Question Period Note: Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans’ “Peace on the Water” Report on the implementation of the right to fish in pursuit of a moderate livelihood

Will the government fully implement moderate livelihood fishing for Indigenous communities, as detailed in the Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans report?

• We carefully reviewed the Committee’s report and intend to work in close collaboration with Treaty Nations to further implement their right to fish in pursuit of a moderate livelihood.
• Our goal is a fishery that is peaceful and prosperous, that upholds the Marshall decisions, and ensures that Treaty Nations can exercise their rights in a way that is reflective of their vision and needs.

• On February 24, 2023, the government issued its response to the Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans (POFO) report entitled “Peace on the Water: Advancing the Full Implementation of Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqiyik and Peskotomuhkati Rights-Based Fisheries” (the Report).
• The Report was tabled in the Senate on September 27, 2022, and examines the federal government’s response to the 1999 Marshall decisions by the Supreme Court of Canada and the implementation of the rights of 34 Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik First Nations in the Maritime Provinces and the Gaspé region of Quebec and the Peskotomuhkati Nation at Skutik (“Treaty Nations”) to fish in pursuit of a moderate livelihood.
• The Report examines past policy responses and nation-to-nation agreements, concluding that Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has not fully implemented rights-based fisheries for these Treaty Nations.
• The Report presents ten recommendations for DFO, Crown-Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The Government Response represents a whole-of government approach to responding to the Senate Committee’s recommendations, and addresses the recommendations under the following four themes: 1) implementing the right to fish in pursuit of a moderate livelihood; 2) integrating Indigenous knowledge into fisheries management decision-making; 3) safety, education, and building trust, and; 4) continued public reporting.
• The Report garnered attention from media when it was released. Treaty Nations and Indigenous groups were largely supportive of the Report, with many saying it accurately reflected the widely held perception that the federal government is failing Indigenous fishers. Non-Indigenous fishers were more critical, calling the report “one-sided” and “incredibly biased.”
• DFO continues to implement rights-based fishing through an array of programming and nation-to-nation understandings and agreements, but a longer-term approach is needed and to better implement Treaty Nations’ unique visions of their fisheries and to provide additional stability and predictability to the fishery.
• The Department also continues to have regular and frequent meetings at various levels with non-Indigenous fishing industry stakeholders to answer questions about moderate livelihood fishing and provide industry an opportunity to share its views.
• In January of 2022, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans also issued a report on the issue entitled “Implementation of the Mi’kmaw and Maliseet [Wolastoqiyik] Treaty right to Fish in Pursuit of a Moderate Livelihood”. This report, which contained 40 recommendations, contained the same general themes as the Report from the Senate. The government issued its response to the House Committee report in June of 2022.

If pressed on the implementation of fishing rights
• We are committed to advancing reconciliation and renewing the relationship with Indigenous peoples, based on recognition of rights, respect, and cooperation.
• Since the Marshall decisions, DFO has provided over $630 million towards the implementation of rights-based fisheries. This has had a meaningful economic and capacity benefit to the 35 Treaty Nations.
• Building upon this progress and guided by the Committee’s recommendations, DFO will continue to engage on a nation-to-nation basis with Treaty Nations to further implement this treaty right.