Canada: N.B. judge refuses to scrap eel fisher's lawsuit against chiefs

Published 2024년 5월 15일

Tridge summary

A judge in Saint John, New Brunswick, has allowed a lawsuit against Indigenous chiefs and fishers, filed by eel fisher Mary Ann Holland and her companies, to proceed. The lawsuit, which was amended twice and was deemed complex by the judge, alleges unauthorized fishing by the Indigenous fishers in Charlotte County. The case, which has been ongoing for two years, will now go to trial. The Indigenous fishers have asserted their right to join the industry and were allocated a portion of the total allowable catch in 2022, but the industry has been closed since April 2023 due to conflicts between harvesters in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

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Original content

SAINT JOHN, N.B. — Despite a second lawsuit swimming upstream in Fredericton, a Rothesay eel fisher's claim against Indigenous chiefs and fishers will stay alive, a Saint John judge ruled last Tuesday. Mary Ann Holland and her companies Brunswick Aquaculture Limited and Alder Seafood Limited first filed lawsuits in 2022 against four Wolastoqey First Nations, their chiefs, and unidentified fishers from their communities who they say were involved in unauthorized fishing in Charlotte County. The lawsuit names Chief Allan 'Chicky' Polchies and Sitansisk (St. Mary's First Nation), Chief Shelley Sabattis and Welamukotuk (Oromocto First Nation), Chief Ross Perley and Neqotkuk (Tobique First Nation) and Chief Tim Paul and Wotstak (Woodstock First Nation). In a statement to Brunswick News Wednesday, Perley said: "Lawsuits such as these detract from the legitimate issues of respecting Indigenous harvesting rights. The legal argument of this baseless claim sets up unreasonable expectations ...

Source: Saltwire