Friday, January 27, 2023
No Result
View All Result
  • Media
Support Us
Macdonald-Laurier Institute
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
    • Experts Directory
    • In Memoriam
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Innovation
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
    • Experts Directory
    • In Memoriam
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Innovation
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media
No Result
View All Result
Macdonald-Laurier Institute

Fishing for answers: How an East Coast resurgence could navigate rough waters

A new paper by Ken Coates argues that Canada’s fishing industry could emerge as the cornerstone of a sustained and impressive East Coast economic resurgence.

January 17, 2023
in Indigenous Affairs papers, Indigenous Affairs Program, Ken Coates, Papers
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A

By Ken Coates 
January 17, 2023

PDF of paper

Executive Summary

The East Coast fishing industry has shown both considerable economic potential and public policy importance. Lobsters, crabs, and other fish stocks have become big business. The fishing sector injects a great deal of money into the East Coast economy, attracts substantial investment, and provides steady and even lucrative employment for thousands of people, particularly those living in the smaller coastal communities.

Canadians have largely ignored the economic and social transformations occurring in the region, which include a nation-leading process of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and communities. The transformation has included a billion-dollar Indigenous purchase of Canada’s largest seafood company, Clearwater Seafoods, regular $1 million annual returns for individual fish harvesters in specific regions and with certain species licences, the recruitment of hundreds of foreign workers to operate the processing plants, and a dramatic transformation of small-town life in the region. Despite the renewed economic and cultural vibrancy, the East Coast economy is also vulnerable.

The Marshall decision recognized Indigenous treaty rights, making it clear that these rights have clear, substantial, and current economic value. Assigning First Nations licences and quota, along with investments in training and equipment, have provided one means of addressing these rights.

There are few better examples of non-Indigenous peoples accepting a major and even intrusive expansion of Indigenous economic activity in Canada than the East Coast fishery, though relationships within the industry continue to evolve. A significant number of non-Indigenous fish harvesters, while compensated for selling their licences, quota, and gear, have stepped out of the industry, to be replaced by First Nations fish harvesters.

But not all First Nations see a future in the fishing industry. Some East Coast First Nations do not live on the coast and are not obvious beneficiaries of the Marshall decision. They should, however, still have access to secure financial, employment, and commercial benefits.

The improving conditions are not uniform and the wealth of the sector is not shared equally between fish harvesters and processing plant workers. In some communities, fish harvesters have individually or collectively invested in the local areas; in others, the wealth associated with the lobster and crab fisheries has not been redistributed within the region through support for other businesses or value-added production.

Canada’s East Coast fishery is heading toward an inflection point, one that will not ultimately serve the First Nations, the non-Indigenous fish harvesters and their communities, or the East Coast as a whole. Among a long and formidable list of challenges, several stand out:

  • Indigenous treaty rights must, under Canadian law, be respected. But these are ill-defined and are currently managed by “presumption of rights” rather than a court-defined specific right. However, recourse to the courts on matters of Indigenous fishing could easily result in an expansion – or a contraction – in Indigenous rights. Either court-based outcome would add to tensions and difficulties in the region. The obligation to address the First Nations’ treaty rights rests with the government of Canada and, equally, with all Canadians – not just the East Coast fishing industry.
  • The Department of Fisheries and Oceans must expand its consultations and engagement with the non-Indigenous fishing community if it hopes to find truly collaborative solutions.
  • Greater attention must be paid to the dual challenge of rapidly improving conditions in First Nations communities and maintaining the sustainability of non-Indigenous communities.
  • Canada’s East Coast fishery sector could secure greater political power and attention if its leaders realized that they had common cause with resource producers across the country. Collectively, the resource producers and their industry associations, unions, and local political representatives could be a formidable political force. They could, if properly mobilized, put pressure on all Canadian political parties (federally, provincially, and territorially), attract the attention of the nation’s media, and shape the Canadian policy agenda.

With effective management, collectively developed policies, and attention to underlying problems and emerging opportunities, the fishing industry could emerge as the cornerstone of a sustained and impressive East Coast economic resurgence in Canada.

Tags: East Coast fisheryFisheriesKen CoatesMaritimes
Previous Post

Six ways to erase Sir John A. Macdonald in time for his 208th birthday: Patrice Dutil in the Windsor Star

Next Post

Canada’s fishing industry sets the path to economic resurgence in the East Coast

Related Posts

Alberta 2023 and beyond: Fiscal policy, health care and federal-provincial relations
Papers

Alberta 2023 and beyond: Fiscal policy, health care and federal-provincial relations

January 26, 2023
Rethinking Bangladesh: A story of national resilience in the face of adversity – Ken Coates for Inside Policy
Inside Policy

Rethinking Bangladesh: A story of national resilience in the face of adversity – Ken Coates for Inside Policy

January 24, 2023
Global lessons from the Rohingyan refugee crisis: Ken Coates in the Ottawa Citizen
Columns

Global lessons from the Rohingyan refugee crisis: Ken Coates in the Ottawa Citizen

January 23, 2023
Next Post

Canada’s fishing industry sets the path to economic resurgence in the East Coast

Macdonald-Laurier Institute

323 Chapel Street, Suite #300
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 7Z2 Canada

613.482.8327

info@macdonaldlaurier.ca
MLI directory

Follow us on

Newsletter Signup

First Name
Last Name
Email Address

Support Us

Support the Macdonald-Laurier Institute to help ensure that Canada is one of the best governed countries in the world. Click below to learn more or become a sponsor.

Support Us

Inside Policy Magazine

  • Current Issue
  • Back Issues
  • Advertising
  • Inside Policy Blog
  • Privacy Policy

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
    • Experts Directory
    • In Memoriam
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Innovation
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

IDEAS CHANGE THE WORLD!Have the latest Canadian thought leadership delivered straight to your inbox.
First Name
Last Name
Email address

No thanks, I’m not interested.

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Privacy Preference Center

Consent Management

Necessary

Advertising

Analytics

Other