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ESGENOOPETITJ (BURNT CHURCH) URGENT ACTION - Please send an urgent message to Herb Dhaliwal, Federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, noting the press reports of June 8 in which said that he is willing to compromise in his current dispute with fishers from Mi'kmaq and Maliseet Nations on Canada's east coast. This is a softening of the rigid rhetoric he has used so far.

Any new negotiations, however, over the fishery must be conducted on a NATION to NATION basis, just as the original treaties were negotiated on a nation-to-nation basis.

Over the winter, the federal government's Department of Fisheries and Oceans has, with the help of massive financial inducements, persuaded some First Nations in Canada's Atlantic provinces to accept agreements which imply that Canada has the authority to unilaterally regulate their fisheries. But up to now, Esgenoopetitj and ten other east coast First Nations have refused to surrender their fishing rights in this way and have established their own conservation and management plans. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has refused to even read these plans and his officers have spent the spring lobster fishing season harassing Esgenoopetitj fishers and seizing their equipment.

This recent press report suggests that the Minister may now be willing to enter into a serious dialogue with Aboriginal fishers. If so, he is to be commended. However such discussions must start from the inherent right of Aboriginal peoples to manage their own resources.

Canadian citizens, please contact:
Honorable Herb Dhaliwal
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Phone: 613-995-7052
FAX: 613-995-2962
E-mail: dhalih@parl.gc.ca

U.S. citizens, please contact:
Ambassador Raymond A.J. Chretien
Embassy of Canada
501 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington DC, U.S.A. 20001
Phone: 202-682-1740
FAX: 202-682-7726
If 7726 is not working try:
FAX: 202-682-7678
E-mail: WSHDC-outpack@dfait-maeci.gc.ca

Please send a copy of your letter to:
miigam agan gkisedtanamoogk
Esgenoopetitj-Mikmaqik
P.O. Box 2051
Burnt Church NB E9G 4J9
FAX: 506-776-5137
E-mail: miigkis@nbnet.nb.ca

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Related path: New Brunswick: Dogging Dhaliwal by Doug Pritchard, CPTNet News (the People's Voice ~ Monday, June 12, 2000) For more information contact: Christian Peacemaker Teams P.O. Box 6508 Chicago, IL 60680-6508 Phone: 312-455-1199 ~ FAX: 312-432-1213 E-mail: CPT@igc.org URL: http://www.prairienet.org/cpt/ Christian Peacemaker Teams is a program of Brethren, Quaker and Mennonite Churches.

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