Tag Archives: Marilynn-Leigh Francis

‘If I lose my right, I have nothing’: A Mi’kmaw fisherwoman’s fight for her right to fish

For the last 21 years, Marilynn-Leigh Francis has dropped her lobster traps near Digby, N.S. She said she has a right to fish there as a Mi’kmaw woman in Canada. However, Francis said The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has seized several of her traps, because they said the traps fall outside of Canadian fishing regulations. “They tell me that the fishing I’m doing in their eyes is illegal. But they have no grounds to charge me,”,,, >click to read<

Mi’kmaw woman seeks to charge Canada with theft for seizing fishing gear

A Mi’kmaw woman from Acadia First Nation in Nova Scotia has asked the RCMP to charge the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) with theft for seizing lobster traps she laid while fishing by inherent right, outside of Canadian fishing regulations. Marilynn-Leigh Francis and her three nephews dropped 19 lobster traps into St. Mary’s Bay at the beginning of August. Last week, Francis confronted DFO officers on the water after they pulled them back up. Seeing the seizure as unwarranted, Francis called the RCMP and filed a complaint asking the police to charge DFO with theft. It was the second time she had filed a complaint against DFO, she said. As far as she knows, no charges have been laid. >click to read<13:07