Bennett said he thinks students need to be taught more than just facts in order to really understand Indigenous affairs. They need to be shown real life experiences and get involved in educational projects, he said. Both Fox and Joe said they would love for the exhibit to be shown in schools across the province. Fox said the artwork from the project is being made into a textbook that could go out to schools across the country. She said there was a discussion about the exhibit possibly going to Government House in September for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. "I'm really hoping The Rooms will pick it up, the Confederation Building will hold it," she said. "I'd love to see the exhibit travel more."
CBC
22-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Paqtnkek fishers call for unity in Mi'kmaw nation to address elver fishing
Social Sharing Often the first meal given to babies transitioning from their mother's milk and the final meal for elders making their journey to the spirit world, the eel has significance in the Mi'kmaw culture. Kerry Prosper, an elder and councillor from Paqtnkek Mi'kmaw Nation, roughly 240 km northeast of Halifax, is among those concerned for the future of the eels with the surge in elver (baby eel) fishing. There's been increased Mi'kmaw involvement in the industry, but not all Mi'kmaw fishers support elver harvesting. "People need to make a living but we have to really decide how we're going to make a living and what are the consequences to our seven generations, your grandchildren, your great grandchildren," said Prosper. Prosper harvests eels for family and community members, and describes them as a dependable food source for the Mi'kmaw nation, especially in times of food scarcity. The American Eel was assessed as threatened by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) in 2012 but has yet to be listed for protection under the Species At Risk Act. According to COSEWIC's 2012 assessment, the eels face multiple threats: dams acting as barriers to spawning habitat, hydroelectric turbine-related deaths, habitat degradation and parasites. "When you see that happening and you see the collapse of the large eel fishery from commercial fishing and you see the introduction of a baby eel fishery right at the collapse… what's it gonna do and how can you define conservation in that kind of a fishery?" said Prosper. Prosper's appreciation for eel is tied to a place where he has memories of spearing eel – Welneg or "beautiful bay" in Pomquet Harbour just outside Paqtnkek. It was at this spot that Prosper gave permission to Donald Marshall Jr. to fish in 1993 and where he was charged for fishing and selling eels without a licence, leading to over six years of litigation. The Supreme Court of Canada's Sparrow decision in 1990 confirmed that Indigenous people have a constitutional right to fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes. "Donald was thinking, what is social? Can we fish for our communities? Can we trade it? Can we sell it?" said Prosper. "Our treaty said we could and so he was selling eels." The Supreme Court ultimately ruled in his favour in 1999, affirming the Mi'kmaw right under the Peace and Friendship treaties to hunt, fish and gather in the pursuit of a "moderate livelihood." The decision also implicated the Wolastoqiyik and the Peskotomuhkati. Following this decision, the federal government introduced fisheries initiatives for First Nations in the Atlantic provinces, offering equipment, training and regulated access in exchange for federal oversight of the moderate livelihood fisheries. While many Mi'kmaw communities now engage in these federally managed fisheries, others continue to assert their treaty rights independently – particularly in lobster and more recently elver fishing. Prosper said he's proud to see Mi'kmaq exercising their rights but cautions that a unified approach between communities is needed, especially when harvesting a threatened species like eel. "Think about netukulimk, our connection to all of life here, and etuaptmumk, or two-eyed seeing," he said. "I see [the words] in their management plans, but I don't see it in their mind. I don't see it in their heart." Population decline Prosper has passed his teachings on harvesting and respecting eels to his family and his community, Paqtnkek, the only Mi'kmaw community in Nova Scotia choosing not to be involved with the elver fishery. His grandson, Kaeden Prosper, 20, shares this concern. "Eels…they're everything," said Kaeden Prosper. "I grew up fishing them my whole life. It's something I hold dear to my heart." Kaeden Prosper remembers how as a seven-year-old he'd go out on the ice and catch five to 10 eels per hole. He said now after a full day of fishing he's lucky to come home with maybe five eels. "Seeing the population decline, it hurts my heart," he said. "It makes me concerned for my kids." He said his grandfather's generation didn't have the privilege to grow up with acknowledged moderate livelihood rights the way he did. "That right was recognized by eels," he said. "It was eels that brought our rights back, and then here you are abusing that same animal that brought those rights back." Both Kaeden and his grandfather recognize the economic pressures many Mi'kmaw families are facing and say they understand why some have entered the lucrative fishery. But Kerry Prosper said he hopes to see Mi'kmaw communities come together on a shared vision for the future. "[Mi'kmaq] have to go all in together in exercising our treaty rights and respecting them and managing them," he said. "We've got to be a nation."
CBC
21-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Mi'kmaw fishers exercise treaty rights in self-governed fishery
A group of Mi'kmaw elver fishers from Sipekne'katik First Nation in Nova Scotia are fishing under their community's fisheries plans.
CBC
20-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
How Mi'kmaw communities are moving toward self-regulation in commercial elver fishery
As eight Mi'kmaw communities co-ordinate a federally recognized elver fishing plan, and others fish independently, tensions have grown over regulatory confusion and enforcement by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). Here's what you need to now about the complex regulatory landscape surrounding the Mi'kmaw elver fishery. First, a brief look back to the Marshall decision. In 1993, Donald Marshall Jr., a Mi'kmaw man from Membertou First Nation in Nova Scotia, was arrested and charged for fishing and selling eels in Pomquet Harbour, near Antigonish, N.S. Marshall was supported by Mi'kmaw leaders, and believed he was exercising a right guaranteed by the 1760/61 Peace and Friendship treaties, affirming Mi'kmaw rights to trade and commerce. His case went to the Supreme Court and resulted in a landmark decision in 1999 that affirmed the Mi'kmaw right to hunt, fish and gather in the pursuit of a "moderate livelihood." The decision also implicated the Wolastoqiyik and the Peskotomuhkati. A second decision, Marshall II, clarified that the treaty right could only be infringed upon when justified for conservation reasons or other grounds, and Indigenous people must be consulted about any limitation of their treaty rights. Mi'kmaw communities began to assert their treaty right, while the federal government launched new initiatives aimed at managing what courts now recognized as a constitutionally protected right for First Nations in Atlantic Canada. The Marshall decisions have resulted in tensions between First Nations and non-Indigenous fishers over the perceived impact of a treaty rights-based fishery on commercial fishing, with notable conflicts arising in Esgenoopetitj in New Brunswick in 2000 and more recently in Sipekne'katik in Nova Scotia. Elver fishery The Maritime elver fishery began as a small experimental fishery in 1989 with just a handful of licence holders. Over the past two decades, the baby eel fishery's growth in Canada has been explosive. The demand, particularly in Asia, combined with declining eel populations worldwide has driven prices as high as $5,000 per kilogram, making elvers one of Canada's most valuable fish. Harvested primarily in rivers and estuaries in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the tiny eels are caught, shipped live to Asia and raised to adulthood in captivity. In 2019, a number of Mi'kmaw fishers in Nova Scotia entered the elver fishery independently, citing their treaty right to earn a moderate livelihood. That same year, three Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw communities — Annapolis Valley First Nation, Bear River First Nation and Wasoqopa'q First Nation — drafted their own joint elver fishing plans, outside of the regulations of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. In late 2024, eight Mi'kmaw communities develop a unified elver management strategy grounded in Mi'kmaw principles of self-determination, united through the Kwilmu'kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiations Office (KMK), a group that negotiates on behalf of the Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw chiefs. Half of 2025 quota goes to First Nations fishers KMK was able to negotiate with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) for 50 per cent of the overall elver quota for First Nations fishers in the 2025 season — of which the group received almost 20 per cent. The KMK communities fish under their Netukulimk Treaty Right Protected (TRP) elver fishery management plan, which the group says prioritizes conservation and Mi'kmaw self-determination over federal regulation. Justin Martin, KMK's fisheries manager and a member of Millbrook First Nation, said their plan isn't about putting restrictions on moderate livelihood fishing rights, but co-ordinating the implementation of rights in a justifiable conservation-based way. "This TRP fishery is authorized by those eight First Nations and [we're] just a delegate to support that and manage that," said Martin. "We did extensive community engagement, including a survey of over 600 Mi'kmaw individuals, to not only understand their aspirations around livelihood-specific fishing activity, but also their aspirations and and thoughts on the elver fishery." Martin said creating a low-barrier, night-time fishery conducted on multiple rivers can present challenges, but he's hopeful to see the First Nations fishery continue to develop in the coming years. At the same time, three Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw communities — Sipekne'katik First Nation, Millbrook First Nation and Membertou First Nation — have chosen to assert their treaty rights independently. These communities developed their own fishing plans prior to DFO's quota offers and continue to harvest elvers without the federal authorization, backed only by their moderate livelihood fishing rights. Alden Paul, a TRP plan harvester from Eskasoni First Nation, said he sees much in common with the independent fishers despite their different approaches in 2025. "I'm an elver fisherman who's part of an actual plan approved by DFO; I don't feel threatened by a treaty fisher who doesn't have the same plan fishing next to me," said Paul. "Yeah, it might be governed in different ways, but we all have a right to it and we're all there to provide for our families, whether you're part of the TRP or you're a treaty fisher." Paul said he feels fishing through the quotas and regulations is better in terms of safety and minimizing harassment from DFO but worries that working with the federal fisheries department is setting up fishers for failure. Differences between plans cause confusion At the beginning of April, KMK raised concerns in a letter to DFO, about misinformation allegedly being shared by Conservation and Protection Officers (C&P). Issues cited included confusion on fishing area designations and proper net usage, two main distinctions between the DFO and TRP management plans. "We were under the assumption that DFO would respect our constitutionally protected rights throughout this process," said the letter. "C&P's misinformation undermines our conservation efforts and contradicts our plans." The organization also worried misinformation from enforcement officers would be used to justify punitive actions against individual harvesters asserting their treaty rights. DFO said any licence holder or authorized group, like KMK, can set additional parameters for harvesting. "It is the responsibility of the licence holder or authorized group to ensure that their designated harvesters are following their plan," a statement from the department said.
