The 2020 Mi'kmaq lobster dispute is an ongoing

lobster fishing Lobsters are widely fished around the world for their meat. They are often hard to catch in large numbers, but their large size can make them a profitable catch. Although the majority of the targeted species are tropical, the majority of the glob ...

dispute between

Sipekne'katik First Nation The Sipekne'katik First Nation is composed of four Mi'kmaq First Nation reserves located in central Nova Scotia. As of 2012, the Mi'kmaq population is 1,195 on-Reserve, and approximately 1,190 off-Reserve. The First Nation includes Indian Br ...

members of the

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

and non-Indigenous lobster fishers mainly in

Digby County Digby County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. History It was named after the Township of Digby; this was named in honour of Rear Admiral Robert Digby, who dispatched HMS ''Atalanta'' to convey Loyalists from New York City in ...

and

Yarmouth County Yarmouth County is a rural county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It has both traditional Anglo-Scottish and Acadian French culture as well as significant inland wilderness areas, including over 365 lakes and several major rivers. It com ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

. The dispute relates to interpretations of ''

R v Marshall ''R v Marshall (No 1)'' 9993 S.C.R. 456 and ''R v Marshall (No 2)'' 9993 S.C.R. 533 are two decisions given by the Supreme Court of Canada on a single case regarding a treaty right to fish. Decision No. 1 The Court held in the first decision t ...

'', a 1999

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

ruling upholding the Halifax Treaties, empowering Indigenous Canadians the right to fish. Non-Indigenous fishers reacted with violence and intimidation tactics to fishing activities of the Indigenous lobster fishery, citing concerns of potential

overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing Fish stocks, fish stock), resu ...

History

The Halifax Treaties were a collection of 11 written documents produced between 1760 and 1761, which, amongst other agreements provided Native Canadians the right to fish. In 1999, the treaty was upheld by the Supreme Court in ''

(No. 1)'' and again affirmed Indigenous fishers the right to fish in order to support a "moderate livelihood". The semantics of the ruling have caused much of the dispute. In the second decision ''R v Marshall (No. 2)'' the Court elaborated the extension of Indigenous treaty rights stating that they are still subject to regulation when conservation is proven to be a concern or other public interests. Both decisions proved highly controversial. The first elicited anger from the non-Indigenous fishing community for giving seemingly complete immunity to Indigenous peoples to fish. Reaction to the 1999 ruling from Indigenous fishers resulted in fishing occurring outside of regular fishing season. Non-Indigenous fishers in

and

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

reacted negatively to this and retaliated, resulting in the 1999–2002 Burnt Church Crisis. On September 17, 2020, on the 21st anniversary of the ruling, the Sipekne'katik First Nation launched their own self-regulated fishery, beginning to fish before the start of the official season on November 30, causing concern from non-Indigenous fishers that

could occur. On November 9, 2020, the Mi'kmaq First Nations, along with other indigenous bands and

Premium Brands Holdings Corporation Premium Brands Holdings Corporation is a Canadian specialty food manufacturing and distribution company. It is a publicly traded corporation on the Toronto Stock Exchange. History Premium Brands was founded in 1917 as Fletcher Limited. It wa ...

announced that they had acquired

Clearwater Seafoods Clearwater Seafoods is a seafood company based in Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the largest shellfish producer in North America.Paul Withers (5 March 2020)Coronavirus takes bite out of Clearwater's seafood sales to China CBC. The company w ...

in a $1 billion deal, although they intended to continue with the self-regulated fisheries. In late November, 2020, federal officials seized approximately 600 lobster traps from indigenous fishers. On March 3, 2021 Bernadette Jordan, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard issued a statement regarding a peaceful path forward due to the disputes.

Incidents

2020

* October 13: A 200-person protest at a lobster pound in Middle West Pubnico resulted in vandalism and lobsters being taken out of the facility. That same day, a protest at a lobster pound in

New Edinburgh New Edinburgh is a neighbourhood in Rideau-Rockcliffe Ward, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located to the northeast of the downtown core. It is bordered on the west by the Rideau River, to the north by the Ottawa River, to the south by Beec ...

resulted in the

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

of a vehicle.

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

later arrested 31-year-old Michael Burton Nickerson of Yarmouth in connection to the

in New Edinburgh. * October 14: Protests continued at the New Edinburgh lobster pound, resulting in several skirmishes. * October 16: A man was charged with assault on

Sipekneꞌkatik First Nation The Sipekne'katik First Nation is composed of four Mi'kmaq First Nations in Canada, First Nation Indian reserve, reserves located in central Nova Scotia. As of 2012, the Mi'kmaq population is 1,195 on-Reserve, and approximately 1,190 off-Reserve. ...

Chief Michael Sack in relation to the protests at New Edinburgh on October 14. * October 17: A lobster pound was burned to the ground One man was injured as a result of the fire. * November 14: A man was charged with assault in relation to the protests at New Edinburgh on October 14. * November 17: A woman was charged with assault in relation to the protests at New Edinburgh on October 14. * December 4: A man was charged with assault of a woman in relation to the protests at New Edinburgh on October 14. * November 30: A member of Sipekne'katik First Nation was charged with unsafe operation of a vessel in relation to a September 20, 2020, incident in the St. Marys Bay.

2021

* January 12: 23 people were charged in connection to the October 13, 2020 incident in which a lobster pound was burnt down.

Environmental concerns

Robert Steneck, a professor of

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of to ...

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

commented that the potential for

by the Indigenous fishers in the off-season, based on the number of traps they have employed, would be minimal. He was quoted as saying "Really it would be trivial, in my view, by almost any standard".

Domestic & international sales

On October 20, 2020 Eric Louis Thibault, the owner of the lobster pound which was torched, pleaded guilty for failing to report income generated for lobster sales in

. Thibault did not acknowledge the source of the lobster. In November 2020, crown prosecutors sought fines against Guang Da International, who in August were found guilty of distributing lobster under "communal food, social and ceremonial" licences attributed to the Sipekne'katik First Nation.Paul Withers. (November 12, 2020
Crown seeks $75K fine for illegal First Nation lobster sales at N.S. pound
CBC. The lobster were tracked by Fisheries Authorities via

microchips An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...

in 2017, and found to be transported to

Halifax Stanfield International Airport Halifax Stanfield International Airport is a Canadian airport in Goffs, Nova Scotia, a rural community of the Halifax Regional Municipality. It serves the Halifax region, mainland Nova Scotia, and adjacent areas in the neighbouring Maritime p ...

with intention to be sold to the Chinese market.

Reaction

Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...

called for the end of violence in the region and that the

should adequately protect both sides of the dispute. Restaurants and fish markets began to participate in a

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...

of Nova Scotian lobster in solidarity with the First Nations.

References

{{Mi'kmaq Canadian Aboriginal case law Sipekneꞌkatik First Nation Indigenous conflicts in Canada Lobster fishing Maritime incidents in 2020 2020 in Nova Scotia Yarmouth County