Abject failure’: Sen. Murray Sinclair criticizes federal response to Mi’kmaw fishery dispute – CBC
Senator discusses ongoing tension in N.S. as part of Ask Me Anything series
The federal government’s response to ongoing tensions over Indigenous fishing rights has been “an abject failure,” Sen. Murray Sinclair said.
“I’m disheartened by the fact that the government’s leadership — the leadership of this country — is not stepping up to the plate,” Sinclair told CBC Radio’s Cross Country Checkup on Sunday.
Tensions have flared between non-Indigenous fishermen and Mi’kmaw fishers in southwest Nova Scotia following the launch of a lobster fishery by Sipekne’katik First Nation outside the federally mandated commercial season.
A landmark 1999 Supreme Court decision affirmed the right of First Nations people on Canada’s East Coast to earn a “moderate livelihood” from fishing. Commercial fishers who say that the fishery is illegal have pushed back on the move, raiding and vandalizing facilities that store lobster caught by Mi’kmaw fishers.
