Terror, violence and organized crime: Inside the lawless East Coast fishery
In the chill dark of a March night on a Nova Scotia river, a hip-wader-wearing woman put Canda’s sovereignty to the test. Or rather, the 40 or so net-wielding members of Sipekne’katik First Nation on the opposite bank were calling Canada’s bluff. They caught juvenile American eels (elvers) under their own band-issued licenses in defiance of a Fisheries Act requiring them to have licenses approved by the federal fisheries minister. “I think it was the fourth call to DFO I asked their dispatch if they could say whether any officers were on duty,” said Suzy Edwards, a commercial elver harvester. “They wouldn’t. We flagged down a passing RCMP officer and he said they’d been told to stand down on elver-related matters.” The lucrative East Coast fishery — lobster is Canada’s most valuable seafood export — has been made a testing ground for federal government reconciliation policies. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:51
Leave a Reply