Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Wednesday, August 1: Janet Shoemaker and Natasha Krahn arrived in Esgenoopetitj to join Patty McKenna. An hour after their arrival, the team went out to visit a youth cultural camp run by the community. The camp was sponsored by the Crime Prevention Program of the Department of Justice and was formed to immerse Native youth in their heritage.

Friday, August 3: During an evening walk to the Burnt Church wharf, Shoemaker and Krahn talked with a non-Native community member who said, "The reason [the non-Native community] is not happy to see [CPT] here is that your presence is a reminder to us of all the trouble."

Monday, August 6: The team travelled to Baie Ste. Anne to visit the wharf and hear from non-Native fishers. Krahn had a conversation with a fisherman who said that in Fall of 1999 he hadn't gone with the people who cut the Native traps. But because his lobster catch was lower this spring, he would be leading the pack if they were to do it again.

He informed Krahn that 800 Native people fished a total of 5000 traps last fall. In actuality, no more than 1300 traps were fished by less than 100 people. He added that the government is trying to push non-Native fishers out of the fishery so "they can give it all to the Natives."

Another man told CPTer Tuulia Law that commercial lobster fishers can only fish in the spring or the fall and the rest of the time they have to collect welfare.

Tuesday, August 7: A community member who was interviewed by the local CBC station referred to the events of last fall in Esgenoopetitj as "gunboat diplomacy." In a conversation later with CPT team members he said that being in Quebec City for the FTAA protests was training for this fall's lobster fishing season.

Wednesday, August 8: Shoemaker and Matthew Bailey-Dick visited the wharf in Neguac to observe activity there and noted that only one DFO boat was parked in the wharf. A community member informed the team later in the day that the RCMP had boats parked behind the police station in Neguac.

Tuesday, August 14: The team rose early to go into the DFO office in Neguac for an action (see August 31 release "Christian Peacemakers Blow Horn on DFO.)

Nina Bailey-Dick and Krahn went to Tracadie in the afternoon to meet with Inspector Vickers and Sargent Bidal of the RCMP. They talked about specific procedures related to arrest and accompaniment.

Thursday, August 16: Matthew Bailey-Dick traveled to Moncton to meet with lawyers for the Listiguj Rangers. Bailey-Dick was on a Listiguj Ranger boat on August 13, 2000 when it was rammed by the DFO three times, causing injury to one ranger and destroying the boat. The DFO has claimed that the rangers rammed them, and have charged Ranger Joe Brisk with dangerous driving. Bailey-Dick will be called as a witness at the trial in September.

A fisherman told Nina Bailey-Dick and Natasha Krahn that many fishers on the reserve are scared to buy bait in Tracadie for fear of being beaten up.

Friday, August 17: N. and M. Bailey-Dick and Krahn went to the Neguac DFO office to meet with Raoul Breault, the DFO Area Chief for Eastern New Brunswick. Breault stood them up, so they tried briefly to talk with the office supervisor Wayne Thompson who was not interested in conversing.

Saturday, August 18: It was election day for the band's Indian Act chief and council.

Team members noted that an RCMP boat appeared at the Burnt Church wharf, with a police car guarding it.

Sunday, August 19: Various team members noted the increase in RCMP presence on the Burnt Church wharf and at a "new" RCMP warehouse in Neguac. There was a rumor that the DFO would come into the bay to confiscate traps at 5:00 p.m. Several fishers were seen pulling up their traps and taking them back to shore. The raid did not happen.

The first group of delegates arrived in Esgenoopetitj for a CPT delegation.

Monday, August 20: The rest of the delegation arrived to begin a week of education week about the issues surrounding the lobster-fishing dispute in Esgenoopetitj.

Krahn rode with a community member to Neguac in the evening and noticed eight RCMP vehicles parked at the RCMP warehouse.

Fisheries Minister Herb Dahliwal announced that the DFO was granting a seven-day license to Burnt Church for a food, ceremonial, and ritual fishery from August 20 27, during which time negotiations would take place with the new band council.

Tuesday, August 21: Several people stopped by in the evening to inform the team that RCMP Inspector Vickers had questioned band councilor, Leo Bartibogue as to why he did not show up for a meeting with the DFO earlier that day. Bartibogue had replied, "I do not have a mandate from my community to negotiate with the DFO." Vickers responded by asking Bartibogue if he wanted to be responsible for the deaths of the children and elders in his community. Community members interpreted the remark as a direct threat to the entire community, not just those who go into the water. One young mother told Krahn that she had been planning on going out fishing for a few days and leaving her young son with her mother, but she was no longer was certain that they would be safe.

The team was also told that Vickers barged into a community meeting that same evening uninvited, his finger pointed at Councillor Leo Bartibogue. Angry community members surrounded the RCMP officer and escorted him out of the building.

Thursday, August 23: Around 11:00 p.m. Janet Shoemaker and Krahn saw spotlights on the bay and heard a boat on the water. They went to investigate and learned that the spotlights belonged to a commercial-sized fishing boat with three intoxicated non-natives from Miramichi. They had come into the bay to cut traps and ended up running over the bouys, getting the ropes tangled in the propellor of their boat. Several Esgenoopetitj Rangers took a boat out to see what was happening, then returned to the wharf to alert the RCMP officer. The Rangers took the RCMP back out to arrest the men and seize the boat.

Friday, August 24: Shoemaker, Krahn and Tuulia Law observed 12 RCMP vehicles and two police vans parked outside the RCMP warehouse in Neguac.

Saturday, August 25: The 14th Annual Esgenoopetitj Powwow officially began. While people were eating supper at the powwow, three DFO boats came into the bay. One community boat approached them and conversed briefly with them and they left.

William Payne spoke briefly with re-elected chief Wilbur Dedam who affirmed that CPT was welcome and needed at Esgenoopetitj.

Sunday, August 26: Five DFO boats appeared during the second day of the powwow to cut traps on the south side of Burnt Church wharf. Team members observed the behaviour of local non-natives who refused to move forward in the supper line until the lobster was ready to be served.

At 7:40 p.m. community members alerted the team to 20 non-native fishing boats coming into the EFN fishing area of the bay. Krahn, Shoemaker, and Law went to investigate and decided to engage the RCMP on the Burnt Church wharf and to invite the delegation members to join them. (See September 3 release, "To serve and protect.") Several police officers gave conflicting information to different CPT team and delegation members.

Monday, August 27: The CPT team and delegation attended the court in Miramichi in support of five men who had applied for state-funded counsel for their upcoming trials on assault charges during last summer's fishery. The judge failed to show up for the 9:30 a.m. court, and the defendants were told to return at 2:00 p.m. Four of the five were denied state-funded counsel. The fifth man, whose boat had been sunk in a confrontation with the DFO on August 29, 2000, and was struggling to get away from DFO and RCMP officers while in the water, was granted it. Judge McCarroll ruled that since the man was sworn in as a Ranger by both the Indian Act chief and the hereditary chief as protector of the community's property within the community's territory, his argument would include treaty rights and therefore be complicated enough for legal defense to be provided.

Tuesday, August 28: Around 11:00 a.m. there was a report that RCMP Inspector Vickers had notified the community that 200 non-native boats would be coming into the bay by 2:00 p.m. From the north shore of the bay, four or five boats were seen coming in from the south, but were reported to have turned back because of low tide. The flotilla never materialized.

The team learned that the DFO extended a fishing license to the community until October 20, 2001 for 900 traps to be fished within a limited zone and not for commercial purposes.