By ROMA LUCIW
Globe and Mail Update with CP
Sept 14, 2000                
 
Native group demands return of traps


A group of women and children from the Burnt Church reserve in New Brunswick demanded the return of seized lobster traps from a fisheries office Wednesday, but left empty handed.

About 30 natives from the reserve arrived at the office in nearby Tracadie-Sheila in a convoy of pickup trucks. They walked inside the office shortly before closing and asked the secretaries for the traps the department seized over the past five weeks.

And they refused to leave until they got the traps back.

"Some of the people were pounding on the glass panel and shouting," said Rhéal Boucher, chief of resource management in the Tracadie office.

The reception area in the DFO office had been separated from the rest of the office by a glass panel several years ago after a similar confrontation with a group of non-native fishermen.

The 20 staff members left the building in a group without any disruption.

"It was not a happy situation," Mr. Boucher said, adding that the proximity of the Tracadie office to Miramichi Bay had suggested that such a protest could happen.

But they were told they had to fill out forms claiming ownership of the traps. The natives will receive word on the status of their requests in a month.

"They want to claim and retrieve their traps," said hereditary Mi'kmaq chief Lloyd Augustine of the protest.

Under a band management plan, every man, woman and child in Burnt Church is entitled to four lobster traps.

The catch is that anyone who claims ownership could be charged with illegal fishing.

Most ended up signing and left peacefully.

Prostester Gail Paul said the band badly needs the equipment to keep fishing.

"We stand by our treaty rights," she said. 

"It's not illegal fishing to us and those traps belong to us," Mr. Augustine said, adding that his people were losing their livelihood.

DFO officials said they have seized about 3,000 lobster traps, but half of those were destroyed because they were not properly tagged or unclaimed.

"There are a series of procedures to follow before the traps can be returned, such as identifying and proving the traps belong to them," said Carole Payne, a DFO spokeswoman.

"Some of them may never be returned, depending on the circumstances under which they were seized." 

Most of the traps are stored at a nearby warehouse.

Mr. Augustine said the natives have lost between 3,800 and 4,000 traps since the dispute over lobster fishing rights in Miramichi Bay began.

The protest  which has been planned for some time, is an example of the escalating tensions over native fishing rights.

The Burnt Church First Nation in northeastern New Brunswick has been lobster fishing since early August under its own management plan. The federal Fisheries Department doesn't recognize the band plan and considers the native fishery unauthorized.

The Supreme Court ruled last year that natives have a treaty right to earn a moderate living from fishing. Burnt Church natives insist that right takes precedence over the federal right to regulate Canada's fishing industry.

On Sunday, Fisheries Minister Herb Dhaliwal appointed Bob Rae, the former NDP premier of Ontario, to mediate talks.

"Dhaliwal has come out saying dialogue and negotiations are the best way. But every time Burnt Church attempts to establish dialogue, he does something stupid that affects the process itself," Mr. Augustine said, referring to the seizure of four native boats and the arrests of 16 people on Miramichi Bay.

"He [Mr. Dhaliwal] is trying to convince the general public in Canada that we Burnt Church people are unreasonable and don't want to talk with him. But that's not the case," he said.

"The only option left for us is this," Mr. Augustine said. "Are these women going to be charged or not? These traps belong to them." 

Karen Somerville, spokeswoman for the Burnt Church, said the confrontation Tuesday on Miramichi Bay between police, fisheries officers and native fishermen hadn't derailed prospects for mediation.

"I think there is a chance of salvaging it," Ms. Somerville said.

Mr. Rae was to begin mediation efforts later this week. But the process appeared jeopardized by the arrests of 16 native fishermen, including that of Wilbur Dedam, chief of the Burnt Church reserve.

Mr. Rae declined comment on the dispute Wednesday, but a secretary in his Toronto law office said he was heading to Burnt Church to continue his mediation effort.

When he arrives, Mr. Rae will find his job more challenging because of Tuesday's raids, said Ms. Somerville. However, she said the Mi'kmaq reserve is prepared to go along with requests for meaningful dialogue, including possibly removing lobster traps which Ottawa insists are illegal.

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