Department of Fisheries and Oceans Archives

Mi’kmaw harvesters confront protesters at wharf in southwestern Nova Scotia

September 15, 2020 Maureen Googoo

Mi’kmaw lobster harvesters confronted a large group of protesters who gathered at a wharf in Weymouth, N.S. Tuesday morning to protest against the Mi’kmaq treaty right to fish for a moderate livelihood. Approximately 300 protesters, […]

Sipekne’katik Chief calls on NS Premier, DFO, RCMP to protect Mi’kmaw harvesters’ treaty rights

September 15, 2020 Maureen Googoo

The chief of the Sipekne’katik First Nation in Nova Scotia is calling for the Nova Scotia premier, the minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the RCMP to protect Mi’kmaw lobster harvesters from harassment while they […]

Mi’kmaw lobster harvesters feeling harassed for practising moderate livelihood fishery

September 4, 2020 Maureen Googoo

Mi’kmaw lobster harvesters in southwestern Nova Scotia say they feel harassed by non-Indigenous harvesters for practicing their treaty right to earning a moderate livelihood by setting lobster traps in St. Mary’s Bay. “It’s been very […]

Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw lobster harvester to file an injunction against DFO for seizing traps

September 1, 2020 Maureen Googoo

A Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw lobster harvester plans to file an injunction against the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for seizing his traps in the Bay of Fundy last weekend. “I’m going to get (my lawyer) […]

A Mi’kmaw fisherman is fighting the same fishery charges his father faced 20 years ago

September 24, 2019 Maureen Googoo

A young Mi’kmaw man from Nova Scotia is vowing to fight fishery charges against him like his father did 20 years ago. Leon Knockwood, who is from Sipekne’katik First Nation, N.S. has been charged with […]

NS Mi’kmaw fishermen say DFO seized lobster traps tagged under moderate livelihood

August 20, 2019 Maureen Googoo

Editor’s note: Updated at 10:52 p.m. Includes response from DFO. Two Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw fishermen say the Department of Fisheries and Oceans are violating their treaty right to fish for a moderate livelihood by seizing […]

Defining a Moderate Livelihood: Part 2

May 15, 2019 Olivia Blackmore

Editor’s Note: This news story is the last in a two-part series examining the issue of defining ‘moderate livelihood’ as the 20th anniversary of the 1999 Supreme Court of Canada ruling in the Donald Marshall, […]

Defining a ‘Moderate Livelihood’: Part 1

May 13, 2019 Olivia Blackmore

Editor’s Note: This news story is the first in a two-part series examining the issue of defining ‘moderate livelihood’ as the 20th anniversary of the 1999 Supreme Court of Canada ruling in the Donald Marshall, […]

DFO in talks with Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw fishermen to settle lawsuit says lawyer

May 9, 2019 Maureen Googoo

Four Mi’kmaw fishermen from Nova Scotia are in negotiations with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to settle a lawsuit they launched against the department in February. The lawyer for Mark Howe, Jeremy Syliboy, Alex […]

Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw fishermen sue DFO for racial profiling, infringing on treaty rights

March 26, 2019 Maureen Googoo

Four Mi’kmaw fishermen from Nova Scotia are suing the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for charging them with fisheries violations and seizing their catch in 2015. Mark Howe, 59, Jeremy Syliboy, 36, Alex McDonald, 57, […]

ANSMC lawyer says stay of fishery charges shouldn’t affect negotiations with DFO

November 9, 2018 Maureen Googoo

A legal advisor for the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs says the outcome of a recent court case involving Mi’kmaw fishermen charged with illegally lobster fishing shouldn’t affect negotiations between the assembly and the […]

“Do not accept any food fishery tags,” Sipekne’katik fisherman advises following court case

October 18, 2018 Maureen Googoo

A Nova Scotia band councillor who is also a Mi’kmaw fisherman is advising his fellow lobster fishers not to use food fishery tags issued by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans if they want to […]

DFO lays charges against company for selling food fishery lobster

July 23, 2018 Maureen Googoo

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has charged a business and its owner in southwestern Nova Scotia with selling lobster caught under an Aboriginal communal fishing license. DFO says it laid charges against a company […]

Sipekne’katik not contacted by DFO negotiator to discuss “moderate livelihood” fishery, says band councillor

July 12, 2018 Maureen Googoo

A councillor with the Sipekne’katik band in Nova Scotia says the lead negotiator with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has yet to meet with chief and council to discuss the definition of moderate livelihood […]

DFO negotiator meeting with Maritime First Nations to define “moderate livelihood”

July 9, 2018 Maureen Googoo

A federal negotiator for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has been meeting with First Nation leaders in the Maritimes and the Gaspé region of Quebec for the past seven months to determine what a […]