Tag Archives: Minister Bernadette Jordan
Nunavut Inuit suing feds over fishing license allocations to Mi’kmaw company
In a lawsuit filed earlier this month, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association asked the federal court to quash a decision by Canada’s Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to transfer the licences for Greenland halibut and shrimp from seafood company Clearwater Foods to the coalition, after the Mi’kmaw group partnered to buy the company in January. Reached by phone on Wednesday, Jordan, through her staff, declined to comment following her loss in Monday’s federal election. The lawsuit describes how Nunavut fishers have only held about 50 per 
cent of total fishing quotas for all species off Nunavut’s coast, which Inuit argue is disproportionately low compared to the 90 per cent that fisheries in Atlantic provinces have off their own coasts, an acknowledgement the federal government and DFO have made on several occasions. >click to read< 09:28
“The industry needs immediate relief,” – B.C. fishermen say Ottawa has cast them adrift
The flotilla of commercial fishing boats was to converge on False Creek harbour to try to raise public awareness about their plight, but winds prevented most boats from getting there. Those who did make it to False Creek said their livelihoods have been threatened by a fiat issued by federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan that closed about 60% of the fishery to commercial fishermen. “At the swipe of a pen, the minister took all these fisheries off the table and eliminated the income for all these fishermen,” said Andy Olson, executive director of the Native Fishing Association. “It was clearly politically motivated. >click to read< 10:48
Canada cuts Atlantic mackerel quota in half to ‘rebuild stock’, to be released in two phases to ensure access
Canada has slashed the quota in half for Atlantic mackerel, from 8,000 tonnes last year to 4,000 tonnes this year. “This is a difficult decision that has economic impacts on commercial harvesters and their communities, but the science is clear: stronger actions need to be taken to rebuild the Atlantic mackerel stock,” said Federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan in a news release Friday. That will help ensure fishermen in Newfoundland, where mackerel arrive later in the year, get access to some quota. >click to read< 08:03
Potlotek First Nation seeks injunction against DFO over self-regulated fishery
A number of First Nations communities in the province, including Potlotek, launched their own self-regulated lobster fisheries last year to mark the 21st anniversary of the historic Supreme Court of Canada decision that affirmed Mi’kmaw rights to fish for a moderate livelihood. Many commercial fishermen have opposed the fisheries operating outside commercial seasons. In March, federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan said Ottawa will not licence any treaty-based fishery in Atlantic Canada unless it operates within the commercial season. >click to read< 10:15
Capelin stocks aren’t climbing, could the fishery really face a moratorium in Newfoundland and Labrador?
The capelin stock in Newfoundland and Labrador has not had any sustained growth for 30 years, and the chances of a quick rebound are poor. Fran Mowbray, capelin biologist with Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), wouldn’t go as far as to say the stock could become extinct. “I don’t think we have enough evidence to say that. We are definitely concerned about the status of the stock right now. But worldwide, when forage species reach very low levels … it will take them an extremely long time to rebound.” >click to read< 19:15
Nova Scotia’s Mi’kmaq chiefs want to see the science that restricts their fisheries.
Last week, Federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan, in a bid to end the conflict that has arisen since the Sipekne’katik First Nation began a moderate livelihood lobster fishery in September, announced that such fisheries would be required to operate within established commercial fishery seasons. That announcement, sandwiched between two meetings with the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs, won praise from commercial fishers, who have contended that fishing outside their established seasons harms the fish stock. However, it drew scorn from Indigenous fishers,,, In a statement Friday, the assembly said that despite requesting specific data sets from the department during meetings over the past week, “including detailed scientific, economic and management data to justify the imposition of commercial seasons,” no such data has been provided. >click to read< 07:40
Cape Breton First Nation’s plan for early fishing forced hand on new regulations
A spokesperson for DFO says the department was preparing the new regulations for the early May start to the commercial lobster fishing season, but was rushed into action by Potlotek First Nation’s plan to start fishing in mid-March. “We can’t have what happened last year in St. Peter’s Bay, where there was a fishery plan for combined Eskasoni and Potlotek for about 1,000 traps and we saw almost three times that in the water. We can’t have that again, it’s not sustainable,” said DFO spokesperson Jane Deeks. Chief Wilbert Marshall strongly denies that claim. In her statement, Jordan cites Marshall II, the amendment made to the Supreme Court Marshall decision that allows for treaty rights to be regulated on the grounds of conservation. >click to read< 18:42
DFO’s Jordan defends government actions during violence over Mi’kmaw fishery – Chiefs say DFO only looking out for non-Indigenous fishers
Despite admitting she hasn’t read the entire Marshall decision, Department of Fisheries (DFO) Minister Bernadette Jordan says her government is committed to implementing the Mi’kmaq Nation’s treaty right to catch and sell fish commercially in their traditional territories across the Maritimes, which the landmark ruling guarantees. >click to read< Mi’kmaw chiefs say DFO only looking out for non-Indigenous fishers – Mi’kmaw chiefs appearing before a Parliamentary committee looking into fishing rights say the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is not upholding its treaty obligations and is only looking to appease non-Indigenous fishers rather than implementing Mi’kmaw rights. >click to read< 11:02
Cabinet ministers request emergency debate over Nova Scotia treaty dispute
Four cabinet ministers and the NDP have requested an emergency debate in the House of Commons over a treaty dispute between commercial fishermen and Mi’kmaq fishers. Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan says parliamentarians should have the opportunity to voice their concerns about the violence that’s erupted over the dispute about Mi’kmaq treaty rights to fish for a “moderate living.” She and three other ministers requested the debate in a letter to the House Speaker last night. >click to read< 08:24
Sipekne’katik First Nation to meet with Minister Bernadette Jordan next week
After multiple calls to meet with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, members of the Sipekne’katik First Nation will sit down with Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan next week. Chief Michael Sack tells Global News the details of the meeting, to be held amid an ongoing dispute between Indigenous and non-Indigenous fishers, are still in the works, but he says it will be held virtually as Jordan is returning from Ottawa and will need to self-isolate for 14 days upon her arrival. video, >click to read< 19:11
Cape Breton: Lobster fishermen protest delay to the season
About 75 lobster fishermen took to the Canso Causeway Monday, protesting the delay of the lobster season. The fishermen – who motorists going by said weren’t interfering with traffic — held signs on the Cape Breton side, while a few were beyond the bridge behind the guardrail. “The season hasn’t opened, that’s the main reason they are upset,” said Jordan MacDougall, president Inverness South Fisherman’s Association, adding May 1 is their usual season opening. “The Gulf area and P.E.I. have been delayed until May 15. Everyone’s upset about that.” >click to read< 20:12
Clearwater Seafoods keeps Canadian surf clam monopoly for 2020
Halifax-based Clearwater Seafoods will keep its monopoly on Canada’s lucrative Arctic surf clam for another year.,, The licence was originally awarded to a consortium of First Nations led by the Elsipogtog Band in New Brunswick and Premiums Seafoods of Arichat, N.S.,, But the licence was cancelled after it emerged the partnership was formalized after the licence was awarded, that participants had family ties to the federal Liberals including then-Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc, and were unable to secure a vessel to harvest the quota. >click to read< 18:49
