Honourable senators, I stand in support of Motion 40 brought forward by Senator Francis. Thank you to Senator Francis and Senator Christmas for bringing this very important issue to our attention last fall. I stand in solidarity with Mi’kmaq fishers and the Mi’kmaq community.

As an institution, many of us have vocalized the desire to address systemic racism. Supporting this motion is one of the ways that we can do that. Systemic racism and colonialism are intrinsically linked, and one cannot be addressed without examining the other. The racism and violence faced by Mi’kmaq fishers are forms of unacceptable colonial violence and are a result of generations of systemic discrimination and normalized marginalization. As an institution, we should be standing up against this violence and resisting the denial of treaty rights.

I wanted to speak today to stress the importance of upholding and respecting treaties. We all live on Indigenous land. We are all treaty people. As Canadians, we are responsible to respect treaties, and as senators, we are responsible for upholding these agreements. Treaties are agreements or promises made to respect Mi’kmaq rights to land and resources. Living in Nova Scotia, living on Mi’kmaq land, I am responsible to those historic treaties.

In addition to being a treaty person, I firmly believe in the strength of cross-racial allyship. As many of you are aware — especially Nova Scotian and East Coast senators — I live in East Preston, an African-Nova Scotian community. African Nova Scotians and Mi’kmaq are deeply linked, dating back to the early 1600s, when the first African person to come to Canada, Mathieu Da Costa, served as an interpreter between Mi’kmaq and Europeans. Given our shared history, I support Mi’kmaq because I understand the multi-generational impact of colonization and the colonial context in which this violence exists. I honour our shared history, and I honour our differences.

Honourable colleagues, I support Motion 40 to uphold the Mi’kmaq rights to a moderate livelihood fishery as established by the Peace and Friendship Treaties signed in 1760 and 1761. I urge the Senate to condemn the violence and support the protection of Mi’kmaq fishers and communities. Asante. Thank you.

Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to Motion 40 put forward by Senator Francis, in collaboration with Senator Christmas, pertaining to the Mi’kmaq fishers and communities. I would like to thank Senator Francis and Senator Christmas for their advocacy and dedication to the Mi’kmaq. I would also like to thank Senator Patterson and, indeed, all of my colleagues for recognizing the importance of this issue.

As many of you know, I’ve spent much of my career, over 35 years, involved in Canada’s fishing industry, and I understand the importance of this resource of ours. I spent many years running fish plants off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador — the first time when I was 21 years old in the remote community of Black Tickle on the coast of Labrador.

For many years prior to my Senate appointment, I served as Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Adviser to the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans, as well as Director of Regional Affairs for Newfoundland and Labrador. Additionally, in the early 1980s, I bought and sold herring in the Bay of Fundy. I was based in Yarmouth, in southwest Nova.

These experiences allow me to advocate for positive change on issues not just affecting Newfoundland and Labrador but Canada as a whole. My ties to responsible resource development, long-term sustainability and conservation have been cemented throughout the entirety of my career, and I therefore recognize these issues when I encounter them. We are encountering these issues here today.

I have seen first-hand the devastation that is too frequently the result of not respecting conservation and environmental best practices. I witnessed the collapse of the Atlantic cod fishery in 1992, which had terrible consequences, damaging communities, families and the livelihoods of thousands. It has affected the very fabric of my province.

Colleagues, treaty rights are important and must be respected, full stop. The Supreme Court decision in R. v. Marshall confirmed that Indigenous rights transcend food, social and ceremonial rites, which is what is known as FSC. The decision went further to include the right to “moderate livelihood.” While the court did not define this, I understand what that means and why it is important. This landmark decision, which I applaud, was reached on September 17, 1999, and this decision is quoted by many as the backstop for Indigenous fishing rights.

As many colleagues know, two months after this, on November 17, 1999, the Supreme Court issued a clarification to that decision. The highest court in the land stated:

The federal and provincial governments have the authority within their respective legislative fields to regulate the exercise of a treaty right where justified on conservation or other grounds. The Marshall judgment referred to the Court’s principal pronouncements on the various grounds on which the exercise of treaty rights may be regulated. The paramount regulatory objective is conservation and responsibility for it is placed squarely on the minister responsible and not on the aboriginal or non-aboriginal users of the resource.

Canada’s Supreme Court felt it necessary to clarify its own previous decision due to the way it could be interpreted. It is clear from this that there are boundaries on treaty rights because there are many objectives that must be balanced when governing, including both conservation and treaty rights.

The court ruled that sustainability and conservation of a resource are not left up to the individual users of that resource: Indigenous or non-Indigenous. This clarification of the Marshall decision gives us the ability to balance the objectives in a way that would lead to responsible fishing practices that will be sustainable for the future.

There will be no such thing as a commercial fishery or a moderate livelihood fishery for anyone in the long run if we don’t manage the stock as regulated. Since 1844, approximately 109 species native to Canada have vanished from our country and many more are endangered or at risk. Fishing regulations exist for a reason. These rules are not simply red tape and bureaucracy; they are designed to conserve and lead to the long-term sustainability of the resource, and they are designed so there is fairness in a complex industry.

The regulated fishing season in southwest Nova Scotia typically runs from late November to late May. This is intentional. Lobsters are most likely to molt during the harvesting off-season, which is why it is, in fact, the off-season. Harvesting during the off-season period is prohibited due to soft shells from molting.

There are other regulations in place as well, including bans around harvesting roe-bearing female lobsters. There have been reports of this happening in Nova Scotia, and the practice is hurting our lobster population, as fishing one egg-bearing female immediately takes multiple out of our future stock.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, we have a practice called v‑notching, whereby if a harvester catches a roe-bearing female, the tail is clipped with the v-notching tool and the lobster is put back in the water. It is illegal to catch and retain a lobster with this feature. It is responsible resource management in practice.

On March 3 of this year, DFO released a decision regarding the issue and outlined a plan meant to balance the various objectives at hand. These are, from DFO, “. . . implementation of First Nations treaty rights, conservation and sustainability of fish stocks, transparent and stable management of the fishery.”

The plan notes that conservation underpins everything at DFO and that lobster stocks are healthy on the East Coast largely due to fishing limits and best practices, which must be adhered to in order for the goal of conservation to be consistently achieved.

The decision explains that moderate livelihood fisheries will be supported and licensed, but that all fisheries must operate within the established seasons. And I quote from that from DFO.

Seasons ensure that stocks are harvested sustainably and they are necessary for an orderly, predictable and well-managed fishery. In effort-based fisheries such as lobster, seasons are part of the overall management structure that conserves the resource, ensures there isn’t overfishing, and distributes economic benefits across Atlantic Canada. . . .

So what exactly is Motion 40 asking us to support? It states, as many of my colleagues have stated as well, that the Senate should affirm and honour the Marshall decision. Colleagues, I could not agree more. But we must affirm it in its entirety, which includes the principle that “. . . governments have the authority . . . to regulate the exercise of a treaty right where justified on conservation or other grounds,” and that responsibility for conservation “. . . is placed squarely on the minister responsible and not on the aboriginal or non-aboriginal users of the resource.”

We must therefore carry out this task that has been delegated to us by the Supreme Court to uphold the paramount regulatory objective of conservation. As I stated earlier, colleagues, treaty rights of our Indigenous communities are important. Let’s be absolutely clear, though, what this motion is asking us to support and/or condemn. Criminal acts are never acceptable and should always be condemned and it is extremely troubling to hear about the conflicts in Nova Scotia surrounding these issues. We are all here because we believe in the rule of law and must condemn any criminal act carried out by any individual.

We are a body that makes laws. Is this motion asking us to be blind to the legislation that was affirmed in this very chamber, to be blind to what the Supreme Court confirmed and then further clarified, and to be blind to the recent decision from DFO that was balanced and sensible? Are we being asked to look past all of this?

It is for the reasons that I’ve outlined in this speech that I am putting forth an amendment to the motion. I am doing this not to take away from it but to affirm what’s there and make it stronger. Colleagues, I have done this in conjunction with Senators Francis and Christmas, and others. My amendment respects the Marshall decision, making clear the importance of striking the right balance between upholding conservation and empowering moderate livelihood fisheries. The amendment also serves the purpose of clarifying that criminal acts, including those that interfere with treaty rights, are condemned by the Senate.

I believe we can all agree, colleagues, that the role of the Senate is to make things better, whether that means making legislative advancements or pushing for change that will improve the day-to-day lives of Canadians. We strive to uphold the law in its entirety and it’s in everyone’s interest that the law be followed by all. It is this principle that is at the heart of my amendment.