This article originally appeared in the Telegraph Journal.
By Ken Coates, January 30, 2025
After one of the most effective commercializations of Indigenous rights in Canada, it’s time to expand beyond fishing for Indigenous people in the Maritimes.
With financial backing from Ottawa, investments in real estate, tourism and other lucrative areas would ease fishery tensions and offer alternative opportunities for those not inclined to a life on the high seas.
Mi’kmaq and Maliseet people fought hard for more than two centuries to secure recognition of their treaty right to a good and decent living. They opened the door to prosperity a crack when Donald Marshall Jr. won his fishing case before the Supreme Court of Canada in 1999.
Eventually, hundreds of Indigenous peoples headed out on the ocean and several thousand are now working in the multibillion-dollar industry.
After initial delays and stumbles, the government of Canada spent millions of dollars to buy First Nations a place in the Maritime commercial fishery. The “willing seller, willing buyer” approach abated conflict in the sector for a quarter century, although the inability to resolve the right to pursuit of “moderate livelihood” provisions of the Supreme Court decision has been a constant irritant.
By some measures, First Nations now control close to 10 per cent of the sector, a position enhanced by the Membertou First Nations-led purchase of Clearwater Seafoods. But continued government purchases of fishing licences is putting enormous pressure on non-Indigenous fishers and threatens the viability of long-established fishing communities.
The current approach, dependent on the commercial fishery, falls well short on two counts: First, there is finite space in the fishing industry; Second, and equally important, not all First Nations communities want to build their economic future on the fishery.
The Marshall decision protects constitutional treaty rights. First Nations have a legal right, based on the court’s interpretation of 18th-century treaties, to earn a living based on trade with the newcomers.
In the subsequent Joshua Bernard case, however, the courts decided that the First Nations do not have a commercial right to forestry, a complex ruling that was based mainly on the lack of evidence that the Indigenous peoples made commercial use of the forests.
There is a much better path forward that recognizes the First Nations’ right to earn a decent living and that does not cause undue disruption to the regional commercial fishery.
With the full consent of the First Nations, other approaches are possible. The government of Canada can take a monetary approach to addressing treaty rights rather than relying on the transfer of commercial fishing licences.
With access to substantial capital from Ottawa, First Nations would have the opportunity to invest as they wish, in residential real estate, tourism, forestry, transportation, health care — and fishing, if they so desired. This would broaden the First Nations’ economic base, create more jobs and businesses and finally bring long-promised prosperity for the Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik ( Maliseet )in the Maritimes.
This approach would take the pressure off the regional fishing industry, while also allowing First Nations to expand their presence in the fishing fleet, processing sector and value-added businesses when they wish.
The government of Canada has clear obligations, on behalf of all Canadians, to honour the 18th-century treaties, reversing a denial of rights that subjected Indigenous peoples to more than two centuries of intense poverty and marginalization.
At present, the economic and employment costs of this transition have been placed solely on the current commercial fishing industry and on the hundreds of coastal communities whose existence depends on the viability of this now-prosperous sector.
The financial allocation would have to be substantial and transparent, and the money must be controlled by the First Nations, as is done elsewhere in Canada. The sum must also account for the long-term growth of the Indigenous population.
Shifting to a new way of honouring the 18th-century treaties could launch an overdue era of Indigenous prosperity. It is time to lower the temperature on the fishery and to give First Nations the financial resources needed to engage fully in regional growth.
As seen across the country, Indigenous empowerment enhances opportunity for all rather than putting a burden on one vulnerable commercial sector. In this way, the promises of the peace and friendship treaties from the 1800s will finally be kept.
Ken Coates is a distinguished fellow and director of Indigenous affairs at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
