The Constitution is Under Attack

A joint statement from the CRP Leadership Circle

October 22, 2020

Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians alike have watched the conflict over inherent and treaty fishing rights to lobster on the East Coast in disappointment and deep concern.  It is hard to believe, more than 5 years after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was concluded and the federal government committed to meeting all 94 calls to action, that we see yet another conflict over Indigenous harvesting rights in their traditional territories. There are persistent misunderstandings about our collective responsibilities to uphold aboriginal rights enshrined in the Canadian constitution and in UNDRIP. Such continued inability to uphold these responsibilities, on the part of the general public and Crown agencies such as DFO and RCMP, undermine progress on reconciliation and challenge our ability to continue to advance Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, which are rooted in the constitutional relationship between Indigenous and Crown governments.

One particularly concerning dimension to this conflict is the weaponization of ‘conservation’ against the M’ikmaq people. Commercial fishers and others in the region express concern over the Mi’kmaq people’s capacity to manage their moderate livelihood fishery sustainably and suggest that it will undermine conservation. This is an old line of argument rooted in racist rationales used to justify European colonization – a persistent belief that Indigenous governance and knowledge is lesser than western governance and knowledge reveals how the Doctrine of Discovery continues to shape resource conflict today. Both Indigenous and Western science bears witness to the many ways Indigenous approaches to harvesting is well aligned with conservation goals and Indigenous managed lands and waters are more biodiverse and more abundant than lands and waters managed by non-Indigenous governments. Bluntly, the conflict is not about conservation  it is about power. There are simply no grounds upon which to claim that the Mi’kmaq lobster fishery is undermining the conservation of this species which is experiencing historically high numbers.  This attempt to undermine Indigenous rights by using ‘conservation’ in the absence of any evidence from either Indigenous knowledge or western science is an attack on our constitution and a contravention of the 1999 Marshall supreme court decision and subsequent case law that affirms Mi’kmaq rights to fishing for a moderate livelihood. Systematic racism continues to infuse natural resource management in this country.

Since the arrival of settlers on the shores of Mi’kmaqi territory, Mi’kmaq peoples have treated settlers with love and respect as demonstrated through the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1752. Despite decades of assimilation and genocidal policies aimed at Indigenous peoples, we are receiving the same direction from Mi’kmaq Elder Albert Marshall today. He reminds us to not let hate define who we are and instead choose love as a way forward and that with love comes responsibility to uphold those relations. In the days and weeks ahead, we will need to allow love to show us the way to greater understanding to heal the damage that has been done to relationships in Nova Scotia. We encourage everyone involved to hold up their responsibilities to each other. As a demonstration of solidarity and to remind the fishers whose livelihood is threatened that they are loved and supported, please consider donating to Sipekne’katik First Nation by contacting MONICAH@SIPEKNEKATIK.CA.