Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

ESGENOÔPETITJ - "I don't know how much longer I can fish," said the young Mi'kmaq fisherman. I could see the droop of his shoulders as he prepared to hoist the white plastic bucket into the back of the pick-up truck. I could feel his discouragement. His partner, the owner of one of the larger First Nations fishing boats, a 20 footer, commented, "That's all the lobster he caught today--one bucket full."

In August, Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) arbitrarily designated a small strip of the bay in front of Esgenoôpetitj First Nation (EFN) as the fishing zone for an Aboriginal "food fishery." The zone was devised to restrict the lobster catch to those areas of the bay least populated by lobster and lower the possibility for confrontation with non-Aboriginal fishers. The DFO designated this low-production zone for Aboriginals despite the fact that the Supreme Court of Canada had affirmed the right of the Mi'kmaq to fish for a "moderate livelihood.

There are no markers or buoys indicating the exact boundary of this arbitrary zone, so there is confusion regarding its location. Earlier in the day, I saw a Mi'kmaq fisherman in a 12-foot dory setting lobster traps close to the invisible line when 3 DFO vessels began circling him. He recounted later that an officer in one DFO boat had confirmed that he was fishing within the zone. Then another DFO boat came along and started seizing his traps. He informed the officers in the second DFO boat that he had been told that his traps were within the zone. He asked that they talk and sort it out. As the DFO officers on the two boats argued with each other, the second DFO boat kept pulling up traps.

"They could see I was willing to move my traps if need be, but they continued seizing them anyway. I lost three traps, and my partner lost fifteen. I tried, but I couldn't save our traps."

Another fisherman told me that he approached the same DFO boat that afternoon and asked "Just where exactly is this line I'm supposed to be observing?" The DFO officer on board refused to give him the information, accused him of "obstructing an officer in the line of duty," and threatened to arrest him.

"We're needing to fish close to the line now," said the fisherman, "since the lobster are already migrating out of the bay. But where is this line? Even the DFO don't know."

As I look over the bay, I am reminded of a story in Scripture about David and Goliath, and how David overcame Goliath through faith. I pray that these small Mi'kmaq-owned dories and their operators will overcome the heavily armoured DFO Goliath.

Christian Peacemaker Teams has maintained a violence-reduction presence at Esgenoopetitj since April 2000 at the invitation of the community. The team includes John Finlay (Walkerton ON), Gerry Lepp (Harrow ON), Barbara Martens (Ruthven ON), Vern Riediger (Toronto ON), Janet Shoemaker (Goshen IN), and Lena Siegers (Blyth ON)