The Recipe for Chaos, Coming Soon to Waters Near You
Pull up treaties signed by representatives of the British crown and indigenous people between 1725 and 1779 when the indigenous population of the entire region numbered roughly 3,000. Then apply them to a population 57 times as large today.
Ensure there is no benchmark in terms of indigenous harvest of fish and wildlife species for any period of their history.
Ignore the language in any of the treaty documents for more than two centuries.
Charge an indigenous fisherman (1993) for fishing out of season, without a license and with an illegal net. (The target of the net was eels. There is no reference to lobster in any of the historic documents referencing indigenous hunting and fishing activity and targeted species.)
Dither for six years while the charges are run through contorted court processes at enormous public expense before being dismissed on the basis that the 250 – 300 year old treaties remained valid and confirmed “a treaty right to hunt, fish and gather in pursuit of a moderate livelihood”.
Back-pedal on the original court ruling when you discover you may have gone too far. Issue a clarification stating that indigenous treaty rights are not unlimited and can be regulated on “conservation concerns or other important public objectives”……but never clarify how either of those will be defined, when and by whom.
Dither for the next 21 years (at inestimable cost) while a rapidly growing indigenous population gains political momentum fuelled by inaction of successive governments, both indigenous and non-indigenous, neither of whose interest is served by agreeing on what moderate livelihood means or how it should be applied.
Refuse to apply the regulations that govern non-indigenous fishers to indigenous fishers and ignore growing discontent.
Ignore the fact that the technology applied to harvesting all marine species outstrips the ability of target species to withstand it unless increasingly regulated. (Northern cod anyone?)
Trot out the other hopelessly ill-defined term, “reconciliation”, and facilitate its application whenever and however it suits the growing demands of the fastest growing population in the country.
Support governments that assume no responsibility for having created present circumstances and have no tangible plan or timetable to address them. Instead, blame commercial fishers licensed and regulated by that same government.
Target the national police force for failing to control licensed commercial fishers whose season is closed for conservation reasons while FN fishers carry on as usual, claiming their treaty right exempts them from the science and commercial fishing regulations intended to manage a resource sustainably. Send reinforcements, not logic.
Blindly accept that our elected representatives are adequately representing the interests of all voters and conservation while negotiating, “government to government”, behind closed doors and never providing any other interests an opportunity to be heard until after agreements are carved in stone.
Three years ago the National Post published a very good summary of the events surrounding the now infamous Mi’kmaq lobster fishery. A friend forwarded it to me this afternoon while I was preparing the above. I include the link here as evidence there are at least some people in the media that “get it”:
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/joh...nment-tries-to
https://steelheadvoices.com/?p=2228