Consider just a few recent dispatches from Canada’s fraught fishing front: On March 3, 2021, federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan announced Ottawa will not license any Indigenous moderate livelihood fishery in Atlantic Canada this year that does not operate within the official commercial season. She threatened to deploy an increased complement of fisheries officers, backed...
Lobster: the last, best fishery
Part 2: The new cod?
Lobster stocks in Atlantic Canada have been flourishing in recent years, ironically not just because of conservation measures, but also because of two ecological disasters — the collapse of groundfish stocks and climate change. But can the lobster fishery survive with current rates and rules for harvesting as waters continue to warm and ecosystems change? […]
Lobster: the last, best fishery
Part 1: Stocks are healthy, but why?
Lobster stocks in Atlantic Canada have been flourishing in recent years, ironically not just because of conservation measures, but also because of two ecological disasters — the collapse of groundfish stocks and climate change. But can the lobster fishery survive with current rates and rules for harvesting as waters continue to warm and ecosystems change? […]
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Morning File, Friday, November 6, 2020
A quick note. Years ago, we picked November as the best month for the Halifax Examiner’s annual subscription drive because it was after summer vacations and the hassle and fuss over back-to-school, but before the Christmas rush. That was before 2020, back when there was order and stability to the world and the calendar brought […]
In Search of Common Ground: An interview with Arthur Bull about the lobster fishery crisis in St. Mary’s Bay
It’s been more than a month since the Sipekne’katik First Nation launched its own self-regulated lobster fishery off the Saulnierville wharf in Southwest Nova Scotia — 21 years after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the Marshall decision, affirming the 1760-61 Treaty Rights of the Mi’kmaq to fish for a “moderate livelihood.” For weeks […]
Reading, from books to Coffee News
Morning File, Tuesday, October 20, 2020
News 1. Goldboro LNG plant: no guaranteed loans, no definite source of gas Yesterday, the Examiner published the first installment of Joan Baxter’s new two-part series on the proposed LNG plant near Port Hawkesbury. In the intro to the piece, called “The Goldboro Gamble,” Baxter writes: Not much about the project’s prospective financing and gas […]
Can we have a fuller conversation about racism?
Morning File, Monday, October 19, 2020
News 1. Arrests in violent attacks The RCMP announced two arrests over the weekend related to the violence in Southwest Nova Scotia. The first arrest was related to the attack on Chief Michael Sack: RCMP charge man with assault of Chief Sack October 17, 2020, New Edinburgh, Nova Scotia…Meteghan RCMP have laid charges in relation […]
The fishery of frustration
The real reason for the recent confrontations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous fishers is that Ottawa has failed abysmally for more than two decades to negotiate with First Nations to define what constitutes a moderate living.
Mi’kmaw fishermen were frustrated. On Sept. 17, 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada had reaffirmed rights established in peace and freedom treaties with the British more than 200 years before. Those treaties had guaranteed them the right to fish and hunt and pursue what the court called, without explaining, a “moderate livelihood.” Two months later,...
Kipple and bots
Morning File, Wednesday, September 23, 2020
News 1. The Nova Scotia mass murderer may have done a dry run Tim Bousquet reports on revelations from court documents that the man behind the April 18-19 murders, who the Examiner calls GW, may have visited several key locations before the killings. In partially redacted court documents, GW’s common-law spouse says the pair “drove […]
A moderate livelihood
Morning File, Monday, September 21, 2020
News 1. Northwood review announcement coming today The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage free. What will health minister Randy Delorey announce today? Who knows? Whatever it is, Stephen Kimber is not expecting anything too earth-shattering. In his weekly Halifax Examiner column, Kimber writes: [Delorey] may unveil some part of some pre-selected, non-binding recommendations […]