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BURNT CHURCH ABORIGINAL FISHERS NEED SOLIDARITY
"Labour in Action" column by Liz Rowley
(This article is from the October 1-15/2000 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT says the Aboriginal fishery threatens what's left of Atlantic lobster and fish stocks. It doesn't have to be true, it just has to be said over and over, by serious looking men in expensive suits: Liberal cabinet ministers, national newscasters, even an NDP mediator.
They need a really big lie to justify the violence unleashed against Aboriginal fishers and their families in Burnt Church. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is sinking and swamping boats full of people. Knives and baseball bats are in the hands of mobs incited by Fisheries Minister Herb Dhaliwal, who should be relieved of his cabinet post immediately.
Bob Rae has indirectly contributed to the violence, with his betrayal of the trust given by the Mi'kmaq of Burnt Church. As the single mediator, Rae simply repeated the DFO's demands that the Mi'kmaq stop fishing, effectively giving up their inherent rights.
The situation is so inflamed that Ovide Mercredi of the Assembly of First Nations has called upon the Canadian people "to pray for this community and for their politicians so they use reason, not violence. This community has done everything. They don't deserve to be humiliated by anybody, least of all the government of Canada."
The truth about the Mi'kmaq fishery would incite quite another reaction if it were told, just as the truth about Ipperwash, Oka, and Gustafsen Lake - including murder and mayhem by police under orders from the highest levels - appalled world public opinion once it became known.
The Minuscule Aboriginal Fishery and the Factory Trawlers
The truth concerns the unparalleled greed of the giant fish processing companies, whose floating fish factories empty the seas year after year, and then lobby for bigger quotas and a longer season.
The truth is the Aboriginal "take" is insignificant - a drop in the ocean, compared to the big factory fleets.
The truth is that the corporate plundering of the oceans is the real and immediate threat to Canada's fishery, to the oceans and the environment, and to the livelihoods of both Aboriginal fishers, and of the small family fishers who are the members of the Maritime Fishermen's Union.
Systemic racism: divide and conquer
If it weren't for systemic racism, the corporate fish interests would not have been able to divide the small in-shore fishery. Racism, pure and simple, has prevented white fishers from recognizing that Aboriginal fishers are their closest natural allies in the fight to safeguard the resource endangered by the fish companies.
Burnt Church Mi'kmaq Chief Wilbur Dedam said in mid-September, "I'm really getting tired of threats. The fishermen already made their livelihood. They should just leave us alone. It's time we made our livelihood. We aren't hurting anybody."
Recognize aboriginal inherent rights
Inherent rights to a commercial fishery were re-affirmed by the federal courts a year ago in the Marshall decision. The Supreme Court decision recognized the treaty right of the Mi'kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Maliseet nations to run a commercial fishery that would create a livelihood for Aboriginal fishers and an economic base for their communities.
These rights were denied for years, by governments that acted to protect the big companies who wanted sole rights to exploit this profitable natural resource. Decades of frustration and anger at this policy, which contributed greatly to the impoverishment of the Mi'kmaq People, gave way to hope when Donald Marshall - himself a victim of systemic racism in the justice system - successfully challenged the government, by fishing out of season.
The Liberal government must respect the Supreme Court decision, not try to overturn it in practice. This is a matter of law, as well as a clear issue of social justice and Aboriginal rights.
Solidarity needed now
Looking at Burnt Church, Aboriginal peoples across Canada see their communities facing similar violence from governments and corporations. Matthew Coon Come, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, has warned that Aboriginal people will not sit back and watch while the DFO attacks the Mi'kmaq. Aboriginal peoples are mobilizing Canada-wide, to defend their national rights and interests.
The CLC and some Federations of Labour have already sent letters of solidarity to the Mi'kmaq, as have groups such as the National Action Committee on the Status of Women. But much more needs to be done. Emergency resolutions from Labour Councils and Local Unions should be sent to Chretien, telling him to stop the DFO's campaign of violence against Aboriginal fishers, to end vigilante action in the area, to respect the Marshall decision, and to curb the corporate fish factories.
The Liberals and their corporate friends are counting on the non-Aboriginal population of Canada to sit out this violent assault on Aboriginal People. They're counting on racism carrying the day.
But an injury to one is an injury to all. If they can do this in Nova Scotia, they can do it in Winnipeg, Vancouver, and Toronto. They can do it all of us. And they will, if they aren't stopped. It's a time to stand up and be counted: for democracy, equality, and for social justice.
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