Nova Scotia Goddam
Things are getting really bad in Digby County. Last night a Mi’kmaq lobster boat was torched and completely destroyed in Comeauville, Digby County, just a hop and a skip away from the Saulnierville wharf.
Things are getting really bad in Digby County. Last night a Mi’kmaq lobster boat was torched and completely destroyed in Comeauville, Digby County, just a hop and a skip away from the Saulnierville wharf.
“The enemy of a healthy fishery is not the Mi’kmaq, but corporate profiteers like Mayer-Murphy and Risley who are bent on depleting this resource and resisting Mi’kmaq treaty rights. The Mi’kmaq fishery deserves our full support, while the corporate fishery should be shut down,” writes Chris Frazer.
Liz Goodridge reports on the weekend she spent on the Saulnierville wharf, while Tonya Francis offers up some powerful photos.
Saturday, Sept 26, 11am, Halifax Waterfront (by the big wave)
Mi’kmaw fishers are currently under attack by angry non-indigenous fishers who mistakingly claim that Mi’kmaw fisheries have no basis in Canadian law. Come out to show solidarity with Mi’kmaq people earning a moderate livelihood through the fishery!
“This is our children’s future; this is why we do this. This is why we have been here for 21 years. If we don’t stand up and protect our treaty rights now, who is going to do it down the road?” Journalist Amber Bernard reports from the Saulnierville wharf.
What’s playing out in the waters off Digby is complex, but the bottom line is that both non-Indigenous fishermen and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans are trying to stop Mi’kmaq from exercising their treaty rights.
PSA: On the heels of a similar event in Mahone Bay that drew 300 people, the Twin Bays Coalition is holding a rally in opposition to the provincial government’s plan to impose industrial scale open net pen fish farming in our waters.
Media release: A coalition of fishers, fish plant operators and workers, tourism operators, scientists, environmental organizations and communities will be delivering a message to a Senate committee that is meeting in Halifax this week – the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB) can’t be both a regulator and a promoter of offshore oil and gas drilling.
We had a long chat with Colin Sproul, spokesperson for the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association, about the risks of offshore drilling , why we should care about something so (relatively) distant, and how to get Nova Scotians to realize what’s at stake.