OTTAWA, ON (June 6, 2025):
Canada is breaking its word to Indigenous peoples, and it’s costing everyone. In his new paper for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Distinguished Fellow Ken S. Coates shows how the federal government has turned 18th-century treaty promises into a bureaucratic nightmare that traps First Nations in one industry while ignoring billions in economic potential elsewhere.
In 1999, Canada’s highest court ruled that Indigenous communities have the right to earn a “moderate livelihood” from the commercial fishery. However, the two Marshall decisions – the original ruling and a follow-up clarification – had much wider implications: that Indigenous peoples have a treaty right to participate and prosper from the wider Maritime economy.
The trouble is, Ottawa took the easy way out: instead of offering First Nations opportunities to engage in a host of lucrative economic activities, it gave them only one option – to join the commercial fishery. The federal government forced First Nations to buy expensive fishing licences from existing non-Indigenous fishers. Prices skyrocketed – and taxpayers got stuck with the bill.
This narrow-minded choice sparked animosity between non-Indigenous and Indigenous fishers that lingers to this day.
Twenty-five years later, Ottawa’s bureaucrats still control everything, and move at a snail’s pace – for instance, we still don’t have a legal definition of “moderate livelihood” under the Marshall rulings. Meanwhile, Indigenous communities wait for basic economic rights. The current system keeps First Nations beholden to federal bureaucrats who treat them like supplicants begging for permission to exercise rights already guaranteed by the Supreme Court.
The solution is clear: offer First Nations wider options to exercise their Marshall rights across the Maritime economy instead of forcing everyone into fishing. Ottawa should offer compensation to First Nations that do not want to participate in the fishery. Indigenous communities could then invest in a host of industries, from hotels, airlines, farming, mining, and more.
First Nations signed treaties promising participation in the broader economy, not confinement to one industry. It’s time Canada honoured these agreements instead of forcing everyone into boats, Coates writes.
Without major reform, ongoing Indigenous court challenges could paralyze Maritime economic development for decades. Canada must choose: honour the true intent of the treaties, or watch the Maritime economy sink under the weight of its own contradictions.
To learn more, read the full paper here:
For further information, media are invited to contact:
Dagny Pawlak-Loerchner
Senior Communications Officer
613-482-8327 x113
dagny.pawlak-loerchner@macdonaldlaurier.ca
