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Esgenoopititj (Burnt Church, New Brunswick, Canada) -

Friday, April 28
The team went to a press conference called by the Community Dialogue Forum. The Forum consists of people from the native and non-native communities who are meeting to work at constructive ways to build trust between the two communities. At the press conference, a statement was read in English, Mi'kmaq, and French to announce a place for public prayer for all people.

The Miramichi Leader, a local newspaper, printed the first CPT news release on Burnt Church from the CPT web site. The headline read, "Peace workers find situation far worse than national media said." It included a picture of some of the vandalism that occurred on the wharf last fall. Local non-native residents expressed their anger at the publishing of the article.

Saturday, April 29
Official opening of the lobster fishing season. The day passed without incident at any of the local wharves. The team learned that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) imposed a licensing system on the Band since they have not signed any agreement. The imposed plan renewed the 13 commercial fishing licenses that have been part of the commercial fishing for the past several years and issued DFO tags to those fishermen.

Sunday, April 30
Bob Holmes arrived at 5:00 a.m. after hitch-hiking to Burnt Church and getting an escort to the CPT campsite by the DFO. Bob and Anne visited the Catholic church on the reserve. After introducing himself as Catholic and a Basilian priest, Bob was invited to give the homily the following Sunday, and to speak at the school on Wednesday about CPT.

Members of the Aboriginal Rights Coalition (ARC) observer team visited the CPT camp for introductions during their morning training session. The team met briefly with them about how we will co-ordinate our work.

Tuesday, May 2
The team attended the Community Dialogue Forum. The issue of the CPT article published in The Miramichi Leader was addressed.

Wednesday, May 3
Bob Holmes spent the morning at the esgenoopetitj school to talk to the 7th and 8th graders and meet informally with a priest, school teachers and administrators. He talked about CPT's work around the world, and they taught him a few phrases in Mi'kmaq.

Thursday, May 4
The team went to Tracadie to time the trip to the DFO district headquarters. Behind the building is an enclosed area holding several hundred lobster traps and one boat. It is surrounded by a 10-foot chain link fence topped with three rows of barbed wire. The team also checked the location of the wharves in Tracadie and Tabusintac.

On the way back, they stopped at the Neguac wharf to meet with a member of the Maritime Fisherman's Union.

Friday, May 5
The band received their treaty tags from the Mi'kmaq Fish and Wildlife Commission. The fishing committee will distribute the tags according to the esgenoopetitj First Nation (EFN) Management Plan.

Saturday, May 6
Band councilor Brian Bartibogue was confronted by the DFO at the wharf as he attempted to set the first 10 traps with EFN tags. The DFO officials confiscated his traps, stated that he would be charged, and threatened to confiscate his boat the next time. Community members quickly appeared on the scene, and then got in cars to go to the Neguac wharf, where the DFO boat intended to dock. When they were met by an angry crowd, the boat turned back out into the bay. The crowd then left to wait at the DFO office.

The CPTers waited at the wharf and watched the boat turn around and head back to the wharf once the RCMP arrived and the crowd had left. As the boat was being hauled out of the water onto a trailer, team members Bob Holmes and William Payne jumped up on the boat to grab the traps. After a brief confrontation with the DFO and the RCMP, both were arrested. They were released at the police station and informed that they would be charged at a later date for "obstruction of a peace officer".

Sunday, May 7
The DFO boat and four RCMP cars spent the morning on the wharf.

Holmes gave the homily at the Catholic Church on the reserve. He talked about Jesus' third way, CPT and why the team was there.

In the afternoon, four women put out ten lobster traps to the cheers of a large crowd of community people and the media. The traps were not baited, since they expected immediate confiscation. The DFO was nowhere present. The team was asked to keep constant vigil at the bay for any sign of the DFO.

Monday, May 8
Since the DFO did not come for the traps, the women went out to bait them. The team set up a schedule of watching with the ARC team.

Tuesday, May 9
At 5:30 a.m., the DFO boat came through the bay and began pulling up the women's traps. The ARC observer on watch was interrupted in her attempts to contact people by an RCMP car that came up to her and tried to distract her. By the time people had gathered, the traps had been taken, and the DFO boat had returned to Neguac.

The team was invited to speak at a community meeting of native fishers. Lena Siegers read a letter to the editor which the team sent out to the print media. The team then left to go to the Community Dialogue Forum.

Wednesday, May 10
Six more traps were put out by the women. Bob Holmes rode in the boat with them in case the DFO arrived. Community members agreed that 24-hour vigils was too draining for the team; they would maintain watch during the day.

Friday, May 11
The women checked the traps. They caught lots of crab, but no lobster.

Saturday, May 13
The women put out 12 more traps at 6:00 a.m.

Sunday, May 14
The DFO came at 7:00 a.m. and took all the traps.

Tuesday, May 16
Twelve more traps were put out at 6:00 a.m. The team coordinated with ARC to resume 24-hour watch. Community members volunteered to be on alert to come out with a boat if the DFO comes.

The DFO showed up at 3:00 p.m. while the team was meeting at the bay shore. They took several traps, but missed most of them.

At 7:00 p.m. the women went out to check their remaining traps. They found seven of them. There were no lobster in them.

Wednesday, May 17
The fishers got their first catch of with EFN tags. They cooked lobsters and divided them among the fishers and CPT.

William and Lena interviewed a woman whose husband received a large boat from the DFO this spring as part of an agreement made with the band four years ago. This fisherman had always fished in a small boat and was very excited about getting a large fishing boat. The government paid $45,000 for it and promised the fisherman that it would be delivered in good condition.

The boat he received is 24-years old, has a cracked hull, and has numerous mechanical problems. He has had to have it towed in three times already this spring, costing him $100 each time. Repairs so far have cost him $3000. Many people feel that this boat is a good example of what the community "gains" when they give up their treaty rights by giving in to government pressure to sign "agreements."

Thursday, May 18
DFO returned at noon and removed approximately three more traps. Ron and Trudy (ARC members), and CPTer William Payne drove to the Neguac wharf and photographed the boat being removed from the water. Ron was shoved by a DFO officer as he reached above the boat with his camera to snap a picture of the traps. They followed the DFO to a shed in Neguac where the boat was backed inside and unloaded where no one could see them.

Friday, May 19
Brian Bartibogue took some of the women on his boat to put out 14 more traps at noon. He had notified the media and dropped them in very conspicuous places with large buoys.

The team went into Neguac to do a public prayer of deliverance at the DFO office, the Neguac wharf, and the shed where the stolen traps are stored.

Sunday, May 21
At 9:30 a.m. the DFO appeared on the water. Calls were made by the ARC observers. The team reached the wharf as the last of 11 traps were being pulled up. Brian got onto his boat and yelled for an observer. Team member Nina Bailey-Dick ran to jump on just as the boat was moving out. Brian chased the DFO boat out of the bay towards the ocean until he ran out of gas between Neguac and Tracadie. Lena Siegers jumped on a small motor boat with other fishers to join in the chase. CPTers William Payne and Janet Shoemaker took separate cars to check the four wharves along the north side of the bay. After several hours of chasing the boat by land, the DFO finally landed in Tracadie, some 40 kms beyond Neguac. They unloaded the traps into a truck and eventually, after trying to evade the CPTer's following them, ended up at the Tracadie headquarters where they drove the truck into a storage shed.

The small boat returned after failing to find either the DFO or Brian. The people in the boat checked the three traps that weren't taken and found three lobsters. They then set out seven more traps. Later that afternoon, twelve more traps were set.

Monday, May 22
The DFO boat showed up twice, at 9:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., to pull up EFN traps. Both times, Leo Bartibogue, a local fisherman, boarded his small boat with a CPTer to go out and confront them. Both times, the DFO left without taking any traps.

Tuesday, May 23
William Payne and Lena Siegers began a 24-hour fast in front of the DFO office in Neguac at noon. When the team arrived and talked with the officers outside, William was handed a writ to appear in court for obstructing a peace officer. After assisting in the setup, Nina and Janet returned to esgenoopetitj to continue watch. The fasters received numerous visitors from both the native and non-native communities.

The DFO boat appeared around 3:00 p.m., but did not stop in the area of the traps, although attempts by inexperienced boat drivers to chase them failed. Two men from the community came and dropped off 100 traps donated by individuals and other First Nations to help support the cause.

Wednesday, May 24
gkisedtanamoukg came to the fast site at sunrise to perform a ceremony with William and Lena. Nina and Janet came at 11:30 and the team held a closing ritual.

The fishermen continue to catch lobster.

Thursday, May 25
The team plus ARC continued to alternate watches from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. William went to Moncton to meet with the president and another representative of the Maritime Fisherman's Union. It was members of the MFU who held the demonstration against the native fishery last fall that led to the destruction of the community's traps.

Friday, May 26
The team held a second Friday public prayer at the DFO office, wharf, and storage shed in Neguac. The team wrote a press release for a rally planned by the band for Saturday and faxed and emailed it to the media.

Saturday, May 27
The band held a rally in support of their treaty rights. It began at the Learning Center/Band Office in esgenoopetitj where several people from neighboring reserves and non-native support groups gave speeches. The group then caravaned to the DFO office in Neguac where they returned a box of tags for the fall eel and salmon fishery that the DFO sent to the band (another imposed "agreement") to the DFO doorstep. The crowd formed a circle and joined in singing some traditional songs and drumming.

The DFO boat came through around 6:00 p.m., but did not slow down. Leo and Brian both followed them in their boats until Brian had to return to fill up with gas.

[Note: Members of the Mi'kmaq nation do not capitalize proper names in their writing. The CPTnet editor apologizes for inconsistencies in nomenclature that have occurred in the reporting from esgenoopetitj.]