NDP RESPONSE: Provincial Election Questionnaire

August 9, 2021

NSNDP RESPONSE - UNITED FISHERIES CONSERVATION ALLIANCE

As the province is responsible for the buying, processing, or selling of fish, we want to work constructively with the next provincial government to ensure First Nations can fish and sell their catch for a moderate livelihood while conserving the resource for future generations. Our members expect the next provincial government to take a leadership role with respect to their responsibility for the buying, processing, or selling of fish and have established the following questions for the upcoming provincial election:

1. Do you believe the excessive localized fishing pressure introduced by the launch of unregulated moderate livelihood fisheries has the potential to have a harmful effect on the conservation of stocks?

2. Do you believe it is essential that every community, association, and fisher in the Atlantic fishery, whether they be Indigenous or non-Indigenous, abide by the science-based rules and regulations that have been established by DFO to ensure the conservation and proper management of our fisheries for future generations?

3. Do you believe that fish caught in unregulated moderate livelihood fisheries operating outside the science-based rules and regulations that have been established by DFO should be exempt from the provincial rules related to the buying, processing, or selling of fish?

4. If elected, do you commit to increasing provincial resources for the enforcement of the rules related to the buying, processing, or selling of fish caught in unregulated moderate livelihood fisheries operating outside of the science-based rules and regulations that have been established by DFO?

The NDP is aware that Canada’s highest court has recognized that Mi’kmaw communities have the right to fish to earn a modest livelihood. It is the obligation of all levels of government to give effect to that right, yet the federal government has dodged the issue for twenty years. This creates needless uncertainty and the potential for violence among fishing communities who should be working side by side for the shared goal of a successful and sustainable harvest.

An NDP government of Nova Scotia will urge the federal government to resolve this question by listening to all interests and dealing nation-to-nation with the Mi’kmaw to reach an effective resolution. If the federal government leaves the right to a moderate livelihood up in the air, an NDP government will be obligated to consider how it can recognize that right within provincial jurisdiction if a Mi’kmaw regulated moderate livelihood fishery were to take place.

To read official NSNDP response, click here.