The ‘lobster wars’ rocked Atlantic Canada two decades ago.
It was 21 years ago that a small fleet of Esgenoôpetitj fishing boats took to the waters off western New Brunswick, where the Miramichi River meets the ocean. They had been fishing for lobster in the weeks before as part of their ceremonial fishery, harvesting enough for a feast that would take place at the end of their annual powwow. But on Sept. 17, 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada had released a ruling on Donald Marshall’s case. The Mi’kmaq man had been arrested in Cape Breton, N.S., in 1993 for catching and selling eels out of season. His case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which formally acknowledged the right of Indigenous people to fish year-round for a moderate livelihood. >click to read< 09:46
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