{"id":947,"date":"2020-11-01T14:00:59","date_gmt":"2020-11-01T14:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grasac.artsci.utoronto.ca\/?p=947"},"modified":"2021-02-18T19:58:03","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T19:58:03","slug":"all-eyes-on-mikmaki-as-mikmaq-fight-for-recognition-of-moderate-livelihood-fisheries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grasac.artsci.utoronto.ca\/?p=947","title":{"rendered":"All eyes on Mi\u2019kma\u2019ki as Mi\u2019kmaq fight for recognition of moderate livelihood fisheries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>by Alexander Ross<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The past two months have seen significant violence directed toward Mi\u2019kmaw fishers in Sipekne\u2019katik. This has included threats, vandalism of lobster traps and boats, and even an assault against Sipekne\u2019katik chief Michael Sack. A lobster compound in Middle West Pubnico was vandalized and later\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/nova-scotia\/lobster-facility-nova-scotia-fire-1.5765665\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">burned to the ground<\/a>. This violence has been in response to Sipekne\u2019katik opening its own self-regulated \u201cmoderate livelihood\u201d fishery.<br><br>The inherent and Treaty rights of Mi\u2019kmaq to fish outside of the commercial season and earn a \u201cmoderate livelihood\u201d was affirmed in the Supreme Court of Canada\u2019s 1999\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aptnnews.ca\/tag\/marshall-decision\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Marshall decision<\/a>. For 20 years, Mi\u2019kmaq communities have tried to negotiate with the Government of Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for recognition of Mi\u2019kmaq fisheries. Rather than pursue a true nation-to-nation relationship, the DFO has instead confiscated equipment,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aptnnews.ca\/national-news\/charges-against-mikmaw-lobster-harvester-over-moderate-livelihood-should-be-withdrawn-says-lawyer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">harassed or arrested Mi\u2019kmaw fishers<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/kukukwes.com\/2020\/10\/05\/nova-scotia-chiefs-rejected-87-million-offer-from-dfo-want-moderate-livelihood-defined\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tried to persuade Mi\u2019kmaq not to pursue their right to a moderate livelihood<\/a>. While negotiations are still ongoing, the response to the violence suffered by Sipkne\u2019katik, and other Mi\u2019kmaq communities has been inadequate.<br><br>Thankfully, Indigenous and settler allies across Turtle Island have been engaging in acts of solidarity to support Mi\u2019kmaw fishers as they defend their inherent and Treaty rights. This\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1u_LF_bCFBbSijzqJgHNh4-MfpYz0hfdv\/view?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">document<\/a>\u00a0put together by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheAgentNDN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Agent NDN<\/a>\u00a0offers comprehensive resources for supporting Mi\u2019kmaq treaty rights and moderate livelihood fisheries across Mi\u2019kma\u2019ki. Wela\u2019lioq for any support you can give in this difficult time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Alexander Ross The past two months have seen significant violence directed toward Mi\u2019kmaw fishers in Sipekne\u2019katik. This has included threats, vandalism of lobster traps and boats, and even an assault against Sipekne\u2019katik chief Michael Sack. A lobster compound in Middle West Pubnico was vandalized and later\u00a0burned to the ground. This violence has been in&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/grasac.artsci.utoronto.ca\/?p=947\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-newsletter-stories","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grasac.artsci.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grasac.artsci.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grasac.artsci.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grasac.artsci.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grasac.artsci.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=947"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/grasac.artsci.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":987,"href":"https:\/\/grasac.artsci.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947\/revisions\/987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grasac.artsci.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grasac.artsci.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grasac.artsci.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}