Roles - Hon. Dominic LeBlanc
Current and Past
Beauséjour
New Brunswick Offices and Roles as a Parliamentarian
| 42nd | Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard | May 31, 2016 | July 18, 2018 |
Automatic reply: Methinks Hon. Bernadette Jordan
should review all my old emails before she leaves public office N'esy
Pas Toby Mendel and Lee Cohen?
Jordan, Bernadette - M.P.<Bernadette.Jordan@parl.gc.ca> | Mon, Oct 4, 2021 at 5:41 PM | ||||||||||
| To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com> | |||||||||||
Thank you for contacting the Constituency Office of Hon. Bernadette Jordan, Member of Parliament for South Shore - St. Margaret's.
This is an automatic confirmation of receipt of your message.
The constituency office deals exclusively with matters pertaining to the riding of South Shore - St. Margaret's and its constituents. If you have not done so already, please include your full name, address, and postal code in your message.
If you are writing to Minister Jordan in her capacity as Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, please note we will forward your email to the Ministry's correspondence office. For any follow-up or future correspondence, please contact them directly at: Min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.
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MP Staff to Hon. Bernadette Jordan
Automatic reply: I trust that Higgy, Trudeau, Mendicino, Blanchet, Singh and Andy Baby Fillmore know why I enjoyed what the ex RCMP dude Rob Morrison just said in Paraiment
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An old email of mine to Dominic Leblanc about fishing |
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Inside the hidden fight over Indigenous fishing for baby eels in Nova Scotia
Court documents reveal why DFO shut down the lucrative elver fishery for all of 2020
Fisheries and Oceans Canada faced a five-fold increase in Mi'kmaw fishing for baby eels in 2020 primarily on Nova Scotia rivers — an event it did not expect and could not manage, according to internal DFO documents obtained by CBC News.
The federal department had been closely monitoring, and in some cases prosecuting, the unauthorized sale of baby eels harvested by Mi'kmaq under Food, Social and Ceremonial (FSC) eel licences since 2017.
The appearance of more than 110 Indigenous fishermen at the beginning of April 2020, up from 21 across the region in 2019, quickly forced a shutdown of the little known but lucrative fishery throughout the Maritimes, the documents state.
It was the first time that had happened.
About the fight over elvers
DFO was in the middle of a collision between Mi'kmaq asserting treaty rights and commercial harvesters anxious to protect a fishery worth $38 million in 2019.
Nine licence holders share a total allowable catch of 9,960 kilos of baby eels — known as elvers.
They are primarily sold to Asian fish farms where they are grown to adulthood for consumption.
A researcher with the group Coastal Action measures young eel caught in the East River near Chester, N.S., on June 18, 2019. (Richard Cuthbertson/CBC)
The tightly regulated commercial fishery was worth an average of $4.3 million per licence in 2019.
Making the case to shutdown 'unmanageable' fishery
Unlike commercial licences where quotas and landings are tracked via logbooks and verified by dockside monitoring, FSC elver catches are not reported and sales are not allowed.
"Given the high value, and since elvers are not known to be a traditional or current food fish for Indigenous people, this harvest is suspected to be for sale into international markets," Deputy Minister Timothy Sargent wrote to federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan on April 22.
Sargent was recommending the first of what would turn out to be two temporary 45-day closures, which effectively ended the entire 2020 season.
It was a response to the unprecedented increase in Mi'kmaw elver fishing and fears over escalating conflict as harvesters competed over access.
"The unexpected, heightened scale of the activities that have been observed to date (which by far exceeds what DFO had expected based on previous years) has led DFO to determine that those concerns cannot be managed through localized closures," Sargent wrote.
"This level of fishing, in addition to the commercial fishery, has become unmanageable and represents a threat to the conservation of the species."
Lawsuit pulls back curtain on a hidden struggle
In July 2020, commercial harvesters filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court of Canada seeking to overturn the shutdown order.
They argued DFO had not done enough to stop unregulated fishing.
In its defence, the department filed 60 pages of documents justifying its actions.
The lawsuit was later dropped. But the documents reveal what has been a mostly hidden struggle that features nighttime confrontations illuminated by flickering flashlights at the side of a river.
The DFO documents included advice from senior bureaucrats, assessments from its enforcement branch, Conservation and Protection, and detailed economic analysis of the fishery.
What we learned
- Mi'kmaw involvement in the elver fishery was first observed in 2016 when two or three harvesters claimed to be fishing for food, social and ceremonial purposes on rivers in southwestern Nova Scotia.
- The FSC fishery has expanded to every elver river in southwestern Nova Scotia, including Yarmouth County where commercial fishing is not allowed and a range of elver rivers in eastern Nova Scotia.
- A 2017 investigation led to the raid of a warehouse near Pearson Airport in Toronto, where police seized about eight kilograms of what they said was FSC-harvested elvers worth $170,000 — an amount DFO said represented a fraction of the current alleged illegal activity. No charges were laid due to lack of evidence.
- The shutdown was projected to reduce landed values for commercial licence holders to $6.5 million.
- Unauthorized elver fishing in Nova Scotia continued despite the order.
- Over a 23-day period from late April and May, fishery officers made 25 arrests, seized 16 trap nets, 19 dip nets and three weapons and returned about eight kilograms of elvers to rivers. It is not clear if the arrested were Mi'kmaq.
DFO proceeded despite risk of alienating Mi'kmaq
DFO was aware its actions would be seen as an infringement of the Mi'kmaw right to harvest for food, social and ceremonial purposes, and risked a "negative effect" on discussions over the treaty right to earn a moderate livelihood.
"However, risks to conservation and proper management and control of the fishery are currently believed to be at a level where this is necessary," Sargent wrote.
The shutdown was followed, after the fact, by discussions with Mi'kmaw bands where responses to the ministerial order varied.
A summary of the engagement said some Mi'kmaw communities supported the shutdown to protect American eel while others strongly opposed any changes to FSC licences that would potentially restrict access.
There was also "considerable displeasure about a perceived lack of consultation" in some communities, including Kwilmu'kw Maw-klusuaqn, KMKNO, which is the negotiation office for the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw chiefs.
Canada moves to end FSC elver fishery in 2021
In February 2021, DFO imposed a 10-centimetre minimum size on all FSC American eel licences issued to all bands in the Maritimes.
Before this, most licences did not contain a minimum size.
The condition is expressly designed to prevent FSC elver fishing and was urged in a DFO Conservation and Protection report in 2020.
"The ability to protect the species and deter over-harvesting will be much greater enabled through decisive action with respect to the introduction of of size limits and gear restrictions as part of the food, social and ceremonial licence conditions - which would accord much stronger enforcement mechanisms to fishery officers and Public Prosecution Services of Canada (PPSC)," the report said.
"Elver is a lucrative commodity which is easily harvested. There are individuals fishing elver who are affiliated with criminal entities due to the ability to rapidly sell their catch and funnel the proceeds toward other endeavours. MAR C&P is working increasingly more closely with policing counter-parts to disrupt these elements."
The DFO documents do not mention any Mi'kmaw harvesters being charged in these cases.
Arrest continue in 2021
The shutdown has not ended confrontations on elver rivers.
Since the season opened in March, fishery officers have arrested 14 people and made a number of seizures over alleged unauthorized elver fishing.
It's not clear if the enforcement actions relate only to Mi'kmaw fishermen.
Some of the arrests involved members of the Sipekne'katik band.
Chief Mike Sack says the fishermen were exercising their treaty right to fish for a moderate living.
Chief Mike Sack says fishing for elvers falls under the Mi'kmaw treaty right to earn a moderate livelihood. (Nic Meloney/CBC)
"It falls under that. And I fully support any of our members that are out there exercising their right under any fish or wildlife or resources that there may be," he said.
Chiefs say cut the commercial harvest if there is a conservation issue.
In a statement, the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs asserted First Nations interest in fishing elvers under food, social and ceremonial licences, and objected to the unilateral decision to suspend elver fishing in 2020 by DFO.
"While the protection and conservation of all species is always a concern for our people, the Mi'kmaw have a desire to fish elvers for Food, Social and Ceremonial purposes," Annapolis Valley First Nation Chief Gerald Toney said in a statement.
The Million Dollar Baby Eel Deal
"We should be able to fish any species, as needed and as required, while respecting concerns for conservation, as outlined in Sparrow," he said, referencing the 1990 Supreme Court case that spelled out steps required to infringe on a treaty right.
In December, one of their negotiators told DFO that elvers are a viable food source for Mi'kmaw communities and commercial licences should be cut first if there are conservation issues.
In a statement, DFO said it will respond accordingly to conserve the population and maintain a sustainable and orderly fishery in 2021. It is the same language it used last year when it shut down the fishery.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
COMMENTARY: Who gives a ‘dam’ for eels? Solutions exist to help elvers and harvesters
Geoffrey V. Hurley, a retired fisheries biologist and independent environmental consultant, provided the following opinion article.
The recent sudden closure of the lucrative Maritime elver, or glass eel, fishery in Nova Scotia merits a more thorough investigation of the underlying causes for this decision.
The translucent glass eels are exported to Asia and grown to market size primarily for sushi dishes. Due to lack of supply from other areas around the globe, the price to harvesters over the past few years has risen as high as $5,000 CAD a kilogram this year.
Read more
Surprise closure
Eels reproduce off the Bahamas in the Sargasso Sea before dying shortly after spawning; somehow the glass eels undertake a long, oceanic migration northward on their own (without parental guidance) to rivers along the northeastern U.S. states and Maritime provinces, where they develop into adults over years (decades) before leaving the rivers and returning to their southerly birthplace.
Eels must navigate obstacles such as predators, variable ocean current conditions, not to mention fishing nets, along their long migratory route from the Sargasso Sea to northern rivers and back.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) shut down this fishery, citing conservation and safety concerns due to incidents of harassment and violence near rivers. It blames the recent influx of unauthorized harvesters and their buyers attracted to the high monetary returns.
Commercial fishers blame DFO for not providing adequate resources to properly deter such illegal behaviour.
The announcement of the closure took licence holders by surprise, as some had caught less than 50 per cent of their quota. Commercial licence holders were already upset with DFO and threatening legal action over a transfer or 14 per cent of the quota to First Nations in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Artificial dams
While these factors may be valid in the short-term given the high demand for glass eels, I would suggest that the root cause of these concerns is the presence of artificial dams, which function as barriers to fish passage on most Maritime rivers.
Dams threaten the sustainability of stream migrants — not only eels but other valued fish species such as Atlantic salmon, sea-run trout, American shad, striped bass and alewife. In the case of glass eels, the dams prevent their migration upstream to areas above the dam — a necessary journey for development and maturation into adult stages of their life cycle.
To expand on this point, there are close to 600 dams on rivers in the province of Nova Scotia. The main purpose of most dams is for hydropower production. Less than 15 per cent of the dams are equipped with fish passage technology. The mechanisms that do exist are designed predominantly for Atlantic salmon with none, to my knowledge, specifically designed for eels.
The dams also make the elvers more vulnerable to the fishery as they slow down and collect in pools below the dam where they are readily harvested by low technology gears such as fyke nets and hand-held dip nets.
The fyke net, which is a small-mesh funnel-shaped trap used in streams with a good flow, is used by commercial and Indigenous communal licence-holders and — much to their chagrin and that of DFO — by unauthorized commercial fishers. Turf wars among harvesters over space at these points along the river have often led to threats and at times physical violence.
Obvious solutions
There are two obvious engineered solutions to the problem: 1. Remove dams completely or 2. Provide professionally designed fish passage structures at each dam site.
Obviously, the first option would have negative impacts on other dam functions, such as power generation, flood control and recreational uses. The second option is more targeted at the sustainability of the eel resource by allowing for uninterrupted stream migration.
An eel ladder recently installed at the Portage Power facility on the Ottawa River at the Chaudière Falls is a perfect example to illustrate this approach. The ladder is comprised of a series of chutes that zigzag up the dam, allowing the elvers to safely bypass the facility and reach their natural habitat upstream. Other modifications to the dam facilitate downstream migration of adult eels on their way back to the ocean.
Eels must navigate obstacles such as predators, variable ocean current conditions, not to mention fishing nets, along their long migratory route from the Sargasso Sea to northern rivers and back. Is it too much to ask the regulator (DFO) and dam operators to ensure that eel ladders be installed at all dams?
This requirement would aid at ensuring the sustainability of the resource and undoubtedly reduce angst and conflict among eel harvesters and criticism of DFO.
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Troubled elver fishery 'just got out of hand:' Canada's fisheries minister
Joyce Murray says $1M worth of baby eels have been seized
Canada's Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Joyce Murray admitted Tuesday the troubled baby eel fishery — known as elvers — "got out of hand" this spring, blaming poachers attracted by easy money.
"We were enforcing the elver fishery. It just got out of hand, partly because of the ease of fishing and the value of the catch," Murray said in Ottawa outside Parliament.
Murray closed the fishery in mid-April after unprecedented numbers of unauthorized harvesters descended on Nova Scotia and New Brunswick rivers.
They came for the tiny, translucent eels netted as they migrate from the ocean into freshwater.
Elvers sell for thousands of dollars a kilogram and are shipped live to Asia where they are grown for food.
The influx of poachers posed a conservation risk to the species and a safety risk to fishery officers, harvesters and the public. There has been nighttime intimidation, threats and violence on rivers.
DFO has been accused by commercial elver licence holders and politicians of not doing enough to stop the illegal fishery — before and after the fisheries management order closing the commercial fishery was issued on April 15.
Murray claims $1-million in product has been seized
Murray insisted efforts to combat illegal fishing are yielding results.
"We have made many, many, like dozens, of arrests over the last few weeks since it was shut down. We've confiscated over $1 million of the product actually," Murray said.
A hidden camera photo of elver poachers on the river at night
Atlantic Elver Fishery, a commercial elver licence holder, has set up trail cameras to document nighttime poaching in Nova Scotia. (Submitted by Atlantic Elver Fishery )
"I definitely don't think that it's helpful for any MP to suggest there's no enforcement because we are working with provincial law enforcement. We're working with the RCMP."
Earlier this week DFO announced it seized 113 kilograms of elvers worth $500,000 after an inspection near Halifax on Friday.
But one commercial licence holder, Stanley King of Atlantic Elver Fishery, says illegal harvesting continues nightly and has the pictures to prove it.
He has installed trail cameras on rivers assigned to the company. He forward images regularly to Murray asking for enforcement. On Monday, he provided images of poaching on three rivers.
"This is the 22nd time I've reported elver poaching from these locations in the 23 days since the fishery was closed," King wrote.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Chris Rands
Fisheries officers seize $500K worth of baby eels outside Halifax
A truck, trailer and $15,792 in cash were also seized
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans says it has seized $500,000 worth of baby eels in Enfield, N.S.
In social media posts Monday morning, DFO said it made the large seizure of baby eels — called elvers — on Friday following an inspection.
It said the seizure included 113 kilograms of elvers, worth approximately $500,000. A truck, trailer and $15,792 in cash were also seized.
One person was arrested following the bust.
The lucrative fishery has seen widespread poaching on rivers in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and DFO has been accused of not doing enough to stop illegal fishing.
One person was arrested following the bust on Friday. (Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press)
The bust came as New Brunswick's Minister of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries Minister Margaret Johnson wrote to federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray demanding more enforcement of the fishery closure in that province.
"Closing this fishery but failing to assign resources to ensure compliance and consequence [for] poachers is a recipe for disaster," Johnson wrote in the letter dated May 5, which was first reported by the Telegraph-Journal in Saint John.
"It risks the imminent devastation of this resource, increases tension and materially increases the risk of violence in the fishing communities."
Johnson offered Murray the use of provincial safety officers to bolster DFO's enforcement efforts.
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Nova Scotia Liberal leader Zach Churchill says Nova Scotia should make a similar offer to help.
"Premier Houston should be doing the same thing in Nova Scotia. This is a really serious issue. It's affecting fishers who do this for a living. It's affecting safety. It's even affecting power. One of the power dams had to shut down because of illegal elver fishery," Churchill told CBC News Monday.
Nova Scotia Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Steve Craig said the large seizure is encouraging but more needs to be done.
"With that in mind, I also call on my federal colleague at DFO to ensure adequate enforcement resources are urgently assigned to Nova Scotia's rivers to protect the long-term sustainability of both eel stocks and the elver fishery," Craig said in a statement to CBC News on Monday.
The province did not address whether it is willing to provide enforcement assistance like New Brunswick.
The legal fishery was shut down April 15 after hundreds of people descended on Nova Scotia and New Brunswick rivers to cash in on a species that sells for up to $5,000 per kilogram when caught legally — but for less on the black market.
The tiny, translucent eels are shipped live to Asia, where they are grown for food.
On Monday, DFO said between April 15 and May 5, it made 53 arrests and seized dozens of nets.
Bust doesn't outweigh illegal fishing: Elver group
Some commercial elver licence holders — who were forced off the water by the closure of the legal fishery — say enforcement has been pitifully small compared to the scale of the illegal fishery.
Atlantic Elver Fishery, which fishes rivers south of Halifax, has used trail cameras to document poaching 21 times since the shutdown. It has sent the images to DFO daily.
Stanley King of Atlantic Elver said Friday's bust comes too late in the season to have a meaningful impact. He says only 10 kilograms was seized before that point.
"Although welcome news, the 123 kilograms reportedly seized pales in comparison to the several metric tons illegally harvested and shipped out of the country since the fishery was closed," he said.
"It's clear that DFO's enforcement branch is systemically understaffed and cannot provide meaningful enforcement, a fact that needs to be remedied before next season."
King also recently wrote to Murray, saying that "without enforcement, the shutdown order has only hurt licence holders, clearing the rivers for poachers."
Commercial elver licence holder Tien Nguyen of Neptune Canada tells CBC News that DFO was unprepared for what happened this spring.
"It is good news in the sense that DFO is finally doing some appropriate action which should have been done a long time ago — since even before the season started," Nguyen said in an interview from the company office in Longueuil, Que.
Brian Giroux, of the Shelburne Elver Group in southern Nova Scotia, agrees.
"It's finally a large operation, or finally a large seizure. But it's kind of sad when you consider that on the 14th of April when they closed the fishery, they estimated that almost 5,000 kilograms had been stolen by poachers," he said.
Seized elvers were sold
In a response provided after this story was published, DFO said the seized elvers were sold and the proceeds would be held until the investigation or prosecution is completed.
In the case of a conviction, the crown gets the money. In the case of an acquittal, proceeds will be given to the defendant.
"DFO makes every effort to return fish to their waters after they are seized," spokesperson Lauren Sankey said in a statement Tuesday.
"However, they cannot be returned to the water in cases where it is not possible to determine where the fish originated from, and/or the sanitation of the containers used to hold and transfer them. This reduces the risk of parasites, diseases, pathogens, or invasive species spreading among watersheds as a result from unauthorized fishing activities."
Enforcement efforts continue: DFO
In a statement on Monday, DFO said the latest seizure did not take place at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, which is close to Enfield. It declined to provide any more details.
"To maintain operational integrity, we do not disclose the number of active officers nor what specific enforcement activities they are undertaking," the department said.
In a statement last week, the office of Murray said efforts to "deter and disrupt" poaching are continuing.
Corrections
- A previous version of this story said that New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs wrote to federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray demanding more enforcement. The letter in fact was from New Brunswick's Minister of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries Minister Margaret Johnson. The story has been corrected.May 08, 2023 2:49 PM AT
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eel poachers forced Nova Scotia Power to shut down hydro dam
Illegal fishing near dam created safety concerns, spokesperson says
An influx of unauthorized elver harvesters prompted Nova Scotia Power to shut down one of its hydro dams last month, and the facility remains on reduced hours because of ongoing illegal fishing at the site.
The hydro dam in Head of St. Margarets Bay, at the mouth of North East River, has been the scene of nightly fishing for elvers, before and after the legal fishery was supposedly shut down on April 15.
Elvers, also known as baby eels, are Canada's most valuable fish species by weight, selling for up to $5,000 a kilogram and are shipped live to Asia where they are grown for food.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) was forced to close the elver fishery in the Maritimes because of an unprecedented increase in poaching, which posed a risk to the species and the public.
Nova Scotia Power said the poachers have also created a safety risk as they fish near the hydro dam.
"Due to the proximity of this activity to our generating station on the St. Margarets Bay Hydro System, as well as safety concerns, we shut down generation at this site last month for about three weeks," spokesperson Jackie Foster told CBC News.
Elvers are shipped live to Asia where they are grown for food. (David Laughlin/CBC)
Foster said electrical generation has since resumed, but on a smaller scale and for a shorter time throughout the day.
The company has also posted additional signage and has added more security at the site, she said.
"We are monitoring the situation and will continue to take the necessary steps to reduce risk and increase safety at and around our facility," Foster said.
The North East River is one of several assigned by DFO to be fished exclusively by commercial licence holder Atlantic Elver Fishery.
Nova Scotia Power says the poachers pose a safety risk as they fish near the hydro dam. (Submitted by Atlantic Elver Fishery)
Stanley King of Atlantic Elver Fishery said the company hasn't tried to harvest on the North East River this season because poachers have inundated the area.
He said more than 50 people were on the river when the season opened earlier this spring.
The increase in poaching has prompted Atlantic Elver Fishery and two other Nova Scotia commercial licence holders to accuse DFO of failing to enforce the shutdown.
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Canada's latest efforts to combat baby eel poaching considered inadequate by licence holders
Fisheries and Oceans Canada says it's attempting to 'deter and disrupt' poaching
Efforts by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to combat unauthorized harvesting of baby eels in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are being dismissed as inadequate by licence holders, as poaching continues weeks after the legal fishery was shut down.
The tiny, translucent eels, also known as elvers, are shipped live to Asia where they are grown for food, and sell for up to $5,000 a kilogram when caught legally — although it fetches far less on the illegal market.
DFO closed the legal elver fishery on April 15, after hundreds of unauthorized harvesters descended on rivers to cash in on the species, causing conflict that escalated to violence and threats, and posed a safety risk for harvesters, the public and officers.
The department said since the shutdown started, officers have made 18 arrests and seized about 6.53 kilograms of the eels. A vehicle, dozens of nets and a variety of other fishing and storage gear has also been seized.
But licence holders are saying this isn't enough.
Stanley King, a commercial licence holder with Atlantic Elver Fishery, said the amount of elver seized in nearly three weeks "is more representative of what could be seized on any given night from any single river."
"The reported seizures are shockingly low given the rampant poaching across the region, further demonstrating that no meaningful enforcement occurred," he said.
Atlantic Elver Fishery is one of nine commercial licence holders that was forced to stop harvesting when DFO ordered the shutdown last month.
The order also affected six Wolastoqey bands and four Mi'kmaw bands that were exercising their treaty right to a moderate living with fishing plans approved by DFO.
Brian Giroux, another commercial licence holder with the Shelburne Elver Group, agrees with King that seizure efforts are lacking.
"You could catch that in one net, in one night," Giroux said.
Baby eels, also known as elvers, are shipped live to Asia where they are grown for food. (David Laughlin/CBC)
But, he said, at least the order provides an unambiguous legal outline that will translate into charges against the people arrested.
That's what happened to those arrested after a ministerial order closed the elver fishery in 2020, he said, when an influx of Mi'kmaq overwhelmed the department's ability to manage the fishery.
"The [fisheries management order] means everybody gets charged. There's no question of racism," he said.
'Deter and disrupt' poaching
In a statement, the office of DFO Minister Joyce Murray said efforts to "deter and disrupt" poaching are continuing but declined to provide details.
"To maintain operational integrity, we do not disclose the number of active officers nor what specific enforcement activities they are undertaking," the statement said.
King said since officers posted notices closing the fishery, legal fishers haven't been back on the rivers, but they are keeping an eye on them.
"We've seen poaching every single night on all of the rivers we monitor and it's really been disheartening because we've seen no enforcement effort at all," said King.
Trail cameras have shown illegal fishing every night on the rivers being monitored by commercial licence holders. (Atlantic Elver)
He said trail cameras installed on those rivers have documented nightly instances of poaching, and he has sent the images to the fisheries minister.
King said this week, a camera picked up the first sighting of a fishery officer on a river used by poachers.
"Unfortunately, the image we caught yesterday was at 2:30 in the afternoon, and this fishery happens at night, so still it's not meaningful enforcement," he said.
Criticism in New Brunswick
Southern New Brunswick MLA Andrea Anderson-Mason is also critical of DFO's enforcement.
She tweeted a photo of a supposedly closed elver river in her riding in St. George.
"In most years, there may be two to six individuals who are harvesting the eels and last night there would have been upwards of 50 individuals," Anderson-Mason said.
"I think that we need an answer from the federal government because it is from my perspective they have single handedly allowed this to get completely out of control."
Meanwhile, the Wolastoqiyik First Nation in New Brunswick, which has an approved moderate livelihood fishery, wants DFO to reopen the elver fishery so it can catch its quota.
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Striking fishery officers stand aside as poaching continues for lucrative baby eels
Only criminals are profiting, says business owner obeying the elver fishery shutdown
A week and a half after Wine Harbour Fisheries was ordered to pull its baby eel — or elver — nets out of the water, poachers are at work on the Liscomb River, 170 kilometres from Halifax on the Eastern Shore.
"Our net should be here, not some illegal fisherman," says Brenda Golden, a co-owner of Wine Harbour Fisheries.
Golden is looking under the Liscomb River bridge where a fine mesh net supported by floats stretches into the black foamy water.
She has no doubts it's there to catch hugely valuable, tiny, translucent "glass eels" that are shipped live to Asia and grown for food. They can fetch up to $5,000 a kilogram.
Hoping to have the net removed, Golden's daughter reported it to the local Department of Fisheries and Oceans on Tuesday.
"She contacted DFO here in Sherbrooke. She was told to the best of my knowledge that they are on strike and will not be coming to look after it. This net could be full of eel, dying. Where's conservation? Where's DFO doing their job?" Golden said in a riverside interview.
Fisheries officials did not provide a response when asked about this incident or the impact of the ongoing Public Service Alliance of Canada strike on its ability to rein in widespread illegal harvesting.
Reality check from fishery officers union
Meanwhile, a union official who represents striking fishery officers said they are not patrolling rivers.
Scott Mossman is the local president of the Union of Health and Environment Workers, which is part of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
He says while many fishery officers are designated essential to protect the safety of Canadians, they are only enforcing shellfish contaminated areas to ensure people do not get ill.
"Though fishery officers are usually patrolling to enforce conservation measures and laws for fish species, currently that is not a function that is deemed essential for the safety and security of Canadians, therefore, patrols to enforce closures and other laws related to conservation and catches are not being done during this period of the strike," Mossman said in a statement to CBC News Wednesday night.
"Though there are concerns with violence between persons within fisheries such as the illegal elver fishery, fishery officers are not empowered to enforce public safety other than [what] was linked directly to their authority under the Fisheries Act. That role falls to the police force of jurisdiction such as the RCMP."
Poachers are at work on the Liscomb River 170 kilometres from Halifax on the Eastern Shore. (Paul Withers/CBC)
DFO minister says it's illegal
Wine Harbour is one of nine commercial elver licence holders and two Indigenous groups in the Maritimes ordered to cease operations because of what federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray called a "huge escalation" in illegal "poaching."
Illegal harvesting has been carried out by non-Indigenous and Indigenous groups that aren't members of First Nations with DFO-approved plans to conduct a moderate livelihood elver fishery.
'It's deplorable'
Wine Harbour had landed just 33 kilograms of its 1,000-kilogram quota for elvers when the fishery was closed.
"Last year we paid almost a quarter million dollars to workers. This year they've got nothing. We've made nothing," Golden said.
It was one of her employees — Shelley Bowen — who came upon the net during an interview with CBC this week in Liscomb.
"It's definitely in there for elvers. It's deplorable," says Bowen.
She's one of 20 people thrown out of work when Wine Harbour was closed down. Getting enough weeks to qualify for employment insurance will be difficult this year.
"I'm not too happy, and a lot of other people aren't neither. I think it's without justification," she told CBC News.
"I don't understand why we can't still be fishing if the illegals are fishing anyway. They're only hurting the licence holders."
Brenda Golden is a co-owner of Wine Harbour Fisheries. (Paul Withers/CBC)
Illegal elver fishery continues elsewhere
The DFO-ordered shutdown has not stopped Illegal elver fishing elsewhere in Nova Scotia, either.
Time-stamped images of elver fishing on a half dozen rivers were provided to CBC News and DFO by Atlantic Elver Fishery, another commercial licence holder operating south of Halifax.
They include fishing on the East River near Chester, which is used by fisheries staff to monitor the health of stock.
Shelley Bowen works at Wine Harbour Fisheries and came upon the net during an interview with CBC this week in Liscomb. (Paul Withers/CBC)
South Shore-St. Margarets Conservative MP Rick Perkins asked Murray about it Monday in the House of Commons in Ottawa.
"No one from DFO has been on that river. And if you can believe it, DFO enforcement called the licence holder this morning proactively to say that they won't be monitoring the river," Perkins said.
"We closed down the fishery to protect public safety and conservation," Murray responded.
"But enforcement continues for the closed elver fishery, so we are working to reduce the amount of illegal fishery and will continue to do just that here," she said.
Mi'kmaw leaders silent
The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs has been silent on DFO's decision to close the elver fishery, and on the role of Indigenous harvesters in the illegal fishery.
Fisheries lead Chief Gerald Toney of the Annapolis Valley First Nation declined to comment when approached by CBC News recently.
Four Nova Scotia First Nations had "interim understandings" with DFO for a department-approved moderate livelihood elver fishery in 2023. They shared a 450-kilogram limit, which was taken from the allocation of the eight non-Indigenous commercial licence holders. We'koqma'q First Nation in Cape Breton also has a commercial licence.
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Poaching still widespread despite closure of Maritime elver fishery
'Poachers continue to fish regardless,' Atlantic Elver Fishery tells officials in email
Poaching continues uninterrupted on some Nova Scotia rivers despite a federal shutdown of the eel fishery earlier this month, new video and still photographs show.
Images of active fishing for the tiny eels, also known as elvers, were provided to CBC News and the federal government by a frustrated commercial elver licence holder. Some images were taken as recently as Sunday night.
Fisheries and Oceans Minister Joyce Murray issued an order closing the chaotic and occasionally violent elver fishery on April 15 because of what she called a "huge escalation" in illegal fishing by poachers.
They included Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
But the order is being ignored, says Stanley King of Atlantic Elver Fishery.
"This is the sixth report of poaching I've made since the minister shut the fishery down one week ago today," King said in an April 22 email to Timothy Kerr, director of conservation and protection for the Maritime region with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).
"The [order] only punished the licensed fishers as it's clear from years past, and holds true today, that poachers continue to fish regardless.... DFO [conservation and protection] refuses to enforce despite claims the [order] gives them more enforcing resources. In all my years fishing I have never seen so little enforcement in a season."
The order effectively ended the season for nine commercial licence holders and two Indigenous groups operating under their treaty right to a "moderate livelihood" elver fishery.
"I understand that shutting down the fishery is difficult for legitimate fish harvesters," Murray told CBC News after the shutdown.
"It was simply too dangerous to let this continue…. I was not prepared to take the risk of harm to human life, which was certainly a possibility, and nor am I willing to take a risk of the undermining of this stock, which is a very important one, and that was also a risk with poaching."
Images were taken at night on rivers in Nova Scotia, says the Atlantic Elver Fishery. (Atlantic Elver Fishery)
Elvers are caught each spring as they migrate from the ocean into nearly 200 Nova Scotia and New Brunswick rivers. They sell for up to $5,000 a kilogram and are flown live to Asia where they are grown for food.
King is part of a delegation of Maritime commercial elver licence holders in Ottawa this week meeting with politicians — including Nova Scotia cabinet minister Sean Fraser — to voice their concerns about the troubled fishery. They are scheduled to meet with Murray on Wednesday.
Illegal fishing activity
King has provided post-closure images of poachers at stationary nets, in boats and dipping from the East River, Hubbards River, Ingramport River, Mushamush River and Sackville River.
DFO grants each licence holder exclusive access to several rivers.
Illegal fishing activity has happened on many other rivers.
Poachers use dip nets and fixed nets to capture baby eels. (Atlantic Elver Fishery)
A fyke net pictured is a type of fish trap. (Atlantic Elver Fishery)
The East River near Chester, N.S., is of particular concern as it is home to the longest-running scientific study on elvers in North America. DFO uses it as an "index river " to measure the health of stock.
"All licence holders and DFO science agree that if enforcement can only happen on one river, it should be the East River to protect the study. We implore you to take a more proactive approach" in enforcement on the East River, King wrote.
"We've repeatedly asked for this river to be protected, starting before the season even began, but know of only one instance of [fisheries officials] visiting the river this year."
DFO did not provide a response when asked by CBC News for the impact of the Public Service Alliance strike by federal government workers on its ability to stop illegal elver fishing.
'Lawlessness on our rivers'
Nova Scotia Conservative MP Rick Perkins says it has worsened "lawlessness on our rivers."
"Now, of the few DFO arrests of the thousands of poachers on the rivers this year, all have been released by DFO without processing because DFO enforcement is on strike, leaving no enforcement of any fishery in Canada," Perkins declared Friday.
Conservation and protection director Tim Kerr told CBC News last week DFO has beefed up enforcement since the shutdown and patrols and arrests continue.
There have also been fights between groups trying to fish for elvers this season. (Atlantic Elver Fishery)
Some fishery officers have been designated as essential workers.
"Individuals who may be out and about would see fishery officers continue to be present at the detachments and continue to fulfil those obligations to support public health and safety," Kerr said.
The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs has been silent on DFO's decision to close the elver fishery, and on the role of Indigenous harvesters in the illegal fishery.
Four Nova Scotia First Nations had "interim understandings" with DFO for a department-approved moderate livelihood elver fishery in 2023. They shared a 450-kilogram limit ,which was taken from the allocation of the eight non-Indigenous commercial licence holders. Waycobah Band in Cape Breton also has a commercial licence.
'We are allowed to fish anywhere we want'
Some members of First Nations outside those deals claim they don't need DFO permission to fish elvers.
"As Mi'kmaw people, all of this is our territory. It's unceded Mi'kmaw land and we are allowed to fish anywhere we want," one Sipekne'katik band member told fishery officers who blocked them from the Sissiboo River in Digby County earlier this month.
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Hundreds of baby eel poachers hit Maritime rivers each day before fishery was closed, Ottawa says
Prices as high as $5,000 per kg attracted illegal activity
Fisheries and Oceans Canada's top enforcement officer in the Maritimes says an "unprecedented" number of poachers descended on Nova Scotia and New Brunswick rivers this spring to illegally remove baby eels, also known as elvers.
They overwhelmed the department's ability to safely and sustainably manage the most lucrative fishery, by weight, in Canada.
"Every day the total number of harvesters that didn't have an authorization that we either observed or that were reported to us, numbered in the hundreds," said Timothy Kerr, director of conservation and protection for the Maritime region with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).
Some were Indigenous and some were not, he said.
All were attracted by an elver fishery in which the going rate is $5,000 a kilogram.
The translucent juvenile American eels, also known as glass eels, are sold live and grown for food.
Timothy Kerr is the director of conservation and protection for the Maritime region with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. (CBC)
In an interview with CBC, Kerr said the sheer volume of illegal fishing posed a conservation threat.
"The fact we didn't know what was coming out of the river due to the numbers of unauthorized harvesters and unreported removals meant we couldn't manage this fishery and there was significant risk to the species and that's why it was shut down."
Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray issued an order last weekend closing the Maritime elver fishery, citing conservation and safety concerns due to incidents of harassment and violence near some rivers.
The regulated fishery has a total allowable catch of 9,640 kilograms shared between nine commercial licence holders, including the We'koqma'q First Nation in Cape Breton.
Two more communal commercial licences have been issued to two Indigenous groups in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to support the treaty right to a moderate livelihood from fishing.
DFO has accepted individual management plans developed by First Nations.
Some commercial licence holders say they are being unfairly penalized.
On Wednesday, commercial licence holder Wine Harbour Fisheries served notice it is seeking a judicial review to quash the shutdown order.
Wine Harbour had only landed 33 kilograms of its 1,000-kilogram quota before the shutdown.
DFO not doing its job, commercial licence holder says
In its notice it said, "To the extent there is unauthorized fishing this is due to the DFO's failure to properly enforce the law and prevent unauthorized fishing."
The company fishes a remote section of Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore. It says it provided DFO with detailed information about incidents including photos of individuals, video and licence plates without a response.
Kerr says fishery officers could not be everywhere at once given that there are over 100 elver-bearing rivers in Nova Scotia and 90 in New Brunswick.
DFO river patrols and seizures
"Due to the sheer volume and the sheer numbers of harvesters we weren't able to respond to every single case or piece of information we received. But I can assure you that DFO officers and fishery officers were out there on the job every day doing controls at the rivers, making arrests, seizures, where we could."
DFO says it did 741 river patrols.
Kerr says officers, in co-ordination with other federal agencies, also monitored holding facilities, border crossings between provinces, between Canada and the United States, ferries and airports including Toronto.
A bucket of elvers is shown near Chester, N.S., in 2019. (Richard Cuthbertson/CBC)
"We have investigations and I can't get into details, but we are being successful in deterring and disrupting export of elver at those exit points," Kerr said.
Since the shutdown, DFO has increased the number of enforcement personnel on the elver fishery, bringing in people from outside the Maritimes and reassigning others from within the region.
Conservation risk
"Fishery officers across the region have conducted patrols of rivers. They've made some arrests and seizures of gear. But by and large we've seen what I believe to be an acknowledgement, and I guess co-operation from individuals who previously were harvesting," he said.
Kerr was referring to Indigenous people belonging to First Nations that are not part of the DFO-approved elver fishery. They have asserted their treaty rights to fish without DFO approval in numerous encounters with DFO.
He said they appear to have backed off.
"I guess I would say that I believe that is the case. I would also say that, after having conversations with many of the leaders of the First Nations in our region, that every First Nation does set — as a priority — conservation of all species that their members fish," he said.
"We've demonstrated through our observations there's an unprecedented number of unauthorized harvesters, which leads to us not being able to track the removals.... they accept that there is a conservation risk."
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Elver eel harvesting closure impacts Wine Harbour fishers
In a thread of tweets from the DFO Twitter account on April 15, DFO Maritimes wrote, “Conservation is our highest priority and one that we all share. As a result of extensive monitoring by DFO, it has been determined that unreported removals account for a significant proportion of elver landings. Investigations have been, and will continue to be, initiated related to these matters, and no further comment will be offered at this time.
“As well, conflict has escalated to violence and threats, risking the safety of harvesters, the public and our officers, constituting a threat to the proper management and control of the fishery. Closing the fishery is a required response to address these combined risks,” tweeted the department.
Elver eels— defined by DFO as young American Eels (Anguilla rostrata) under 10 cm—make up one of the most lucrative fisheries in Maritime waters: fetching up to $5,000 per kilogram. According to the DFO fact sheet on the fishery, “Elvers typically arrive in Scotia-Fundy waters in late March and early April, with the peak run usually in May. They appear first in southern areas of Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy and later along the Eastern Shore and in Cape Breton, where the fishery may extend well into June or even July.”
Forty-five days closure is a significant loss of income under such seasonal conditions. That’s why fishers are calling for the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Joyce Murray to repeal the closure order.
Lawyer Michel P. Samson, of the law firm Cox & Palmer, representing Wine Harbour Fisheries, located near Sherbrooke, is calling on Murray to immediately amend its FMO and allow Wine Harbour Fisheries to resume fishing and catch their licensed quota – which has already seen a reduction from previous years to 1,032 kilograms, of which only 33 kilograms were caught before the closure order came into effect.
In a news release issued April 20, Samson said, “This arbitrary closure of the entire commercial elver fishery has had a devastating impact on my clients and their workers…The workers have not worked long enough to qualify for EI benefits, the clients have lost significant money, and this is resulting in a loss of economic opportunity for Guysborough County.”
Samson went on to say, “The Minister could have closed specific areas where a majority of quota was landed or where conflict persisted…This is an admission by the Minister that her department was unable to manage this fishery, even after committing to license holders that they had a plan to provide the necessary enforcement.”
Cox & Palmer have filed an application for judicial review with the Federal Court of Canada but, given the short duration of the elver eel harvesting season, the outcome of the application is not likely to alleviate the harm done to elver eel licence holders this year.
The Journal requested a copy of the elver eel fisheries management order from DFO and received an automated email reply stating, “There are currently labour disruptions affecting services within the Government of Canada including Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Canadian Coast Guard. As a result, there may be a reduction in overall capacity to respond to your query. Emphasis is being placed on maintaining services related to health and safety.”
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
First Nations not in contempt of court in ongoing elver lawsuit, judge rules
Fishing company owner alleges First Nation members are "poaching" eels in her licensed waterways
A judge has thrown out a contempt-of-court accusation against several New Brunswick First Nations and their chiefs in an ongoing elver fishery dispute.
The decision, read by Justice Arthur Doyle in Saint John Court of Kings Bench on Monday, is related to a larger lawsuit filed by Mary Ann Holland of Brunswick Aquaculture and Alder Seafood, where she alleges Indigenous fishers were "poaching" young American eels in her licensed waterways and harassing her employees.
In 2022, a judge ordered First Nations members to stop fishing in the the waterways designated to Holland by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans until the case is resolved.
This spring, Holland said the First Nations are defying that order. She said they continued to fish there, specifically in the Chamcook Stream near Saint. Andrews and disrupt her employees' equipment.
After hearing testimony from Holland and two chiefs, Doyle said he does not think there's enough evidence to support that accusation.
Neqotkuk
(Tobique First Nation) Chief Ross Perley testifies last week that his
First Nation has communicated effectively with its members about the
court injunction. (Logan Perley/CBC)
Holland's evidence included a conversation with two unidentified people who claimed the chief of one of the First Nations said they're allowed to fish there.
In their testimony, Chief Alan Polchies of Sitansisk and Chief Ross Perley of Neqotkuk denied encouraging or telling people to break the judge's order. They testified that they've had meetings, posted notices and communicated door-to-door with people, urging them to fish in designated areas and informing them of the legal consequences of going against the judge's ruling.
"I accept the evidence that Chief Alan Polchies and Chief Ross Perley as credible and reliable," Doyle said. "In my view, there is no credible and reliable evidence ... indicating that the unauthorized fishers in this case are members of the defendant First Nation communities."
In 2022, elvers sold for $5,000 per kilogram. The Maritime fishery is worth about $40 million a year. (Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press)
The decision comes two days after the Department of Fisheries and Oceans halted the elver fishery in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick for 45 days over "conservation and safety concerns." No one is allowed to fish elvers now, including Wolastoqey who have received a commercial-communal elver licence this year.
In 2022, elvers sold for $5,000 per kilogram. The Maritime fishery is worth about $40 million a year. The live eels are exported to Asia, where they're grown to market size.
40 people on the river
Holland's lawsuit is against four First Nations: Neqotkuk (formerly Tobique), Sitansisk (formerly St. Mary's), Welamukotok (formerly Oromocto), and Woodstock First Nation, along with their chiefs and some unnamed individuals.
Holland said she has been fishing elvers since the 1980s, and has "exclusive rights" to fish elvers in a number of waterways in southwest New Brunswick, including the Magaguadavic River near Saint George and in the St. Croix area.
In 2022, she applied for an injunction to stop the people she's suing from allegedly fishing her waterways, and threatening and intimidating her employees, until the case is resolved. Justice Danys Delaquis granted the injunction.
The elver season began in late March. On April 3, Holland filed an affidavit saying approximately 40 people, whom she identified as Indigenous and not her employees, were fishing for elvers on the river.
Chief Alan Polchies of Sitansisk (St. Mary's First Nation) said he urged his members to heed the court order. (Alexandre Silberman/CBC)
She said two unidentified people sitting in a car on the shore told her they were from Sitansisk and they had a meeting where the chief said they can fish wherever they wanted in Charlotte County.
Holland said that she did not ask the two individual to present her with identification confirming that they're from the Sitansisk First Nation. She said she believed the people fishing there were Indigenous because they looked Indigenous, but on cross examination agreed that she is not an expert in the field of identifying people's backgrounds just from looking at them.
She also testified that she didn't consider the possibility that the two people she spoke to were mistaken or lying.
Doyle said he believes there were people on the river and that they were harming her business by being there, but there's no proof they were from the named First Nations.
"She presented as an honest witness," Doyle said. "She answered questions in a straightforward manner ... I do however have concerns about the reliability of the evidence from the two unidentified people."
Doyle said on the flip side, the evidence from Perley and Polchies was reliable.
Elvers are caught in streams in the spring and shipped, live, to parts of Asia where they're grown and eaten. (Richard Cuthbertson/CBC)
The chiefs testified they communicated the rules under the license and the judge's ruling effectively, but have little control over what individual members decide to do.
They also said there are many other Indigenous communities in the province, and in Maine as well, and the people on the river could be from any number of them.
Doyle ordered Holland to pay $5,000 in costs to the First Nations.
He stressed multiple times that this decision is based only on the evidence before him as of right now, and he is not making a final ruling on Holland's original lawsuit, which is still in progress.
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DFO halts baby eel fishery in N.S., N.B for 45 days over escalating conflict
DFO says shutdown is for 'conservation and safety concerns'
The elver fishery in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia has been shut down for 45 days by Fisheries and Oceans Canada beginning immediately because of "conservation and safety concerns."
A news release from DFO on Saturday said after extensive monitoring it was determined that unreported removals made up a significant percentage of elver, or baby eel, landings.
Fishery officers conducted extensive patrols from March 13 to April 10 to ensure compliance with regulations for the harvesting and sale of elvers, according to the release.
The release states an increase in conflicts resulting in violence and threats risks the safety of harvesting and creates a threat to the management and control of the fishery.
According to the release, the minister responsible for fisheries has the authority under the Fisheries Act to prohibit fishing for a species to address threats to the management and control of fisheries.
A similar temporary shutdown of the elver fishery took place in 2020.
The juvenile American eels, also known as glass eels, are harvested in spring from rivers in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and shipped live to Asia. They are grown to market size there.
A bucket of elvers is shown near Chester, N.S., in 2019. (Richard Cuthbertson/CBC)
In 2022, elvers sold for $5,000 per kilogram. The Maritime fishery is worth about $40 million a year.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada has a commercial quota of 9,960 kilograms a season.
In 2023, for the second year in a row, the federal government gave 14 per cent of the fishery in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to First Nations.
Commercial fishers expressed dissatisfaction with the arrangement and said they have been poorly treated by DFO. Commercial licence holders launched a Federal Court challenge over the decision in March.
On April 13, two men were arrested on a confrontation over the elver fishery in Hubbards. This confrontation followed the seizure of a shipment of elvers, worth about $112,000 at Halifax international airport.
In a media release following the announcement, Rick Perkins, Conservative MP for South Shore-St. Margarets, called the decision "blatantly wrong."
"The government is shutting down a legal fishery in the middle of their short season because they cannot get the illegal poaching under control," Perkins said.
"Poaching elvers was illegal yesterday and it will be illegal tomorrow — what makes the Minister think these
criminals are going to follow the 45-day ban?"
Attempts to contact a representative of the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs for comment were not successful.
With files from Paul Withers
Quota transfer to Maritime First Nations prompts Federal Court challenge
Elver redistribution raises broader questions for licence holders in other commercial fisheries
Commercial licence holders in the lucrative Maritime baby eel fishery have launched a Federal Court challenge over the decision to take 14 per cent of their quota and give it to Indigenous groups in 2022.
The quota of baby eels, or elvers, was worth millions of dollars.
It was reallocated without compensation to fulfil First Nation treaty rights to fish.
The elver redistribution raises broader questions about what licence holders in other commercial fisheries can expect if their allocations are cut in favour of First Nations.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) said it was an interim cut, but the department notified the industry in January it proposed to reallocate 14 per cent of the quota without compensation again in 2023.
"We at least deserve to be reasonably treated," said Brian Giroux, a member of the board of directors for the Shelburne Elver Group.
Brian
Giroux, a member of the board of directors for the Shelburne Elver
Group, says the industry deserves to be reasonably treated. (CBC)
Shelburne Elver was one of three commercial licence holders in the Federal Court of Canada last week seeking to set aside the 2022 redistribution ordered by the minister of fisheries and oceans.
"It's expropriation without compensation," Giroux said outside the courtroom.
DFO said it was entitled to take approximately 1,200 kilograms of quota from the eight commercial licence holders to increase Mi'kmaw participation in the fishery. It said the licence holders are owed nothing.
Lucrative fishery
Elvers are netted in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick rivers each spring and shipped to Asia, where they are grown for food.
Elvers sold for $5,000 a kilogram in 2022.
Each licence holder is given exclusive right to harvest on assigned rivers.
In 2020, DFO was forced to shut down the entire Maritime fishery after a series of riverside confrontations between department officers and Mi'kmaq netting elvers on rivers.
The Wolastoqey in New Brunswick were given 200 kilograms and the Kwilmu'kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiation Office (KMKNO) in Nova Scotia was given 400 kilograms in 2022.
Giroux and other licence holders offered to sell their licences back to DFO — a process known as willing-buyer, willing-seller. It has long been used to integrate Mi'kmaq into commercial fisheries without increasing pressure on a given species.
DFO rejected offer
DFO rejected the offer, claiming licence holders wanted too much. It reallocated the quota instead.
Giroux said the process was rushed, DFO did not consider its offer in good faith, there was no negotiation, and this year is a repeat.
"They didn't notify us, they didn't contact [us]," he said. "They didn't reach out at all to say, 'Look, we're interested in buying and selling.' No, nothing at all until the 11th hour yet again."
Justice Department lawyers said DFO is not obliged to compensate licence holders even if federal fisheries ministers have repeatedly committed to the process.
Former fisheries minister Bernadette Jordan said willing-buyer willing-seller would be used to provide access to First Nations.
Her successor, Joyce Murray, made similar commitments, telling Parliament last April: "We are working very hard to have a willing-buyer, willing-seller process so that those transactions can be appropriate for everyone."
Michel
Samson is a lawyer representing a commercial elver licence holder in
the case. He said the federal legal argument should create shock waves
in other fisheries. (CBC)
In its filing in the elver case, the Crown said: "The minister is not bound by any prior ministerial statements or policy regarding the manner in which increased First Nations' access may be provided or the intention to provide compensation to licence holders."
Michel Samson, who represents another commercial elver licence holder in the case, said the federal legal argument should send shock waves in other fisheries.
"What we're seeing in this case is that DFO is saying that what the minister, both current and former, have said around willing-buyer, willing-seller means nothing.
"That is not a policy that DFO feels that they're obligated to follow, which they clearly didn't do last season with the other licence holders," he said.
DFO's preferred approach
Samson said they are planning to do the same thing this year "by cutting quota without providing compensation. So the message to commercial licence holders, whether it's lobster, crab, halibut or anything else, [is] you're next."
In a statement, DFO spokesperson Lauren Sankey said willing-buyer willing-seller remains the department's preferred approach to advancing First Nation treaty rights to fish.
"DFO acknowledges that a lack of willing sellers at market value cannot be an impediment to implementing rights-based fishing," Sankey said.
"The elver fishery is unique. In certain and specific cases, such as elver, DFO has taken alternative approaches to implement fishing rights. The 2022 elver decision was an interim approach, and following consultations with First Nations and commercial licence holders, a decision for the 2023 season is forthcoming."
The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
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Balaclavas, hidden licence plates and midnight violence — why Nova Scotia's baby eel fishery was shut down
Elvers are Canada's most valuable fish species by weight, selling for up to $5,000 a kilo
Hubbards, N.S., resident Ann Gagnon witnessed a fishery gone wrong — up close — and it left her shaken.
"There was men with hooded balaclavas and licence plates covered up. That's when we called 911 and the RCMP," she recalled of the first night the poachers appeared in late March.
They were after tiny and translucent baby eels, also called elvers or glass eels, on the annual spring migration from the ocean into Maritime rivers.
Elvers are Canada's most valuable fish species by weight, selling for up to $5,000 a kilogram and shipped live to Asia where they are grown for food.
"It's a little bit traumatizing, honestly with a lot of vehicles coming at all hours and noise. It's been going on since March 24. Sometimes six hours a night. I've been disturbed. Woken at three in the morning, four o'clock in the morning. It's not been very pleasant."
Ann Gagnon of Hubbards says men with balaclavas and hidden licence plates have shown up near her home to fish elvers illegally. (Paul Palmeter/CBC News)
The tiny Fitzroy River outside her home empties into Hubbards Cove west of Halifax and is just one site of unauthorized elver fishing and conflict in Nova Scotia.
Last week, the RCMP say a man was assaulted with a pipe in a middle-of-the-night altercation among elver harvesters in Hubbards that resulted in assault and weapons charges.
Federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Joyce Murray shut the Maritime elver fishery for 45 days starting on the weekend because of violence and rampant overfishing by unauthorized harvesters.
"It was simply too dangerous to let this continue, as well as my concern about the stock because this is a part of the life cycle of the American eel and that is a species at risk," Murray said Monday in Ottawa.
'DFO knew this was coming'
But critics and some commercial licence holders say Murray and the federal government share some blame for what happened this spring.
"DFO assured the licence holders that they had a plan to make sure this didn't happen," says Michel Samson, a lawyer who represents Wine Harbour Fisheries, one of nine commercial licence holders in the Maritimes.
"And yet, even before the fishery opened, DFO was receiving reports from the licence holders of illegal nets, illegal fishing and chose not to take action even before the season opened. So this was predictable. DFO knew this was coming. They could have brought in additional resources," he said.
Commercial licence holders have paid the price for the shutdown. They estimated half their quota was uncaught when DFO closed the fishery.
Elvers are young, translucent eels that leave the ocean and enter maritime rivers in the spring. (The Associated Press)
Wine Harbour Fisheries had harvested just 33 kilograms out of a 1,000-kilogram quota because elvers arrive later in eastern Nova Scotia.
"It's devastating for the company to not have the opportunity to catch more of its quota," Samson said.
"For the employees, they're clearly not going to qualify for the employment insurance benefits because they've only been employed for a couple of weeks rather than having a full season of benefits."
'Beyond ridiculous'
Nova Scotia Conservative MP Rick Perkins represents South Shore-St. Margarets, where much of the illegal fishing occurred, including Hubbards.
"It's beyond ridiculous that the minister shut down the fishery because the poachers caught the quota, not the licence holders. While DFO stood by and didn't enforce the law," Perkins said Monday during question period in the House of Commons in Ottawa.
Murray denied that contention.
"This year, we more than doubled enforcement capacity. We work collaboratively with the RCMP to ensure that it was even stronger enforcement," Murray responded.
'A huge escalation of illegal fishery'
Later, she said poachers came from "outside the Maritimes, outside Canada."
"It was just a huge escalation of illegal fishery. It was simply too dangerous to let this continue and we'll have to really reflect on how this fishery is managed for next year," she said.
"So we now have time to do some consultation and analysis on that, but I was not prepared to take the risk of harm to human life, which was certainly a possibility, and nor am I willing to take a risk of the the undermining of this stock, which is a very important one, and that was also is a risk."
DFO says it carried out 741 patrols and made numerous arrests and seizures.
RCMP responded to 31 elver fishery complaints
RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Chris Marshall says Nova Scotia RCMP has responded to and investigated 31 complaints of criminal activity related to the elver fishery in 2023.
It laid charges in incidents where officers believe, on reasonable grounds, that a criminal offence was committed.
"The RCMP will continue with our efforts to promote public safety and fully investigate all complaints that we receive. We encourage people to report any criminal activity to police and violence will not be tolerated," Marshall said in a statement to CBC News on Monday.
A troubled fishery
This is not the first time DFO was forced to shut down the elver fishery.
In 2020, the department closed it after an unexpectedly large influx of Mi'kmaw harvesters appeared on rivers.
Some were asserting their treaty right to fish for a moderate living. Others fished elvers under a food, social and ceremonial licence for American eels.
The department later amended food, social and ceremonial eel licence conditions to prevent the harvest of elvers that are under 10 centimetres long.
A fyke net used for catching baby eels on the Fitzroy River. (Paul Palmeter/CBC)
In 2022 and 2023 DFO took 14 per cent of the commercial quota and gave it to some — but not all — Indigenous groups.
They have been awarded communal licences in support of moderate livelihood.
DFO accepted individual management plans developed by First Nations.
This year in southern Nova Scotia, Kespukwitk First Nations (Acadia, Annapolis Valley, Bear River and Glooscap First Nations) designated harvesters from among their members to fish a 450-kilogram allocation, an increase of 50 kilograms compared to 2022.
The Wolastoqey Nations in New Brunswick (Madawaska Maliseet, Tobique, Woodstock, Kingsclear, St. Mary's and Oromocto First Nations) designated harvesters from among their members to fish a 750-kilogram allocation, an increase of 550 kilograms compared to 2022.
Indigenous people not authorized to fish by DFO continued to assert a treaty right to fish elvers in 2023.
Commercial elver licence-holders have complained for many years that both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people have been illegally fishing rivers assigned to them exclusively by DFO.
While the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs has complained about non-Indigenous encroachment and intimidation of authorized indigenous elver harvesters, it has not responded to a request for comment on encroachment by other Indigenous people.
Nor did it respond to a request for comment on the shutdown ordered on the weekend.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Chris Rands
I like what this guy said and did so I gave him a call
Gordon LaBillois, Eel River Bar First Nation, 506-684-6277
Open house to update residents on Eel River Dam Project
19 May 2010FREDERICTON (CNB) - An open house today from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. will provide the public with the latest information on the Eel River Dam Removal Project.
"This open house gives us the opportunity to engage the community in the upcoming project, while offering an interactive approach," said Supply and Services Minister Ed Doherty. "The session will update residents on work currently underway, while allowing them to obtain accurate information about how the project will be carried out."
The open house will be hosted by Eel River Bar First Nation and the Department of Supply and Services with its consultant, Stantec Consulting Ltd., at the Eel River Bar First Nation Community Centre, 11 Main St., unit 201, Eel River Bar. Residents may stop by any time between 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
"This significant environmental restoration project is the realization of work and dedication of our community and the provincial and federal government partners which made this project a reality," said Chief Everett Martin of the Eel River Bar First Nation. It is the culmination of some 15 years of work to negotiate the removal of the Eel River Dam and restore the river to its natural state as mother earth intended. It is a great day for our community and we will realize the restoration of this beautiful river to allow nature to move freely once again."
The open house will include storyboards, video, computer simulations and time lines about upcoming activities related to the removal of the Eel River dam. The public is invited to view the project information on display. Staff will be available to answer questions.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/first-nations-elver-fishery-shutdown-1.6813328
Elver fishery shutdown a 'destruction of hope,' says Wolastoqey fisheries director
Mi'kmaw elder worried about eel population applauds the shutdown
One Wolastoqey man says he spent thousands of dollars on gear to fish for elvers (baby eels) this year and worries he won't be able to recoup that money after the federal government shut down the elver fishery this past weekend.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) shut down the elver fishery in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia on April 15 for 45 days because of conservation and safety concerns, after reports of violence and overfishing by unauthorized harvesters.
This year was Brent Sacobie's first time trying to cash in on the lucrative industry, with prices reaching $5,000 a kilogram in 2022.
"I have four kids and I have a lot of mouths to feed," said Sacobie, who is from Bilijk, Kingsclear First Nation, 13 kilometres west of Fredericton.
Brent Sacobie was fishing for elvers under his community's quota. (Brent Sacobie/Facebook)
He said he heard stories from friends about how great the fishery was so he invested money in dip nets, waders, coolers and gas to travel out to the estuaries.
Sacobie caught one-third of his allotted 1.5 kilogram quota before the shutdown.
Sacobie said on the rivers he fished he didn't see any violence and he wants to see Indigenous leadership, the commercial industry and the government come together to reopen the fishery.
"We all need financial stability in our lives and we all need that security," said Sacobie.
The elver fishery has grown in value in recent years. The elvers or baby eels are sold to markets in China and Japan where they are raised to adulthood for food. The elver season typically runs from mid-March until June.
Patrick Polchies, fisheries director for Bilijk, said 68 people were registered to harvest elvers for his community.
He called the shutdown a "destruction of hope for so many people."
The Wolastoqey Nation was allotted 750 kilograms of quota to divide among its six communities, said Polchies.
Polchies said his community's 103 kilogram piece of that quota is a stark contrast to the more than 1,000 kilogram quota allotted to one commercial licence. There are nine commercial licences in Atlantic Canada.
In 2012, the American Eel was assessed as threatened by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, which is why Mi'kmaw Elder Gordon LaBillois applauds the shutdown.
Mi'kmaw Elder Gordon LaBillois applauds the elver fishery shutting down for 45 days. (Nelson Cloud )
"If they have ... the data to support what they're doing then I think they're doing the right thing," said LaBillois, from Ugpi'ganjig, Eel River Bar First Nation, 250 kilometres north of Moncton.
He said he's not an expert but so much can affect the eel population like climate change and development, he'd rather see the elver fishery slow down so the population can be studied.
He said he does feel for any moderate livelihood harvester affected and said a compromise would be to prioritize Indigenous interests on the eels for now.
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First Nations not in contempt of court in ongoing elver lawsuit, judge rules
Fishing company owner alleges First Nation members are "poaching" eels in her licensed waterways
A judge has thrown out a contempt-of-court accusation against several New Brunswick First Nations and their chiefs in an ongoing elver fishery dispute.
The decision, read by Justice Arthur Doyle in Saint John Court of Kings Bench on Monday, is related to a larger lawsuit filed by Mary Ann Holland of Brunswick Aquaculture and Alder Seafood, where she alleges Indigenous fishers were "poaching" young American eels in her licensed waterways and harassing her employees.
In 2022, a judge ordered First Nations members to stop fishing in the the waterways designated to Holland by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans until the case is resolved.
This spring, Holland said the First Nations are defying that order. She said they continued to fish there, specifically in the Chamcook Stream near Saint. Andrews and disrupt her employees' equipment.
After hearing testimony from Holland and two chiefs, Doyle said he does not think there's enough evidence to support that accusation.
Neqotkuk
(Tobique First Nation) Chief Ross Perley testifies last week that his
First Nation has communicated effectively with its members about the
court injunction. (Logan Perley/CBC)
Holland's evidence included a conversation with two unidentified people who claimed the chief of one of the First Nations said they're allowed to fish there.
In their testimony, Chief Alan Polchies of Sitansisk and Chief Ross Perley of Neqotkuk denied encouraging or telling people to break the judge's order. They testified that they've had meetings, posted notices and communicated door-to-door with people, urging them to fish in designated areas and informing them of the legal consequences of going against the judge's ruling.
"I accept the evidence that Chief Alan Polchies and Chief Ross Perley as credible and reliable," Doyle said. "In my view, there is no credible and reliable evidence ... indicating that the unauthorized fishers in this case are members of the defendant First Nation communities."
In 2022, elvers sold for $5,000 per kilogram. The Maritime fishery is
worth about $40 million a year. (Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press)
The decision comes two days after the Department of Fisheries and Oceans halted the elver fishery in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick for 45 days over "conservation and safety concerns." No one is allowed to fish elvers now, including Wolastoqey who have received a commercial-communal elver licence this year.
In 2022, elvers sold for $5,000 per kilogram. The Maritime fishery is worth about $40 million a year. The live eels are exported to Asia, where they're grown to market size.
40 people on the river
Holland's lawsuit is against four First Nations: Neqotkuk (formerly Tobique), Sitansisk (formerly St. Mary's), Welamukotok (formerly Oromocto), and Woodstock First Nation, along with their chiefs and some unnamed individuals.
Holland said she has been fishing elvers since the 1980s, and has "exclusive rights" to fish elvers in a number of waterways in southwest New Brunswick, including the Magaguadavic River near Saint George and in the St. Croix area.
In 2022, she applied for an injunction to stop the people she's suing from allegedly fishing her waterways, and threatening and intimidating her employees, until the case is resolved. Justice Danys Delaquis granted the injunction.
The elver season began in late March. On April 3, Holland filed an affidavit saying approximately 40 people, whom she identified as Indigenous and not her employees, were fishing for elvers on the river.
Chief Alan Polchies of Sitansisk (St. Mary's First Nation) said he urged
his members to heed the court order. (Alexandre Silberman/CBC)
She said two unidentified people sitting in a car on the shore told her they were from Sitansisk and they had a meeting where the chief said they can fish wherever they wanted in Charlotte County.
Holland said that she did not ask the two individual to present her with identification confirming that they're from the Sitansisk First Nation. She said she believed the people fishing there were Indigenous because they looked Indigenous, but on cross examination agreed that she is not an expert in the field of identifying people's backgrounds just from looking at them.
She also testified that she didn't consider the possibility that the two people she spoke to were mistaken or lying.
Doyle said he believes there were people on the river and that they were harming her business by being there, but there's no proof they were from the named First Nations.
"She presented as an honest witness," Doyle said. "She answered questions in a straightforward manner ... I do however have concerns about the reliability of the evidence from the two unidentified people."
Doyle said on the flip side, the evidence from Perley and Polchies was reliable.
Elvers are caught in streams in the spring and shipped, live, to parts
of Asia where they're grown and eaten. (Richard Cuthbertson/CBC)
The chiefs testified they communicated the rules under the license and the judge's ruling effectively, but have little control over what individual members decide to do.
They also said there are many other Indigenous communities in the province, and in Maine as well, and the people on the river could be from any number of them.
Doyle ordered Holland to pay $5,000 in costs to the First Nations.
He stressed multiple times that this decision is based only on the evidence before him as of right now, and he is not making a final ruling on Holland's original lawsuit, which is still in progress.
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DFO halts baby eel fishery in N.S., N.B for 45 days over escalating conflict
DFO says shutdown is for 'conservation and safety concerns'
The elver fishery in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia has been shut down for 45 days by Fisheries and Oceans Canada beginning immediately because of "conservation and safety concerns."
A news release from DFO on Saturday said after extensive monitoring it was determined that unreported removals made up a significant percentage of elver, or baby eel, landings.
Fishery officers conducted extensive patrols from March 13 to April 10 to ensure compliance with regulations for the harvesting and sale of elvers, according to the release.
The release states an increase in conflicts resulting in violence and threats risks the safety of harvesting and creates a threat to the management and control of the fishery.
According to the release, the minister responsible for fisheries has the authority under the Fisheries Act to prohibit fishing for a species to address threats to the management and control of fisheries.
A similar temporary shutdown of the elver fishery took place in 2020.
The juvenile American eels, also known as glass eels, are harvested in spring from rivers in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and shipped live to Asia. They are grown to market size there.
A bucket of elvers is shown near Chester, N.S., in 2019. (Richard Cuthbertson/CBC)
In 2022, elvers sold for $5,000 per kilogram. The Maritime fishery is worth about $40 million a year.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada has a commercial quota of 9,960 kilograms a season.
In 2023, for the second year in a row, the federal government gave 14 per cent of the fishery in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to First Nations.
Commercial fishers expressed dissatisfaction with the arrangement and said they have been poorly treated by DFO. Commercial licence holders launched a Federal Court challenge over the decision in March.
On April 13, two men were arrested on a confrontation over the elver fishery in Hubbards. This confrontation followed the seizure of a shipment of elvers, worth about $112,000 at Halifax international airport.
In a media release following the announcement, Rick Perkins, Conservative MP for South Shore-St. Margarets, called the decision "blatantly wrong."
"The government is shutting down a legal fishery in the middle of their short season because they cannot get the illegal poaching under control," Perkins said.
"Poaching elvers was illegal yesterday and it will be illegal tomorrow — what makes the Minister think these
criminals are going to follow the 45-day ban?"
Attempts to contact a representative of the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs for comment were not successful.
CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices
2 men arrested in confrontation over elver fishery in Hubbards
Police say a man was allegedly assaulted by a group of seven
A confrontation over Nova Scotia's lucrative — but troubled — baby eel fishery turned violent early Thursday morning as a man was allegedly assaulted by a group of seven.
RCMP said in a statement that the man was in an argument with a woman and a youth on Shore Club Road in Hubbards, just west of Halifax, around 1 a.m. Thursday.
According to police, a group of seven men approached the three who were arguing, and one of the seven assaulted the man with a pipe.
RCMP Cpl. Guilluame Tremblay said a second member of the group was brandishing a knife and a conducted energy weapon, commonly known as a Taser. They took off in three cars and were intercepted by police a short distance away on the St. Margarets Bay Road.
"At that time they completed a traffic stop where they arrested a 45-year-old and a 48-year-old man in relation to the assault," Tremblay said.
The pair were released with conditions and are due in court on June 5 to face charges including careless use of a firearm and assault with a weapon.
Tremblay said a shotgun and a conducted energy weapon were seized during the traffic stop.
"I don't have the details regarding additional seizures of those weapons, we're still investigating," Tremblay said.
"This morning police dog services were out on St. Margarets Bay Road, still searching the area for any additional weapons and doing an article search in the area."
This confrontation follows the seizure of a shipment of baby eels, known as elvers, worth about $112,000 at Halifax international airport. Elvers are considered Canada's most valuable fish catch, by weight, and were worth over $5,000 per kilogram in 2022.
The Conservative MP for the area, Rick Perkins, issued a statement with another MP on Wednesday, complaining about the lack of action by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).
But DFO spokesperson Lauren Sankey defended the department in a statement saying officials conducted 741 patrols of rivers where elver fishing was taking place between March 13 and April 10. They seized about 36 kilograms of baby eels, along with some equipment.
"Fishery officers have been patrolling rivers, inspecting holding facilities and conducting surveillance and inspections at airports, border crossings and other exit points to ensure compliance with the regulations related to the harvest and sale of elver," she said.
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Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs links shooting to lucrative elver fishery
Mounties say they have no evidence Meteghan, N.S., incident is related to fishery
RCMP in Nova Scotia have issued a provincewide arrest warrant for a Dartmouth man following a shooting that Mi'kmaw leaders say is related to Nova Scotia's lucrative elver fishery.
RCMP say a 38-year-old Eskasoni man suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries when he was shot early Wednesday morning following an altercation inside a home in Meteghan, N.S.
Police say Mitchel Mannette fled a home on Peter Dugas Road in a red Honda Civic before officers arrived.
Mannette, 29, has been charged with multiple offences including discharge of a firearm with intent and reckless discharge of a firearm.
RCMP said Mannette and the victim are known to each other. Investigators believe that the victim was targeted and this was not a random incident.
The incident prompted the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs to release a statement on Friday accusing the Department of Fisheries and Oceans of mismanaging the fishery by failing to protect Indigenous fishers from lawfully harvesting on rivers in the southern part of the province.
Four Mi'kmaw First Nations have reached agreements with DFO to harvest 1,200 kilograms of elvers — or baby eels — in recognition of their treaty right to make a moderate living from fishing. Elvers can sell for up to $5,000 per kilogram. They are shipped live to Asia and grown for food.
A member of a conservation group scoops elvers into a bucket in 2019 as part of research on the East River near Chester, N.S. (Richard Cuthbertson/CBC)
Chief Gerald Toney, fisheries co-lead for the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs, said the assembly has previously expressed concerns to DFO about the safety of its harvesters in this region, "but we certainly did not anticipate things going this bad, this quickly."
"DFO has an obligation to make our fishing in those specified rivers safe. Clearly from yesterday's incident, we can see that DFO needs to do more to ensure safety on the water and to ensure that conservation and protection measures are being met," Toney said in the release.
Eskasoni is not one of the four Kespukwitk area First Nations that have DFO-authorized moderate livelihood elver fisheries.
No evidence shooting linked to fishery: RCMP
RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Chris Marshall says the Mounties do not have any evidence the shooting was directly related to the elver fishery.
"Our investigators have not been provided with any information that links this incident to the elver fishery and that's where we're at right now," Marshall told CBC News.
Commercial elver licence-holders have complained for many years that both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people have been illegally fishing rivers assigned to them exclusively by DFO.
In 2020, DFO shut down the entire Maritime elver fishery after an influx of Mi'kmaw fishers overwhelmed its ability to manage it.
Although the RCMP have not found a connection between the shooting and the elver fishery, Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray discussed the chiefs' concerns in an emergency meeting Thursday, the department told CBC News.
The department said its conservation and protection officers and RCMP will be on the ground patrolling multiple "high interest areas" in southern Nova Scotia.
Quota transferred to Mi'kmaq
In 2022 and 2023, DFO transferred 14 per cent of the commercial quota to the four Kespukwitk First Nations: Acadia, Annapolis Valley, Bear River and Glooscap.
DFO also says it has increased enforcement to stop illegal elver fishing.
"Fishery officers will be patrolling rivers, inspecting holding facilities and conducting surveillance and inspections at airports, border crossings and other exit points to ensure compliance with the regulations related to the harvest and sale of elver," DFO spokesperson Lauren Sankey said in a statement to CBC News earlier this week.
In its release, the chiefs said there have been large groups of non-Indigenous people taking to the rivers in Kespukwitk to harvest elvers in recent weeks, including those using high-mortality fish traps called fyke nets, raising serious conservation concerns that DFO appears to be incapable or unwilling to control.
"DFO appears to be doing little to control unlawful elver harvest activity and to make sure our Kespukwitk fishers are safe from violence. This is unacceptable and it is time that federal officers start taking steps to ensure the safety of all," Toney said.
The release did not refer to the presence of unauthorized Indigenous harvesters.
DFO sent a statement after this story was posted.
"Fisheries and Oceans Canada is aware of the incident in Meteghan. Please direct questions on the investigation to the RCMP. Violence risking the safety of harvesters, the public, and our officers is a threat to the proper management and control of the fishery, which may necessitate additional actions.
"The safety and security of all those involved in the fishery remains the DFO's first priority. DFO will continue to work closely with our partner agencies and departments to promote a peaceful and orderly fishery, and with the RCMP and local police to monitor and address criminal activity."
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Canada gives First Nations 14% of lucrative Maritime elver fishery for 2nd year
Transfer sets stage for further court challenges from commercial licence holders
For a second year, the federal government is giving several First Nations in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia 14 per cent of the lucrative Maritime fishery for baby eels — or elvers — without compensating commercial licence holders.
The transfer implements the treaty right to fish for a moderate living, but also sets the stage for further court challenges by commercial elver licence holders.
"I'm quite confident that we will be taking legal action based on this again," said Michel Samson, a lawyer representing Wine Harbour Fisheries.
Wine Harbour is one of several licence holders in federal court trying to overturn the 2022 decision, saying it was unfair and rushed.
The quota transfer will collectively cost seven commercial licence holders several million dollars, based on 2022 prices which reached $5,000 per kilogram.
The tiny, translucent elvers are caught in Maritime rivers, shipped live to Asia and grown for food.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has put licence holders on notice that a permanent cut is coming.
"Over the course of 2023, and consistent with the Government of Canada's reconciliation agenda to increase First Nation participation in fisheries, DFO will conduct a review of the elver fishery with a primary objective being the sharing of benefits through enhanced Indigenous participation in the fishery over the longer term," Jennifer Ford, DFO's director of resource management and licensing, Maritimes region, wrote in a March 28 letter to industry.
Ford outlined this year's allocation: 1,200 kilograms — or 14 percent of the commercial quota — to 10 Mi'kmaw and Maliseet communities.
For
a second year, the federal government is giving Mi'kmaw First Nations
14 per cent of the lucrative Maritime fishery for baby eels — or elvers —
without compensating commercial licence holders. (Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press)
The quota cut does not affect the We'koqma'q First Nation in Cape Breton, which also holds a commercial licence.
In 2022, DFO also took 1,200 kilos of commercial quota but only allocated 600 kilograms to the Mi'kmaq. The remaining 600 kilograms were not caught.
In 2023, the full 1,200 kilograms has been allocated based on DFO authorizations that reflect community harvest plans.
Commercial licence holders object
In southern Nova Scotia, Kespukwitk First Nations (Acadia, Annapolis Valley, Bear River and Glooscap First Nations) will designate harvesters from among their members to fish a 450-kilogram allocation, an increase of 50 kilograms compared to 2022.
The Wolastoqey Nations in New Brunswick (Madawaska Maliseet, Tobique, Woodstock, Kingsclear, St. Mary's and Oromocto First Nations) will also designate harvesters from among their members to fish a 750-kilogram allocation, an increase of 550 kilograms compared to 2022.
The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs did not provide comment.
Commercial licence holders say they have been poorly treated.
They claim in 2022 DFO did not consider their offers to sell out in good faith — a process known as willing-buyer, willing-seller.
It has been used for decades to integrate Mi'kmaq into commercial fisheries without increasing pressure on a given species.
'It's a smash and grab'
Samson says this year was worse.
"This is now two years in a row that the minister is arbitrarily cut quota without offering compensation. And without even asking for proposals from license holders who would be prepared to exit the fishery. And that should send a chilling effect across all commercial fisheries in Canada," he said.
"It's a smash and grab, you know, basically put a gun to your head and they're just going to take it," says Brian Giroux, a member of the board of directors for the Shelburne Elver Group. "They never even gave the willing buyer, willing seller process a chance."
Entry to elver fishery challenged by N.S. MP
Justice Department lawyers told the federal court earlier this year DFO is not obliged to compensate licence holders even if federal fisheries ministers have repeatedly committed to the process.
In Ottawa, Nova Scotia Conservative MP Rick Perkins has regularly challenged Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray about the elver fishery.
"Eleven per cent of the licenses have now gone, are made-up of First Nations, while the Mi'kmaq are only 2.7 per cent of the population. So what's the level at which you say, OK, that's enough licenses relative to the overall total allowable catch?" Perkins asked Murray at a parliamentary committee meeting last week.
In
Ottawa, Nova Scotia Conservative MP Rick Perkins has repeatedly
challenged Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray about Mi'kmaw entry into
elver fishery. (CBC)
"Our reconciliation fisheries are not specifically about population quota. They are about our mandate to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and accommodate a treaty affirmed rights to fish," Murray said.
Murray has repeatedly said DFO remains committed to the willing-buyer, willing-seller process because it provides predictability in the market but will not allow failure to reach a deal to thwart expanding Indigenous access.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
My Hat is Off to Kerry Prosper
https://paqtnkek.ca/about-paqtnkek/band-council/
Fisheries
Contact Information:
- Phone: 902-386-2781
Mi'kmaw elders concerned growing elver industry will harm adult eel populations
High prices for baby eels has led to growth in elver harvesting
Some Mi'kmaw elders are concerned about the adult eel population as the industry harvesting baby eels, or elvers, grows.
Gordon LaBillois said his community Ugpi'ganjig, or Eel River Bar First Nation, about 250 kilometres north of Moncton, was named for its abundance of eels.
LaBillois,74, grew up fishing for adult eels.
"Whether you're spearing eels or fishing reels with a hook on line, it's trying to physically grab them from their habitat," he said.
"You're down there and trying to grab them behind their head because they have tremendous hauling power going backwards."
Now, LaBillois said eels are a rare treat for his community. He said he was taught you don't hunt the babies and he's worried about people overfishing the elvers.
Gordon LaBillois is a Mi'kmaw elder worried about the expansion of the elver fisheries. (Nelson Cloud )
"There's a market for that resource, and if the resource is there, well, there's people that are going to take advantage of that," he said.
The elver fishing industry operates in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia where fishers catch the baby eels in streams and rivers. The elvers are then shipped live to China and Japan markets where they're grown for food.
After the European eel supply crashed, prices rose. In 2015, elvers in the Maritimes were being sold for $4,685 a kilogram.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada has a commercial quota of 9,960 kilograms a season. In an attempt to get First Nations communities involved in the fishery, DFO took 14 per cent of quota from commercial licence holders and allocated it to nine First Nations in 2022.
This led to a Federal Court of Canada challenge by three existing commercial licence holders. A court decision is expected in May.
Supporting families
Some First Nations are entering the fishery with licence quotas, while other First Nations fishers are trying to harvest using treaty-based rights. In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Donald Marshall Jr. had the treaty right to hunt, fish and gather in pursuit of a moderate livelihood.
Fabian Francis, the moderate livelihood co-ordinator for Eskasoni First Nation, about 270 kilometres east of Halifax, said he grew up harvesting eels with his dad.
"I want it to be able to be sustained throughout, you know, my children for generations," said Francis.
He began harvesting elvers last year and sees it as a way to earn money for his family. Francis said he caught about 11 kilograms of elvers, earning about $55,000 last season. He said many fishers have come to see the elver fishery like hitting the lotto.
He said it's no secret there's a lack of jobs in his community. Statistics Canada reported a 25 per cent unemployment rate for Eskasoni in 2016.
Francis said 120 people from his community are registered with the moderate livelihood fishery. He said the fishers are waiting on approval from Eskasoni band council and DFO to launch the season.
He said when he's waded into the rivers and streams he sees a healthy eel population but if it changes at any point he would be willing to stop.
'It's not about money'
In 2020, DFO shut down the commercial elver industry because of an influx of Mi'kmaw moderate livelihood fishers. DFO said it's trying to maintain the elver population by channeling all elver fishing through licence-based fishing.
"Conservation is our highest priority, and we continue to work with First Nations to advance their treaty rights," said DFO in an emailed statement to CBC News.
The elver season runs from March until June, while the Mi'kmaw fish for adult eels in the winter, spring and summer. DFO said it regularly monitors the health of both populations and sets quotas based on that data.
Kerry Prosper and his daughter Jaden harvesting eels in the early 2000s. (submitted by April Prosper)
Kerry Prosper from Paq'tnkek Mi'kmaw Nation, about 180 kilometres northeast of Halifax, brings youth out on the ice to spear eels as a way to pass down traditional knowledge.
In years past, Prosper said they could catch hundreds of eels but on his last trip they caught only three.
He said he's concerned that eels are being fished both as adults and as babies and he thinks the elver fishery needs to slow down so the eel population can be studied.
Kerry
Proper is a Mi'kmaw elder worried about the health of the American eel
population. Whose survival is essential for the health of Mi'kmaw
traditions. (submitted by April Prosper)
"If you have enough food and we know it's going to last seven generations, OK, maybe we'll talk about the commercial fishery," said Prosper.
He said by slowing down the elver industry, maybe the eel population will be stronger for the next generation.
"It's not about money, it's about continuing the way of life and traditions and our health," said Prosper.
"Eels are very healthy. They're sacred to us."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
with files from Paul Withers and Mia Urquhart
Tuesday, 16 August 2022
Dispute over baby eels worth $4,900 a kilogram heads back to N.B court
Defence lawyer says more detail is needed in case against Indigenous fishers
Judge gives plaintiff's lawyer 30 days to amend her statement of claim
The case of a commercial fisher who's suing Indigenous groups continued in Saint John on Tuesday.
The case began in April, when Mary Ann Holland applied to the Court of Queen's Bench for an injunction to stop Indigenous fishers from catching elvers in an area where she has an exclusive licence to fish.
The lawsuit named Neqotkuk, also known as Tobique First Nation, Sitansisk Wolastoqiyik, or St. Mary's First Nation, Welamukotok, or Oromocto First Nation, and Woodstock First Nation, along with the four chiefs and other unknown individuals.
Holland operates the fishery, which is located in southwestern New Brunswick, under Brunswick Aquaculture and Alder Seafood, who are co-plaintiffs.
Today's hearing was held to discuss a motion brought forward by the defence to strike the plaintiff's statement of claim. The defendants' lawyer, Nick Kennedy, argued the claim should be struck because it does not specify how the chiefs named were involved in the allegedly illegal fishing.
The chiefs are named in the suit, the plaintiff's lawyer said in court Tuesday, because when the fishers were confronted they refused to identify themselves and said the chiefs authorized their fishing.
Barry Morrison argued that the chief's authorization of the fishing makes them liable for it.
Kennedy said this notion has caused his clients a great deal of stress.
"This idea that [chiefs] can authorize something then people are going to jump up and run out and do it, is based on, frankly, dated, offensive views to how these communities are organized," he said.
Morrison said Kennedy's argument grants Indigenous communities special exemptions.
"Saying that they have the ability to do things, like that, that you couldn't do, I couldn't do, corporations couldn't do, that they're a special status, and they can do that thing with impunity — I don't believe that to be correct," Morrison said.
Delay granted
Citing the fact that the elver fishing season is now over, the judge granted the plaintiff's lawyer 30 days to submit an amended statement of claim. The judge asked Morrison to address the issue of authorization in that amended statement.
The lawsuit also alleges that Indigenous fishers physically interfered with Holland's employees. Indigenous fishers positioned their nets in such a way that they "basically forced them out of their position," Morrison said.
In April, an injunction ordered the Indigenous groups to cease fishing and to stop threatening, coercing, harassing or intimidating the plaintiff and her fishers.
The defence argued that more detail is needed in a statement of claim to make clear who is alleged to have done what. In much of the statement of claim, the defendants are simply called the defendants, not a specific chief or community.
"They've asserted no specific facts against each of the defendants," Kennedy said. "And so it's impossible to know from this what each individual is alleged to have done."
Kennedy said the plaintiffs are waiting for discovery — the period in a civil case when both sides must disclose their evidence — to get a better understanding of who is truly liable.
"It's not my client's problem that [the plaintiffs] don't know who to sue," Kennedy said.
Morrison said this is not a strategy, simply the facts of the matter.
"We were asked about the identity of the specific people who were acting in this terrible fashion," he said. "We say candidly, we can't provide the details because they refuse to identify themselves and we'll have to wait for discovery of documents."
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With files from Mia Urquhart
Dispute over baby eels worth $4,900 a kilogram heads back to N.B court
Commercial licence-holder seeks injunction against Indigenous fishers
Canada's most valuable fishery per kilogram will be back before the courts in Saint John next week in a case that pits a longtime commercial licence holder against Indigenous fishers who want a piece of the elver action.
On one side, the original plaintiff in the case accuses Indigenous groups of poaching the baby eels in waterways where she has exclusive rights to fish. On the other side, Indigenous groups want to exercise the right to engage in a moderate livelihood commercial fishery in their traditional territory.
In April, Mary Ann Holland applied to the Court of Queen's Bench for an injunction to stop several groups and individuals from fishing her waterways, and from threatening and intimidating the people who were catching for her company.
The lawsuit named Neqotkuk, also known as Tobique First Nation, Sitansisk Wolastoquiyik, or St. Mary's First Nation, Welamukotok, or Oromocto First Nation, and Woodstock First Nation, along with the four chiefs and some other individuals.
In documents filed with the court, Holland acknowledged that Maliseet, or Wolastoqey, are entitled to engage in a limited moderate livelihood commercial fishery in their traditional territory but have historically never fished for elvers "for food, social, or ceremonial purposes."
In a joint statement issued in May, the chiefs vowed to fight the claims.
According
to court documents, Indigenous fishers clashed with non-Indigenous
fishers for several nights in a row on the banks of the Magaguadavic
River, below the falls in St. George, N.B. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
They said the Wolastoqey and other Indigenous people have a right to earn a livelihood through fishing by virtue of Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution and the Peace and Friendship treaties of the 18th century.
In response to Holland's request for an injunction, the defendants filed their own motion with the court, asking for Holland's statement of claim to be struck. In court documents, they have also asked for a number of things, including an order "striking out" the plaintiff's statement of claim because, among other things, "it is scandalous, frivolous, and vexatious."
They also want more information from the plaintiffs on many of the allegations contained in the statement of claim.
A hearing on that motion has been scheduled in the Court of Queen's Bench in Saint John on Tuesday.
Nearly all baby eels caught in New Brunswick are sent to China, where
they're grown to market size and sold around the world. (Canadian
Wildlife Federation)
The defendants want to know the names of the people the plaintiffs allege "interrupted and hampered" the plaintiffs while they tried to fish for eels. They also demand to know exactly what activities are alleged and where they happened. They also want to know how the plaintiffs "came to know they were a member of that First Nation."
The motion also asks whether the chiefs named as defendants — Timothy Paul, Shelley Sabattis, Alan Pochies, and Ross Perley — were present during the alleged incidents.
In response to the demand for particulars, the plaintiffs repeatedly stated that the details were contained in the original statement of claim.
Roots of the case
The court case began in April, when Holland applied for the injunction to stop Indigenous groups from fishing areas where she claims "exclusive" rights to fish, and from threatening and intimidating her workers.
She said things came to a head on the Magaguadavic River, and others in southwestern New Brunswick in the St. Stephen-St. George area at the end of April. According to court documents, she said Indigenous fishermen "positioned themselves and their nets so as to reduce the number of elvers which could be caught by said fishers … and proceeded to poach the elvers for themselves."
On April 29, Justice Danys Delaquis granted an interim order, telling the defendants to stop "threatening, coercing, harassing or intimidating" the plaintiff and the plaintiff's fishers. The defendants were also ordered to stop fishing the plaintiff's designated watercourses.
But in another affidavit by Holland, she said the defendants were back on the water the same day the judge made the interim order.
A researcher with the group Coastal Action measures an elver caught in
the East River near Chester, N.S., in June 2019. (Richard
Cuthbertson/CBC)
On May 19, Justice Danys Delaquis granted an injunction against the defendants, ordering them to stop "threatening, coercing, harassing or intimidating the Plaintiffs and their fishers, and harvesting elders on the Plaintiffs' licence designated watercourses and ordering, directing persuading, aiding, abetting, and encouraging other persons to commit the above pending the disposition of the action or further order of the court."
In his decision, Delaquis said the defendants "are undoing what the plaintiffs have done for over three decades with respect to the elver fishery."
He also said the plaintiffs' reputation "will also be irreparably harmed unless the defendants' conduct is restrained."
"Lastly, the Defendants have put the court on notice that they have no intention of following any orders it renders. Such behaviour is not condoned or accepted by the court. As a result, I also order that defendants pay the plaintiffs $5,000 in costs on the motion."
'Secretive industry'
Karen Pinchin is a journalist who has written extensively about niche seafood markets, including elvers.
"It's a very secretive industry," she said.
Pinchin said the "money is just undeniable" and that leads others to want in on the action, including Indigenous groups.
"And so it just has all the makings of conflict, right? Because you have the value, you have the secrecy of the species, and then you have environmentalists who are basically saying, 'Wait a sec, we think this species might be in trouble.'"
The value of the catch hasn't always been sky-high though, said Pinchin.
Elvers are scooped into a bucket in 2019 as part of research on the East River near Chester. (Richard Cuthbertson/CBC)
"For a very, very long time, this fish was worth almost nothing. And the people who fished it, the people who held quotas from before that spike in value, they fished the fish because they loved it; because they were fascinated with its life cycle; because they thought it was really smart; because they found something kind of enigmatic about it."
And then the North American market exploded.
When the European supply crashed, prices really shot up. By 2015, elvers in the Maritimes were being sold for $4,685 a kilogram.
The price peaked in 2019 at $5,200. Since 2011, the average price per kilogram has been $3,300, according to DFO data.
As it usually does, the price per kilogram fluctuated throughout the season that closed on July 31, but averaged about $4,900 per kilogram.
Holland was one of only nine licence holders in all of Canada until 2021, according to information provided by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Two additional licences were provided to Indigenous communities in 2022.
In court documents, Holland said her usual quota of 1,200 kilograms was reduced this year by 14 per cent to make room for Indigenous fishers, who have been increasingly drawn to the lucrative fishery.
A bucket of elvers is shown near Chester in 2019. (Richard Cuthbertson/CBC)
Her quota this year is 1,035.6 kilograms. Using the average price this year, her catch is worth more than $5 million. The 14 per cent reduction represents a loss of more than $800,000.
The documents also say the usual total allowable catch for Canada is 9,960 kilograms. At $4,900 per kilogram, it's worth about $48 million.
That's the price paid to commercial licence-holders by dealers who sell overseas — nearly all of it to China.
"So these eels go on these remarkable journeys all around the world, and the value of them keeps going up at every step," said Pinchin.
Remarkable journey
In fact, their remarkable journey begins at birth.
The larvae of the American eel hatch within the Sargasso Sea, an area within the Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda. The larvae grow as they're carried along by the Gulf Stream along the East Coast of North America.
By spring, they have become tiny eels, and millions make their way to inland rivers as far north as Greenland. It's in these inland waters that they mature into adult American eels and spend up to 40 years, before finally returning to the Sargasso Sea to spawn and start the process all over again.
Since eels are difficult to breed in captivity, the Asian market depends on "seed" stock from North America, especially after European stocks began to crash in the 1990s.
Baby American eels, which are called elvers or glass eels, legally fished in the Maritimes are packed in a little water, chilled in ice and put on airplanes to China, where they are grown to market size. Eel is particularly popular in Japan, which accounts for 70 per cent of the world's eel consumption.
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Fate of baby eels worth $90K seized in Halifax unknown
Eels were confiscated at the airport in May, but it's not clear if they've been destroyed
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is refusing to say whether a haul of live baby eels — worth an estimated $90,000 — seized May 30 at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport was destroyed.
DFO initially said it seized 80 kilograms of baby eels, but spokesperson Lauren Sankey later corrected that figure to 18 kilograms, saying in a June 10 email the department had "mistakenly included the weight of the water in the containers as part of the total amount of seized elver."
Baby eels or elvers are the most valuable fish species by weight in Canada and were worth over $5,000 per kilo at recent market prices. They are flown to Asia where they are raised to adulthood for food. They are harvested each spring from rivers in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. There is also a fishery in Maine.
Sources told CBC News the fish were destroyed, but the department refused to provide more information despite appearing to initially confirm that.
"DFO makes every effort to return fish to their waters after they are seized, but in cases where it is not possible to determine where the fish originate from, they must be destroyed," spokesperson Stephen Bornais said in a statement. "This reduces the potential for parasites, diseases, pathogens, or invasive species to be spread among watersheds."
Now officials say it's under investigation.
DFO won't say what happened
"As the matter is part of an ongoing investigation, we can't provide any further details."
CBC asked why the seizure was not sold, but the department did not respond.
Brian Giroux, a commercial harvester with the Shelburne Elver Group, said the destruction of such a valuable seizure would be "a very sad situation and not in keeping with the mandate of conservation."
"I am certain that an active buyer (or someone like me who could have shipped for them) was available to purchase/ship those eels, but DFO never reached out," Giroux said in a statement to CBC News. "In almost every other fishery I know of, seizures are sold and proceeds go to the Receiver General for Canada. So there's $440,000 or so lost to the Crown that could have covered science, enforcement or anything else."
The Maritime elver fishery has been in turmoil for several years.
It has become a flash point for Mi'kmaw bands exercising treaty rights to fish for a moderate livelihood.
Controversial fishery
That's led to riverside confrontations between Indigenous harvesters, commercial fishermen and enforcement officers.
In 2020, DFO shutdown the entire Maritime elver fishery after an influx of Mi'kmaw harvesters in Nova Scotia overwhelmed its ability to manage the fishery.
This year Canada cut 14 per cent of the commercial elver quota and gave it to Mi'kmaw bands to satisfy their treaty right to earn a moderate livelihood.
Earlier this spring in New Brunswick, four Indigenous groups were ordered by a judge to stop "threatening, coercing, harassing or intimidating" commercial harvesters.
The judge also told the bands to stay off rivers assigned by DFO to commercial harvester Mary Holland.
The injunction is temporary until the judge decides on a lawsuit brought by Holland against the Indigenous harvesters.
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Chiefs vow to fight court action trying to limit where they can fish elvers
Statement calls threat allegations 'wild'
Indigenous groups are vowing to continue to fight a lawsuit trying to keep them off a number of waterways in southwestern New Brunswick.
They also say accusations they threatened or confronted commercial fishermen are "wild allegations … and we don't condone such behaviour," according to a statement issued by four chiefs named in the lawsuit.
"We will fight these claims in court, where we'll argue there is no legal basis for the claims in this injunction against the Chiefs or the First Nations," said the chiefs.
They said the Wolastoqey and other Indigenous people have a right to earn a livelihood through fishing by virtue of Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution and the Peace and Friendship treaties.
The
Wolastoqey territory in New Brunswick is shown by the shaded area of
this map, which was part of the land claim filed last August by several
First Nations. (Submitted by Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick)
"It is inappropriate and frankly, irrelevant that any commercial licence-holder that acquires a privilege to fish resources from our traditional waters from the DFO, should make any statements that attempt to dictate limits of our rights and define our territory.
"The Wolastoqey have these rights in the entirety of our territory, which is described in the attached map," said the chiefs.
The lawsuit filed by Mary Ann Holland names Neqotkuk Maliseet Nation (also known as Tobique First Nation), Sitansisk Wolastoquiyik (St. Mary's First Nation), Welamukotok First Nation (Oromocto First Nation), and Woodstock First Nation, along with the four chiefs and some other individuals.
In documents filed with the court, Holland acknowledged that Maliseet, or Wolastoqey, are entitled to engage in a limited moderate livelihood commercial fishery in their traditional territory but have historically never fished for elvers "for food, social, or ceremonial purposes."
In their joint statement, the chiefs said the Supreme Court "has been clear: a First Nation exercising its commercial fishing right is not limited to harvesting species that were harvested traditionally."
Elvers are young American eels that are harvested largely for an
overseas market, where they are grown to maturity. (Richard
Cuthbertson/CBC)
They also said the Wolastoqey Nation has been working with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans "toward an arrangement that respects the rights of the First Nations to earn a livelihood through fishing."
They say the government "has continued to prioritize recreational and non-Indigenous commercial fishing interests" and placed "constraints" on Indigenous fishers on harvesting other species.
Holland, who has fished for elvers since 1988, applied to the Court of Queen's Bench in April for an injunction to stop Indigenous fishermen from fishing areas where she claims "exclusive" rights to fish, and from threatening and intimidating her workers.
She said things came to a head on the Magaguadavic River, and others in southwestern New Brunswick in the St. Stephen-St. George area at the end of April. According to court documents, she said Indigenous fishermen "positioned themselves and their nets so as to reduce the number of elvers which could be caught by said fishers … and proceeded to poach the elvers for themselves."
Plaintiff
Mary Ann Holland says she has the exclusive rights to harvest elvers on
the Magaguadavic River, seen here in an aerial shot above St. George. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
On April 29, Justice Danys Delaquis ordered the defendants to stop "threatening, coercing, harassing or intimidating" the plaintiff and the plaintiff's fishers. The defendants were also ordered to stop fishing the plaintiff's designated watercourses, although another affidavit by Holland said the defendants were back on the water the same day the judge made the order.
The parties were back in court on May 13. After hearing arguments from both sides, Delaquis said he needed more time to make a decision. He said the interim order will remain in effect until he renders a decision.
In a separate court action launched last year, multiple First Nations are asking the courts to recognize that New Brunswick and surrounding areas were never ceded to settlers.
The notice of action was filed in August 2021 and lists as defendants, the Province of New Brunswick, the Attorney General of Canada, and dozens of privately owned businesses.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/magaguadavic-river-elver-indigenous-rights-1.6452317
Indigenous fishers still banned from catching elvers in Magaguadavic after hearing
Interim injunction in effect until judge makes decision 'as soon as possible'
A judge is considering whether to extend an order preventing Indigenous fishers from harvesting elvers from waterways claimed by a licensed commercial fishery.
The mouth of the Magaguadavic River in southwestern New Brunswick has become fraught territory, according to Mary Ann Holland, who filed a lawsuit alleging Indigenous fishers were threatening her staff, disrupting her operations and "poaching" the young American eels without a licence.
She alleges the river doesn't fall under Indigenous territory and "elvers have never been caught by the Maliseet for food, social, or ceremonial purposes."
There is currently a land claim filed by multiple First Nations asking the courts to recognize that New Brunswick and surrounding areas were never ceded to settlers.
Holland, who operates the fishery under co-plaintiffs Brunswick Aquaculture and Alder Seafood, said she's the only one entitled to catch elvers in the area, and she has the licence from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
Indigenous
fishers clashed with commercial fishery employees on the banks of the
Magaguadavic River, below the falls in St. George, a lawsuit alleges. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
Can Holland prove 'irreparable harm?'
At issue is whether the judge should ban Indigenous people from fishing for elvers in that area until the actual lawsuit goes through the justice system and a final decision is made.
To keep the injunction, Holland's lawyer has to prove there is "irreparable harm" in Indigenous fishers continuing to catch elvers on the Magaguadavic.
Holland's lawyer Barry Morrison said loss of business, potential loss of employees, and the threatening of elver populations are all harms caused by Indigenous fishers that can't be easily repaired.
He said employees have been feeling threatened, and Holland worries she will lose her workers because they feel unsafe.
The
Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada has
recommended that American eels be classified as a threatened species. (Richard Cuthbertson/CBC)
Defence lawyer Nick Kennedy argued Morrison can't make conservation claims because that's a complicated issue and is the purview of DFO.
And he said loss of business is not "irreparable" harm because if Holland were to win the case, she could demand damages for money lost.
Morrison wants the judge to extend the ban until the end of the elver season around July 30, or until another order is made to remove it.
DFO extends quota to First Nations
In April, Justice Danys Delaquis ordered the Indigenous fishers to stop "threatening, coercing, harassing or intimidating" the plaintiff and the plaintiff's fishers. He also ordered them to stop fishing in the plaintiff's designated watercourses and "ordering, directing, persuading, aiding, abetting and encouraging" others to do so.
An injunction is often made to stop alleged harm from continuing while a lawsuit is mid-process.
The lawsuit names Neqotkuk Maliseet Nation (also named Tobique First Nation), Sitansisk Wolastoquiyik (also known as St. Mary's First Nation), Welamukotok First Nation (also named Oromocto First Nation), and Woodstock First Nation, along with the four chiefs and some other individuals.
The first order was first made without defence lawyers for Indigenous groups present. After hearing arguments from both sides on May 4, Delaquis further extended the injunction until Friday, so both sides can submit more evidence.
After hearing arguments Friday, Delaquis said he needs time to consider the evidence and arguments, but that he will render a decision "as soon as possible."
"The interim order will have to remain in place until I render a decision," he said. "I can't render a decision today."
In an affidavit, Holland alleges Indigenous fishers were back on the water the same day the order to stay off was made.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-elver-fishery-in-court-1.6444335
Commercial elver fisher accuses Indigenous groups of poaching
Court documents seek injunction against Indigenous fishers
A legal battle is brewing in southwestern New Brunswick between a licensed commercial eel fisher and some First Nations fishers.
Mary Ann Holland, who has been fishing elvers since 1988, is accusing several Indigenous groups and individuals of poaching elvers in waterways where she has exclusive rights to fish.
She has applied to the Court of Queen's Bench for an injunction to stop them from fishing and from threatening and intimidating behaviour toward her fishers.
The parties were in court on Wednesday, but lawyers recently hired by some defendants requested more time. As a result, the hearing was adjourned until May 13.
On April 29, the defendants were ordered by the judge to stop "threatening, coercing, harassing or intimidating" the plaintiff and the plaintiff's fishers. The defendants were also ordered to stop fishing the plaintiff's designated watercourses and "ordering, directing, persuading, aiding, abetting and encouraging" others to do so.
But in an affidavit filed with the court on May 3, Holland said the defendants were back on the water the same day the judge made the order. In fact, Holland said an even larger group was present late on April 29 when she and her lawyer, Barry Morrison, arrived at the Magaguadavic River to deliver copies of court documents.
Elvers are baby American eels that are shipped overseas where they are grown to maturity. (Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press)
According to the statement of claim, Holland's commercial licence gives her "exclusive rights" to fish elvers in a number of waterways in southwestern New Brunswick
Holland operates the fishery under co-plaintiff's Brunswick Aquaculture and Alder Seafood.
"As indigenous people, in addition to receiving funding from the Government of Canada, the Maliseet are entitled to engage in a limited moderate livelihood commercial fishery in their traditional territory to secure necessaries …," according to the statement of claim.
The document goes on to say that "elvers have never been caught by the Maliseet for food, social, or ceremonial purposes."
The document said Holland's fishers were going about their business on the nights of April 26, 27, and 28 when they were "interrupted and hampered" by the defendants. As the court documents explain, elvers, or baby American eels, are harvested at night on high tides as they enter watercourses on their way upstream.
Plaintiff
Mary Ann Holland says she has the exclusive rights to harvest elvers on
the Magaguadavic River, seen here in an aerial shot above St. George. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
In Holland's affidavit, she says, "the most egregious event" took place on the Magaguadavic River on April 27 "when more than 30 members of the Defendant First Nations and other Defendants swarmed their way onto the banks of the river in intimidating manner where the Plaintiffs' fishers were catching elvers and positioned themselves and their nets so as to reduce the number of elvers which could be caught by said fishers … and proceeded to poach the elvers for themselves."
The statement of claim said two officials with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans told the defendants they were poaching and instructed them to stop, "but the defendants arrogantly and in a high handed manner refused to stop and successfully harvested for themselves a substantial number of elvers."
The plaintiffs say the defendants refused to identify themselves that night, saying instead that they were fishing under the authority of their chiefs.
"They stated they were exercising their First Nations rights on unceded territory and were doing so not just to gain income, but to force the Government of Canada to recognize those rights and would continue to exercise those rights whenever they wanted to exercise them," states the court document, copies of which were obtained by CBC.
More than 40 people attended an elver fishery training session held by Kingsclear in April. (Mrinali Anchan/CBC)
Holland said the "poachers" also interfered with her fishers on other waterways where she has exclusive rights. She said several people positioned themselves and their nets directly in front of where her fishers had set up, preventing them from catching anything. She said her fishers "effectively were forced off the stream to avoid further confrontation."
Holland said she approached three of them and told them about the court injunction that had been issued earlier that day.
"One of them, who appeared to be the leader, told me they would continue to fish at that location until the season was over despite the Court Order, as that was their Indigenous right. I then left," said Holland in her affidavit filed with the court.
Holland went on to say that officials with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans managed to get the Indigenous fishers to leave. But they returned the next night.
Included in the court file is a document created by the Maliseet people, describing their territory as the St. John River watershed.
A researcher with the group Coastal Action measures an elver caught in
the East River near Chester, N.S., on June 18, 2019. (Richard
Cuthbertson/CBC)
"None of the watercourses I fish are in the Saint John River watershed," Holland wrote in her affidavit filed with the court on May 3. "The watersheds I have a licence for total less than 6,000 square kilometres."
The list of defendants includes Neqotkuk Maliseet Nation (also named Tobique First Nation), Sitansisk Wolastoquiyik (also known as St. Mary's First Nation), Welamukotok First Nation (also named Oromocto First Nation), and Woodstock First Nation, along with the four chiefs and some other individuals.
According to court documents, there were also First Nations fishers from Nova Scotia involved in the confrontations on the Magaguadavic River.
Holland said one of the men identified himself as a member of the Millbrook Mi'kmaq First Nation in Nova Scotia. He said he read about the fishing opportunity on a poster he saw on a lamp post in the St. Mary's First Nation telling people where and when to meet.
CBC left messages for the chiefs of all four bands named in the lawsuit, who are also listed individually as defendants, but none responded by publication time.
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DFO redistributes quota in baby eel fishery to increase access for Mi'kmaw bands
Department cancelled voluntary commercial licence buy back program for 2022
Canada cut the lucrative Maritime commercial baby eel fishery by 14 per cent this week and gave that quota to Mi'kmaw bands to implement a treaty right to earn a moderate living from fishing.
The quota cut is being closely watched because it was imposed without compensation by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) after the department cancelled a voluntary commercial licence buyback program for 2022.
The so-called "willing buyer-willing seller" approach has been used in the past to increase First Nations access.
"This has been a bullying exercise from the very beginning. You're not going fishing. We're going to take it," said Brian Giroux, managing director of the Shelburne Elver Group.
The co-operative is one of nine commercial elver licence holders in the Maritimes, most of which are in Nova Scotia. Giroux's co-op lost 160 kilograms in quota.
"It represents, at market value right now, about $1 million spread over my 17 members," Giroux told CBC News.
Maritime fishery worth $40M
In Maine, where the season is open, baby eels are selling for around $2,250 per pound.
The tiny translucent eels — known as elvers — are big business. Caught each spring as they migrate into Maritime rivers, elvers are shipped live to Asia and grown to adulthood for food.
The Maritime fishery is worth about $40 million a year.
In addition to the elver quota cut, this week DFO also reduced a commercial dungeness crab fishery in Tofino, B.C. and redistributed it to Indigenous bands. Instead of quota, DFO reduced the number of commercial traps that can be fished.
In the House of Commons, Fisheries Minister Joyce Murrary said the government is obliged to act.
"The Indigenous communities have a court-ordered right to fish in their traditional waters, a right to fish for a moderate livelihood. And so that is a principle of our government to satisfy those rights."
She described the commercial catch reductions as part of an "industry-led" approach to reconciliation and conservation.
Her office has made the same claim about the elver decision in a statement to CBC News.
"DFO received proposals for First Nations Elver access this season and there has been an industry-led process on elver licenses this year to reach an interim agreement," said press secretary Claire Teichman.
Genna Carey, another commercial elver licence holder, said increased First Nations participation could be achieved "without expropriation from commercial fishermen."
"We can tell you that the industry was in unanimous consensus against expropriation and that DFO gave us incredibly short timeframes to submit alternative ideas, in some cases as little as 24 hours. Expropriation was not an 'industry-led' solution," Carey said.
She also speaks for an industry association representing seven of the nine licence holders.
The We'koqma'q First Nation in Cape Breton is also a commercial elver licence holder, but did not lose quota, according to DFO.
"The intention of this interim redistribution of quota allocation is to increase Indigenous participation in the commercial elver fishery for the 2022 season. We'koqma'q First Nation's communal commercial licence is not affected," said DFO spokesperson Lauren Sankey in a statement.
Temporary approach
DFO said this is a temporary, one-year approach "to ensure we can continue to negotiate reasonable agreements with licence holders while respecting First Nations' right to fish."
Giroux said DFO has left open the possibility that commercial quotas could be increased this year if there is surplus.
The department also did not act on its warning that it would displace commercial licence holders from rivers they have fished in the past.
The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs said bands in southwest Nova Scotia, known as the Kespukwitk District, have been interested in developing an elver fishery.
"We are encouraged that we are able to begin to develop a way forward in cooperation with DFO but we know that there is still a long way to go to see the full implementation of our Treaty Rights," said Chief Gerald Toney, fisheries lead for the assembly, in a statement to CBC News.
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Mi'kmaw negotiator advocates for reduction in commercial catches to bolster treaty fishery
Fishermen's association president says failure to implement Mi'kmaw fishery falls on Ottawa, First Nations
The debate over how to implement a Mi'kmaw right to a moderate livelihood fishery in Atlantic Canada got more pointed this week as Ottawa's latest effort to voluntarily buy out commercial licences hasn't delivered results.
A top Mi'kmaw negotiator insisted commercial catches should be reduced anyway to ensure the treaty right is realized, while the president of a commercial fishermen's association responded that enough has been done and the failure rests with Ottawa and First Nation leaders.
The issue flared as a Canadian Senate committee studied implementation of moderate livelihood.
"You heard from the chiefs, the buy-back program hasn't been successful. So maybe at this point, Canada and DFO have to be more aggressive in taking back access for the Mi'kmaw people and Indigenous people," Janice Maloney told the committee.
Maloney is executive director of the Mi'kmaw Rights Initiative, which negotiates on behalf of the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs.
Mi'kmaw
Rights Initiative Executive Director Janice Maloney told the Senate
Committee on Fisheries and Oceans it's time to take back some of the
access for commercial fisheries and give it to rights-based fisheries. (CBC)
Maloney was appearing with Chief Wilbert Marshall of the Potlotek Band in Cape Breton and Chief Allan Polchies Jr. of the St. Mary's Band in Fredericton.
Colin Sproul, president of the Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliances, challenged the demand. Sproul represents 1,900 commercial fishermen.
"It's clearly unfair and un-Canadian to repossess access to the fishery from coastal communities without any consultation or compensation," Sproul said.
Voluntary buy-back program revived
In the 1999 Marshall decisions, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed Indigenous people have a treaty right to earn a moderate living from fisheries.
However, it did not define what that meant and said governments have the right to regulate the fishery for conservation and other purposes.
In the aftermath, the federal government spent hundreds of millions of dollars to integrate Mi'kmaw bands into the commercial fishery mostly through buying back commercial licences — a process known as one in/one out and willing buyer/willing seller.
Last year, Ottawa revived the licence buy-back program to implement moderate livelihood in the Maritimes lobster fishery without increasing fishing effort.
So far there has been very little uptake from commercial fleets.
Maloney said if conservation is a concern, Mi'kmaw moderate livelihood fishermen get priority.
"It's time to take back some of the access from the commercial fisheries and provide it to the rights-based fishery. The commercial access is a privilege-based fishery," Maloney told Senators Tuesday.
As an example, Maloney said cutting five to 10 traps per commercial lobster licence could suffice.
"We're not saying take back all the fishery," Maloney said.
How much is enough?
"How much access is enough to fulfil the right to pursue a moderate livelihood to First Nations?" said Sproul.
"First Nations fishers who are being wrongly excluded from their right to pursue a moderate livelihood need to look inward at their own leadership and ask them why, given the huge amounts of access that First Nations possess, that they're not allowed to pursue the right to a moderate livelihood."
He said it's too early to write off the current licence buy-back program.
"It's just been instituted over the winter. And I think that they need time for a season to be completed and for people to assess whether this is the the winter that they choose to retire or not and to approach the government through the program and to get a chance to arrive at a fair value.
"And I also think that undoubtedly the government's entry into the market as a major purchaser of fisheries access will drive up the price somewhat. And the government needs to be prepared to pay a fair market value for the actions."
Future of willing seller/willing buyer
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans walked away from the voluntary licence buy-back program in the lucrative baby eel, or elver, fishery this year.
It told licence holders they wanted too much to get out, cancelled a second round of negotiations and threatened to impose a 14 per cent quota cut and gave it to Mi'kmaw bands seeking access to the elver fishery.
DFO says this is a temporary arrangement and it will continue to negotiate with commercial licence holders.
The department has reached "mutual understandings" with several Mi'kmaw bands to carry out moderate livelihood fisheries. The Nova Scotia Assembly of Mi'kmaw Chiefs says these are not signed agreements.
'Alarm bells' ring in N.S. lobster fishery after DFO move involving baby eels
Group worried department's decision to stop negotiations with elver licence holders could set precedent
A group representing more than 500 lobster fishermen in southwest Nova Scotia is raising concerns about Ottawa's commitment to voluntary licence buyouts to increase Indigenous access to the fishery.
Late last month, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans cancelled bargaining with commercial licence holders in the elver, or baby eel, fishery, claiming they wanted too much money to exit the business.
The elver fishery in Nova Scotia has been highly lucrative in recent years, with baby eels flown to Asian fish farms where they are harvested as adults
DFO is now looking at an across-the-board commercial quota cut for elvers without compensation to make room for Mi'kmaw harvesters.
"This initiative by DFO within the elver fishery that has been announced has set off alarm bells throughout the lobster fishery," said Dan Fleck, with the Brazil Rock Lobster Association.
Does DFO treatment of one fishery set a precedent in another?
Inshore fishermen's associations like Brazil Rock are also engaged with DFO on voluntary licence relinquishments to implement a Mi'kmaw treaty right to earn a "moderate livelihood."
Brazil Rock is named after a landmark marking the boundary between lobster fishing areas 33 and 34 in southwest Nova Scotia, the largest and most lucrative lobster fishing grounds in Canada.
Fleck said he is not aware of a single lobster licence buyback since the process started last year. Lobster fishermen worry what is happening to elver licence holders could happen to them.
"Does this mean that DFO can enter and take a licence from a commercial lobster fishermen or woman as is occurring in the elver fishery?" said Fleck.
Dan Fleck is with the Brazil Rock Lobster Association. (Submitted by Brazil Rock Lobster Association)
DFO did not respond when asked if a precedent is being set. The department said the 14 percent quota cut under consideration in the commercial elver fishery for the 2022 season would be an interim measure.
It is seeking feedback from licence holders and no decision has been made, said department spokesperson Lauren Sankey.
"DFO is considering this interim quota redistribution to support an increase in First Nations' participation in the commercial elver fishery without increasing overall fishing effort, while ensuring an orderly and sustainable fishery for all," Sankey said in a statement earlier this week.
Late Tuesday, DFO issued another statement, avoiding whether it has set a precedent for other fisheries.
Spokesperson Lauren Sankey said the commercial elver fishery is unique.
"It has seen exponential growth in value over the past decade and lower costs in gear or vessels to enter, compared to other fisheries. Due to these factors, the elver fishery presents a potential avenue to increase Indigenous participation in commercial fisheries," Sankey said in an email.
"DFO is actively working to advance both long-term negotiated agreements and interim understandings with Indigenous communities on moderate livelihood fishing plans."
Elver licence holders learned of DFO's intentions in a Feb. 24 letter from Maritimes regional director Jacinta Berthier, who told them a second round of bargaining over licence buybacks was cancelled because the sides were too far apart on money.
In this March 2012 file photo, elvers are shown by a buyer in Portland, Maine. (Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press)
The department refuses to release its valuation, claiming it is proprietary information belonging to the company that provided it.
"They've bungled this. They haven't done their job," said Brian Giroux, managing director of the Shelburne Elver Group, one of nine commercial elver licence holders in the Maritimes.
In 2019, DFO estimated each licence made $4.3 million on average.
Giroux said the industry used a standard calculation to value the business at around seven times annual earnings, putting the value of a licence well over $20 million.
"They haven't negotiated in good faith," he said of DFO. "They haven't released their data. They've asked us to submit something. They did nothing until the 11th hour and now it's expropriation with no consultation and no compensation."
Potential species-at-risk listing
Giroux said the potential listing of American eel as a species at risk has blocked any expansion of the commercial elver fishery to accommodate more First Nations access (the We'koqma'q band in Cape Breton has a commercial licence).
The listing has sat in limbo for over a decade.
"They've completely bungled the species-at-risk file in Ottawa on this whole issue. It's been malingering now for about 17 years," he said. "If they put that issue to bed there's more than enough room in the stock for a lot of Native participation, and we've told them that we're operating at very conservative levels of management here."
The Acadia and Bear River bands in southwest Nova Scotia have submitted "interim" plans to DFO for a moderate livelihood elver fishery in 19 watersheds, from Gold River to Meteghan.
DFO has signed off on their moderate livelihood lobster fishing plan for the 2021 and 2022 lobster season.
Questions about the elver fishery were referred to the Nova Scotia Assembly of Mi'kmaw Chiefs, which has not responded to requests for comment.
Inside the secret, million-dollar world of baby eel trafficking
Undercover Canadian government operation highlights global concerns around smuggling to feed Asian demand
Inside was a white bucket containing what looked like a giant hairball, the type that might be pulled from a bathtub drain.
Except it was alive — a wriggling, slithering mess.
This was just an initial sample Kiley had brought to show a prospective black-market buyer, a woman he knew only through text message as "Danielle."
He was ultimately hoping to unload up to 300 kilograms of the tiny creatures, a huge haul worth $1.3 million on the open market, but one he was offering at a steep discount.
Moments later, Kiley's world turned from dollar signs to handcuffs. He'd been nabbed in a federal fisheries sting, one targeting poaching in a little-known but enormously lucrative industry that plays out each spring in Nova Scotia's rivers and brooks.
At the centre of the undercover operation by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in May 2018 was the most unlikely of creatures — baby eels.
"It is one of the bigger [eel] cases that I've seen in my career," said Chris Sperry, DFO's acting chief of conservation and protection in southwest Nova Scotia.
A fisherman in southern Maine works to get elvers in this 2012 photo. (Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press)
The innocuous little fish at the heart of this poaching case, the details of which have not been previously reported, has in recent years become the centre of international smuggling schemes worth tens of millions of dollars and that stretch from Europe to New England.
It's also become a global conservation headache, as the price for baby eels — also called elvers or glass eels — has skyrocketed in the bid to supply fish farms in Asia, where they are grown to market size to satisfy the huge appetite for eating eel in places like Japan.
The money involved is only rivalled by the extraordinary life cycle of the species, known in North America as American eel.
Every year, billions of eggs hatch in the Sargasso Sea, a vast expanse of water and floating seaweed in the north Atlantic, adjacent to Bermuda. Over a year, larvae resembling minuscule willow leaves drift along in the Gulf Stream to destinations spanning from the Caribbean to Greenland.
By spring, they have become tiny eels, and millions swim the final stretch through brackish estuaries to rivers in Nova Scotia. Here they will mature into adult American eels and spend between four and 40 years, before finally returning to the Sargasso Sea to spawn.
"It's quite an amazing story," said Rod Bradford, an aquatic biologist with DFO who provides science advice on the status of American eel in the Maritimes.
(Parks Canada)
It's during that spring run that dozens of fishermen in Nova Scotia and southern New Brunswick, working under nine tightly regulated licences, set their nets in the dark to catch upwards of seven tonnes of elvers.
Eels are difficult to breed in captivity, which means aquaculture facilities in Asia must depend on "seed" stock. The elvers that are legally fished in the Maritimes are packed in a little water, chilled in ice and put on airplanes to China.
When they reach market size, they are split down the back, gutted and often fried into a dish called kabayaki. It is particularly popular in Japan, which accounts for 70 per cent of the world's eel consumption.
In the early years, following the first licences in the 1980s, fishing for elvers in Nova Scotia generated little more than cottage-industry income, as little as $25 a kilogram. By 2006, the price sat at about $110.
But in 2010, Europe banned the export of elvers following a 20-year crash in population that led to the European eel being declared critically endangered.
As supply declined, elver prices shot up. By 2015, the elvers in the Maritimes were being sold for an astonishing $4,685 a kilogram. Last year's price kept pace at $4,500.
A bucket of elvers caught as part of a research project is shown near Chester, N.S. (Richard Cuthbertson/CBC)
A burgeoning black market has followed.
Jennifer Ford, DFO's regional manager for resource management, said the implications of that are significant. There's been a recommendation to list the American eel as threatened in Canada, following declines in the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River area. A decision has been pending for several years.
As a party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, Canada must show it has control over the elver fishery or could face export restrictions that would shut down the industry.
"At this point we feel that the species is sustainably managed and that the fishery is going well," Ford said in an interview. "But there are risks if we can't demonstrate that fishery is being managed sustainably."
And things can quickly get out of hand.
A
screenshot from a video released by Europol in April 2018 showing
suitcases police say were going to be used to smuggle elvers from Spain
to Asia. (Europol/YouTube)
In Maine, poaching became such a problem that last year, the state was forced to shut down the fishery early. Dozens of people have been charged in a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigation called Operation Broken Glass. Some have even gone to prison.
Last year, Spanish and Portuguese police busted a smuggling ring they say was preparing to send five tonnes of baby eels to China in 364 suitcases.
European police believe as much as 100 tonnes of elvers were illegally exported in 2018, in what the conservation group Sustainable Eel Group calls "one of the planet's greatest wildlife crimes."
"That's a cautionary tale," said Genna Carey, an elver fisherman in Nova Scotia and the president of the Canadian Committee for a Sustainable Eel Fishery. "We don't want to be there."
The legal elver industry in Nova Scotia remains guarded. Carey, for instance, is reluctant to detail fishing techniques, worried it will provide a blueprint to poachers.
And they are out there. The local elver world is a small one, so it's easy to know who's an outlier. Given elver fishing is done in remote areas and at night, when the creatures are on the move, there are also safety concerns about bumping into poachers in the dark.
Two
separate text message exchanges are shown between Curtis Kiley and an
undercover officer with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. (Yarmouth Justice Centre)
When Kiley was sentenced earlier this month, federal prosecutor Derek Schnare called the case "a very serious regulatory crime with far-reaching consequences," one that amounted to "the black market destruction of the fishery."
Kiley, 31, who has a criminal record that includes drug and weapons offences and aggravated assault, had been on the radar of fisheries officers long before the undercover operation that targeted him. The season before, both he and his brother had been under surveillance and charged for illegal elver fishing.
Text
exchanges between Kiley and the undercover officer. In the text to the
right, Kiley indicates the elvers are being stored in water that is
changed every three days. (Court Exhibit)
In April 2017, according to an agreed statement of facts at his sentencing, the pair smashed the window of a former Esso station in Sable River, N.S. Getting inside, they then hauled off 20 kilograms of elvers being stored there, and that had been legally fished under the licence of Waycobah First Nation in Cape Breton.
RCMP and fisheries officers later searched a property in Shelburne, charged the brothers and retrieved 17 kilograms of elvers.
"It's a very lucrative business, is all I can tell you, for a very few people," said Brian Decker, owner of the building that was broken into.
"And that's where the problem comes in. Lots of money for just a handful of people, and other people want to get in onto it and they can't because it's controlled by the fisheries, for licensing and whatnot."
A
fisheries technician with the conservation group Coastal Action
measures an elver caught earlier this month in the East River near
Chester, N.S. (Richard Cuthbertson/CBC)
The next season, DFO kept a close eye on Kiley and a small group seen fishing in a brook off the LaHave River in Nova Scotia's Lunenburg County. It included his common-law wife, a member of the Acadia First Nation in southern Nova Scotia.
Kiley is not Indigenous, and Schnare told the court he had been poaching under "the guise" of his partner's food, social and ceremonial fishery licence.
On May 8, 2018, using the email address curtis_kiley69@hotmail.com, Kiley contacted two people in the elver industry, asking if they wanted to buy. Both were suspicious, and the emails were forwarded to DFO.
Two weeks later, federal fisheries officers set up their sting. One contacted Kiley by text, posing as a buyer named Danielle looking to ship elvers to Hong Kong. She was in Toronto, but would return to New Brunswick in a week.
"Well, I live in Halifax and wanna meet up with soon as u get back, and well we got a couple different groups doing it and all of us together got around 250kgz," Kiley wrote in one text, later upping the amount to 250 to 300 kilograms.
He even offered to inquire about a "dummy company" to handle the money, and said he would sell the elvers for just $1,500 a kilogram, about a third the price of the legal market but one that would still net hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Bailey
Silver, a fisheries technician with Coastal Action, scoops elvers into a
bucket on the East River as part of a long-term research project. (Richard Cuthbertson/CBC)
When he was arrested, Kiley had about 300 grams of elvers. DFO remains circumspect about what happened to the remaining 250-300 kilograms. A spokesperson said it cannot divulge that information as a co-accused who was allegedly with Kiley when he met the undercover officer will be going on trial next month.
Kiley ultimately pleaded guilty to various fisheries and criminal charges. He was sentenced to $17,500 in fines and two years probation, and was given five months in jail for the break-in and another case involving a stolen car.
As part of a pre-sentence report, he told a probation officer he'd faced financial problems and been motivated by money. He suggested police had been "picking on him."
There is one remarkable aspect to the sentence. For two years, Kiley is barred from being within 20 metres of any inland waterway, except if he's driving by.
"First time I've seen an order like that," said Sperry, with DFO enforcement.
Molly
LeBlanc, team lead at Coastal Action for species at risk and
biodiversity, and fisheries technicians Bailey Silver and Taylor
Creaser, left to right, measure and record information about elvers. (Richard Cuthbertson/CBC)
Last week, on a river near Chester, N.S., fisheries technicians from the non-profit Coastal Action unlocked a series of boxes wedged under a bridge and scooped out elvers, to be weighed and measured before being released upstream.
The work has gone on for more than two decades and represents one of the longest-running elver "recruitment" studies in North America. The numbers help dictate quotas for the local fishery and determine which rivers can be fished.
In recent years, between two million and four million elvers each spring climb have climbed this waterway, which means the news, at least in Nova Scotia, is good.
"The indications are that we have moved beyond the low point in eel abundance, at least here in the region," said Bradford.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
318 Comments
https://twitter.com/DavidRaymondAm1/status/1559749272949645312
https://www.karenpinchin.com/about
I'm a journalist specializing in complex, investigation-fueled stories about food, science, culture, and the environment. I live in Nova Scotia, where I am currently writing my first book—the story of a mercurial fisherman and one Atlantic bluefin tuna he chased—for Dutton, Knopf Canada and William Collins. I was the 2019/2020 Tow Journalism Fellow at PBS FRONTLINE and my work has appeared in magazines and newspapers including Scientific American, Vox, The Globe and Mail, The Walrus, National Geographic, Maclean's Magazine and The Counter, to name a few. I'm a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, the National Association of Science Writers and Investigative Reporters and Editors.
Born in Toronto, I've lived in Quebec City, Vancouver, and Fredericton, and briefly in France and Malaysia. I studied journalism and history at Carleton University, French as a second language at Université Laval, international affairs at Bard College, and professional cooking at Northwest Culinary Academy.
Most recently, I earned my MA-Science from Columbia Journalism School, where I was awarded the Lynton Fellowship for Book Writing. (I've also won an Atlantic Journalism Award in business reporting and been awarded grants from the Sloan Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Fund for Environmental Journalism and the Access Copyright Marian Hebb Research Grant.) I’m represented by Mackenzie Brady Watson at Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency.
In past lives I was acquiring editor of non-fiction at Goose Lane Editions, Canada's oldest independent publishing house, and the local food columnist on CBC Radio Information Morning in Fredericton. I edited for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games and Maclean's Magazine's higher education platform OnCampus, and in 2012 I founded and managed a community-based editorial team for the now-defunct OpenFile Vancouver. I started my reporting career at The Canadian Press.
Find me on Twitter, use the form below or send an email to karen@karenpinchin.com.
The Canadian Committee for a Sustainable Eel Fishery, Inc. (CCSEF) is a non-profit corporation created to represent the glass eel fishery of the American Eel (Anguilla rostrata) in Canada. CCSEF promotes a long-term sustainable eel population through responsible fishery rules, habitat protection, monitoring of stocks and other scientific research, education and promulgation of accurate information of the eel stocks in Canada and, in particular, the Atlantic provinces. It collaborates with Canadian and international individuals and groups supporting conservation of the American eel and other anguillid species.
Some of the conservation and research activities that CCSEF or members have supported include:
- Elver recruitment survey of the East River-Chester directed by DFO – it is the longest glass eel recruitment study in North America)
- Stocking of glass eels in Lake Ontario and New York under Ontario Power Generation biologist Ron Threader
- Stocking of eels in Lac Moran, Quebec by M. George Lizotte (1997)
- Publication of papers presented at the International Eel Symposium of the American Fisheries Society meeting in Quebec in August 2014
- Contribution of glass eels to research of Dr. John Casselman and Courtney V. Holden, Queen’s University
The glass eel fishery in Canada is licensed and enforced by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). Currently there are 9 licenses (each employing several fishers) to harvest glass eels in tidal river estuaries in the Atlantic provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland to which eels return each spring after being spawned in the Sargasso Sea and drifting north in the Gulf Stream. All fishing activity, transportation, holding and sale of glass eels by fishers is strictly regulated under license conditions and monitored.
Canadian industries that are supported by the glass eel fishery include aquaculture and processing.
This website will act as an informational resource for members and others- a forum to find facts and ways to support a sustainable eel fishery.
Board of Directors
Canadian Committee for a Sustainable Eel Fishery, Inc. (CCSEF)
P.O. Box 34 | Caledonia, NS | Canada | B0T 1B0
info@canadianeel.org
Operations:
Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia
Springhill, Nova Scotia
Sheet Harbour, Nova Scotia
Stephenville, Newfoundland, CANADA
Phone / Fax: +1 (709) 643 2805
Cel: +1 (709) 649 7049
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, CANADA
Phone: +1 (902) 433 1744
Cel: +1 (902) 233 3591
Neptune Canada
Mary Ann Holland, lawyer à Saint John
The address of Mary Ann Holland is :
Suite 2b, 28 King Street
P.O. Box 7041 Station A
E2L 4S4 Saint John
Barry R Morrison QC
Lawyer Firm: Morrison Pierce
1212-1 Germain St, Saint John, NB E2L 4S7
Website: www.morrisonpierce.com
Ross A. Pierce
Ross has been advising clients on a variety of corporate, commercial, estate planning as well as commercial litigation matters for more than two decades.
His past experience as Vice President and General Counsel of a regional communications enterprise and as a director of a publicly traded junior mining company, brings a business perspective when assisting clients in achieving their goals.
Past transactions include a regional plan of arrangement, securities matters including initial public offering, corporate reorganizations, debt and private equity financing, restructurings, owner manager tax planning as well as commercial litigation including shareholder disputes and oppression actions involving corporate governance.
Ross holds a Commerce degree (with Distinction) from Mt. Allison University and an L.L.B. from the University of New Brunswick where he was a Beaverbrook Scholar in Law. In addition to being a member of the New Brunswick Law Society, he is a member of the Law Society of Alberta, the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, Canadian Tax Foundation and the Canadian Bar Association. Ross has more than two decades experience advising clients on a variety of corporate, commercial, estate planning as well as commercial litigation matters.
Admissions and Qualifications
Law Society of Nova Scotia 1992
Law Society of Alberta 1995
Law Society of New Brunswick 1995
Education
B.Comm. Mount Allison University (Distinction) 1987
LL.B. University of New Brunswick 1991
Direct line: (506) 633-2673
rpierce@piercelaw.ca
https://www.oktlaw.com/team-members/nick-kennedy/
Nick Kennedy
Associate
Nick Kennedy is an associate at OKT with a broad litigation and advisory practice. In addition to his Indigenous law work, which includes matters related to the interpretation of modern treaties and the Duty to Consult, Nick has experience in constitutional (especially the division of powers), administrative, anti-money laundering, contract, construction, energy and freedom of information law matters.
Nick has appeared before all levels of court in Ontario, the Quebec Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court of Canada, and before a number of administrative tribunals, including the Canadian International Trade Tribunal and the Ontario Energy Board.
Nick obtained degrees in common law and civil law at McGill. Prior to joining OKT, Nick summered at the Attorney General of Ontario’s Constitutional Law Branch, and practiced for six years in the litigation department of a large national law firm.
Nick is called to the bar in Ontario, and speaks French.
Saint John lawyer suspended, fined for having relationship with client
Lawyer Barry Morrison is now retired and lives with former client in common-law relationship
A Saint John lawyer has been fined $3,000 and is suspended from practising law for three months, after admitting to a sexual relationship with a client.
Barry Morrison's suspension went into effect Oct. 17, after a joint agreement was presented to the discipline committee of the Law Society of New Brunswick.
"I admit that I fell in love with my then client, Miss A, during the time of my retainer by her, her company, and by Mister A," Morrison wrote in his reply to the New Brunswick Law Society's disciplinary committee.
He also described the relationship as consensual and denied any form of harassment.
And he said Miss A is now his common-law wife.
Cases rare
Cases like this are very rare, said Shirley MacLean, registrar of complaints.
"As a lawyer, it's your obligation to give objective, disinterested, professional advice to your client," she told CBC News.
"If you have a personal and sexual relationship with your client, that, in all probability, cannot occur."
In 2013, Bathurst lawyer John Calver was disbarred and fined $5,000 after he admitted to a personal and sexual relationship with a woman he had been retained to represent in a separation and divorce.
The discipline committee also noted that after Calver withdrew from representing the client, he failed to deliver to her all her papers in an expeditious manner.
Calver also admitted to taking the woman to a meeting where he made misrepresentations to third persons that she had legal training and was at the meeting in that capacity.
Retired after long career
MacLean said Morrison retired from practising law prior to the discipline committee's final hearing on his matter.
The suspension still applies as a retired lawyer remains a member of the bar association and could choose to return to practising law.
Morrison made headlines back in 2012 as legal counsel for Saint John's pension board in a failed defamation lawsuit against former Saint John City Councillor John Ferguson.
Focus on legal fees
The jury concluded Ferguson was well within his rights to criticize management of the city's deficit-plagued pension fund while he was a councillor.
The legal fees in that case became a separate focus of attention.
Documents showed the pension board's legal fees jumped to an average of $442,500 a year once the lawsuit against Ferguson commenced, up from $30,000 in 2006, prior to the action.
Between 2007 and 2010, the board was charged a total of $1.77 million in legal fees, according to the financial statements.
The lawyer who sued the law society - and won
It was a telephone call no lawyer wants to receive.
Barry Morrison was at his desk in Fredericton in late 2001 when he got the call from Harry Underwood, a Toronto-based litigator with McCarthy Tétrault LLP. Mr. Underwood was hunting for New Brunswick counsel to aid his client First Canadian Title Co. in a business dispute.
Problem was, Mr. Underwood explained, no local lawyer would touch the case. First Canadian needed a New Brunswick lawyer to help sue the Law Society of New Brunswick for its alleged campaign to shut the Oakville, Ont., company out of the local land title search business, a core legal real estate practice. Accepting the assignment meant Mr. Morrison would be going up against many of his local brethren and his own regulator, which polices the province's 1,500 lawyers.
Luckily for First Canadian Title, a subsidiary of California-based First American Title Insurance Co., Mr. Morrison doesn't shrink from controversy. After 36 years of legal jousting in New Brunswick's criminal and civil courts, the partner with Clark Drummie LLP said in an interview: "I'm proud to be a lawyer, so I stepped up to the plate."
It was no small step. Led by Mr. Underwood, Mr. Morrison and McCarthy Tétrault lawyer Awanish Sinha, the lawyers spent six years and close to half-a-million dollars alleging that the Law Society had improperly expanded its powers in 2001 to thwart First Canadian.
Mr. Underwood's legal digging uncovered embarrassing e-mails from some Law Society members, one of whom railed against the "Yankee ingenuity" of outside title insurers seeking to fill their pockets with "New Brunswickers' dollars." The case got red hot in 2004, when the intrepid legal team won a mistrial after a presiding local judge revealed she had previously worked on the Law Society's executive council.
Understating the big legal challenge, First Canadian's president Patrick Chetcuti said: "It was a difficult issue for us."
The awkward journey paid off last week when a new trial judge, Mr. Justice Thomas Riordon of the court of Queen's Bench of New Brunswick, ruled in favour of First Canadian Title.
In a decision that will be required reading for each of the country's 13 law societies and their members, Judge Riordan chastised the 161-year-old Law Society for introducing a new professional standard that was not only illegal, but undermined New Brunswick legislation introduced in 2000 to streamline the province's cumbersome and costly land title system.
The new Law Society standard required the presence of a lawyer when owners swore out affidavits for the sale or mortgage of a property or converted the title to the province's new electronic title system. The new rule was a blow to First Canadian, which since it was founded in 1991 has captured 35 per cent of Canada's land title business by offering consumers a title insurance product that is a cheaper alternative to traditional legal title opinions. The company's process is so streamlined that in New Brunswick, for example, it only employs three full-time lawyers.
By adopting the new standard, Judge Riordon argued, the Law Society put the commercial interests of some of its members ahead of its statutory duty to protect the public interest. Put bluntly, he found the guardian was only looking after the guardian.
"Members of the Law Society are not happy with the encroachment [by First Canadian Title]on what has traditionally been the work of lawyers," the judge said.
When the Law Society changed its standards, he ruled "The predominant purpose ... was to address the concern about competition ... This purpose was not authorized by the Law Society Act."
Judge Riordan's decision is a rare judicial slap against one of the country's provincial law societies, which are bound by law to protect the public interest and regulate the legal profession.
Maria Henheffer, president of the Law Society of New Brunswick, said the regulator is studying the decision and is considering a possible appeal.
"On a case this important it would be very helpful to everyone to have the advice and added wisdom of the court of appeal," Ms. Henheffer said.
The regulator has 30 days to file an appeal. If the appeal is denied, Ms. Henheffer said the Law Society "will do what it has to do to correct anything that is eventually determined not to have been in the public interest." She declined to elaborate.
For McCarthy's Mr. Underwood, last week's decision is a vindication of a case that many legal experts warned couldn't be won.
A dogged veteran of many high-stakes federal and provincial legal battles, Mr. Underwood threw himself into the case. He personally examined most of the witnesses in the case, wrote the pleadings and argued most of the case at trial. "This case is about who guards the guardians, and luckily, the courts do," he said.
Mr. Morrison is more philosophical about the damaging legal blow suffered by his provincial law society.
"People are human and they have frailties. There were frailties here that were uncovered and it was unfortunate," he said.
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Harry C. G. Underwood
https://prabook.com/web/barry.morrison/1127384
Barry Robert Morrison
Background
Morrison, Barry Robert was born on March 11, 1949 in Montreal. Son
of Robert John and Janice Beverly Morrison. Barry Morrison had an affair
on his wife with his client. He was suspended from the Law Society of
NB- https://lawsociety-barreau.nb.ca/uploads/Morrison-Form-22.pdf
Barry's
is now divorced from his wife and living common law (because he would
never marry again) with the client he had an affair with. Please change
his biography to indicate the truth. Barry is not a good Christian or
good lawyer for that matter.
Education
University of New Brunswick (Bachelor of Arts, 1970. Master of Arts, 1972. Bachelor of Laws, 1974).
Spoken languages: French.
Career
Worked at
Clark, Drummie & Company (Saint John, New Brunswick) specializing in
General Practice, Admiralty, Corporation, Banking, Finance, Commercial,
Insurance, Litigation, Probate, Public Utilities, Municipal, Labour and
Eminent Domain Law. Admitted to the bar, 1974, New Brunswick.
Company-Author, "The Layman and The Law?" Booklet.
Author: "The Nuisance Action—Useful Tool Foreign The Environmental Lawyer," University of New Brunswick Law Journal, May, 1974.
Member: Canadian, American and International Bar Associations. Law Society of New Brunswick (Member of Council, 1981-1983.
Chairman, Library Committee, 1981-1983). Saint John Law Society.
Defense Research Institute.
Federation of Insurance and Corporate Counsel. Clark, Drummie & Company developed from a merger, on July 1st, 1971, of two Saint John firms which traced their origins to the early 1920"son Building on the individual reputations of its practitioners, Clark, Drummie & Company has emerged as one of the largest firms in the region.
Clark, Drummie & Company has earned a position of leadership and trust in the legal profession, in public affairs and in the business community.
Achievements
Barry Robert Morrison has been listed as a reputable Lawyer by Marquis Who's Who.Membership
Past chairman City of St. John Environment Committee. Past vice
president Conservation Council N.B. Past president, honorary solicitor
N.B. division Canada Cancer Society.
Member Young Men’s Christian
Association. Past chairman St. John Transit Commission. Member
Barrister's Society N.B., Defense Research Institute, Federation of
Insurance and Corp.Counsel.
Connections
Married Mary Kathleen MacDougall, August 26, 1972. Children: Bridget A., Alec M. Matthew, R. Matthew, Benjamin A.
- Father:
- Robert John
- Mother:
- Janice Beverly Morrison
- Spouse:
- Mary Kathleen MacDougall
- child:
- Alec M. Matthew Morrison
- child:
- R. Matthew Morrison
- child:
- Benjamin A. Morrison
- child:
- Bridget A. Morrison
https://qonaskamkuk.com/contact-us/
Peskotomuhkati Nation at Skutik
Passamaquoddy Recognition Group Inc.
93 Milltown Blvd. Suite 201, 4th Floor
St. Stephen, New Brunswick E3L 1G5
Telephone: (506) 466-2221
Fax: (506) 466-2217
For all mailing purposes, please send correspondences to the following address below:
PO Box 144
St. Stephen, NB E3L 2×1
Chief Hugh Akagi’s Office
- Chief Akagi’s Executive Assistant – Cynthia Howland
cynthia.howland@qonaskamkuk.com
Council
- Skutik Community Chief & Executive President – Hugh M. Akagi
Akagih@nb.aibn.com
Cynthia.Howland@qonaskamkuk.com – Scheduling
- Skutik Community Councillor & Board Executive – Rita Fraser
- Skutik Community Councillor & Board Executive – Margaret Nelson
oldcrowcawcaw@hotmail.com
- Motahkomikuk Community (Indian Township, Me) Vice Chief & Liaison – Darrell Newell
ltgovdnewell@gmail.com
- Sipayik Community (Pleasant Point, Me) Vice Chief & Liaison – Rena Newell
Rena@wabanaki.com
Administration
- Director of Operations – John Ames
John.Ames@qonaskamkuk.onmicrosoft.com
- Assistant Clerk – Megan Smith
Megan.smith@qonaskamkuk.com
- Programs & Projects Manager – Harry Sappier
Harry.sappier@qonaskamkuk.com
- Biologist & Conservation Manager – Lita O’Halloran
Lita.Ohalloran@qonaskamkuk.com
- Community Manager – Allan Fraser
Allan.Fraser@qonaskamkuk.com
- Communications – Allan Bonner
Allan@allanbonner.com
- Lead Negotiator & Legal Counsel – Paul Williams
orihwa@gmail.com
Consultation
John.ames@qonaskamkuk.com
Orihwa@gmail.com
Community
- Fish & Hunt Coordinator – Allan Fraser
Allan.Fraser@qonaskamkuk.com
- Membership, Registry & Census Advisor- Rollie Sappier
rsappier@hotmail.com
- Office Support & Outreach – Megan Smith
Megan.Smith@qonaskamkuk.com
Conservation – Terrestrial Species at Risk
- Challenge Fund Coordinator – Darran O’Leary
OLeary.Darran@gmail.com
- Wildlife Coordinator – Todd Watts
Buteobuz@gmail.com
Conservation – Fisheries & Marine Aquatic Species at Risk
- Coastal Restoration Fund Co-Coordinator – Lita O’Halloran
Lita.Ohalloran@qonaskamkuk.com
- Stream Enhancement Project Coordinator – Allan Fraser
Allan.Fraser@qonaskamkuk.com
- Fisheries Technician – Bronte Thomas
Nomehs@qonaskamkuk.com
- Phone:(902) 491-6808
- Fax:(902) 421-3130
As Counsel in the Halifax office, Michel’s experience in energy, fishery, aboriginal affairs and trade matters is an asset for our clients doing business in Atlantic Canada and beyond. Michel provides strategic advice on government relations and community consultation. He is a registered lobbyist with the Province of Nova Scotia and Government of Canada, assisting clients needing guidance in government relations. He is experienced working on projects involving various stakeholders and environmental consideration at all levels of government.
A bilingual graduate of Dalhousie Law School, Michel began his law practice in Cape Breton before spending 19 years as a Member of the Nova Scotia Legislature. Michel’s cabinet assignments included acting Minister of Justice, Attorney General & Deputy Premier, Minister of Energy, Trade & Acadian Affairs and Francophonie, Minister of Economic and Rural Development & Tourism, Minister of Environment and Government House Leader.
Michel is past-Chair of the Board of Directors for Marine Renewables Canada. He is a board member for Easter Seals Canada and the Université Sainte-Anne.
https://www.canada.ca/en/government/ministers/joyce-murray.html
The Honourable Joyce Murray, MP
Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
Represents the riding of Vancouver Quadra
The Honourable Joyce Murray was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Vancouver Quadra in 2008. She has previously served as Minister of Digital Government and as President of the Treasury Board.
Minister Murray is a dedicated community leader with a deep commitment to environmental sustainability and democratic engagement. Her federal political career follows a 25-year career building an international reforestation company and four years serving in the Cabinet of the Government of British Columbia.
Making federal government operations more environmentally friendly and efficient was a perfect fit for Minister Murray, whose entrepreneurial spirit was reinforced through her reforestation company. The company has planted almost 1.5 billion trees, including more than 500,000 that she planted herself.
Minister Murray is a thought leader, driving progressive new policies in government. Whether advocating for strong, smart environmental measures, such as a tanker ban on British Columbia’s north coast, or for the legalization and strict regulation of cannabis, her ability to envision and deliver on bold new ideas comes from her depth of experience in politics and business. Her interest in environmental sustainability was evident in her master’s thesis on global warming, which contributed to her receiving the Simon Fraser University Dean's Convocation Medal for top MBA graduate of 1992.
As a child, Minister Murray immigrated to Canada from South Africa with her family and settled in Vancouver. She has three adult children and five grandchildren, and lives in Vancouver Quadra with her husband, Dirk.
Contact information
The Honourable Joyce MurrayMinister's office
200 Kent St
Station 15N100
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
Email: DFO.Minister-Ministre.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Honourable Ministers 32
- Bennett, Carolyn; 613-948-3265; HC-SC; Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health; MHA-SMD
- Bibeau, Marie-Claude; 613-773-1059; AAFC-AAC; Minister; MO-CM
- Blair, Bill; KPCEP-CPRPC; President of the King's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness; KPCEP-CPRPC
- Boissonnault, Randy; ISED-ISDE; Minister; T-T
- Boissonnault, Randy; FIN-FIN; Associate Minister of Finance & Ministre of Tourism; OAM-CMA
- Champagne, François-Philippe; ISED-ISDE; Minister; ISI-ISI
- Duclos, Jean-Yves; 613-957-0200; HC-SC; Minister of Health; MH-MS
- Fortier, Mona; 613-369-3170; TBS-SCT; President of the Treasury Board; OPTBC-CPCTC
- Fraser, Sean; IRCC-IRCC; Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship; MIN-MIN
- Hajdu, Patty; FEDNOR-FEDNOR; Minister; FEDNOR-FEDNOR
- Hajdu, Patty; ISC-SAC; Minister, Indigenous Services; EXE-BUR
- Holland, Mark; 613-992-5816; LGHC-LGCC; Leader of the Government in the House of Commons; LGHC-LGCC
- Hussen, Ahmed; 343-644-9948; INFC-INFC; Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion; OFF-CAB
- Hutchings, Gudie; ISED-ISDE; Minister; RED-DER
- Ien, Marci; WAGE-FEGC; Minister for Women, Gender Equality and Youth; OFF-CAB
- Jaczek, Helena; 819-997-5421; PSPC-SPAC; Minister; OM-CM
- Joly, Mélanie; 343-203-1851; GAC-AMC; Minister of Foreign Affairs; MINA-MINA
- Lametti, David; 613-992-4621; JUS-JUS; Minister; OFF-CAB
-
LeBlanc, Dominic; 613-943-1838;
INFC-INFC;
Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities
Email: IGA.Minister-Ministre.AIG@pco-bcp.gc.ca; MIN-PER -
LeBlanc, Dominic; 613-943-1838;
OMIA-CMAI;
Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities
Email: IGA.Minister-Ministre.AIG@pco-bcp.gc.ca; EXE-BUR - Lebouthillier, Diane; 613-995-2960; CRA-ARC; Minister of National Revenue; MO-BM
- MacAulay, Lawrence; 613-996-4649; VAC-ACC; Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence; MO-CM
- Miller, Marc; 819-997-0002; CIRNAC-RCAANC; Minister, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs; EOCIRNAC-BHDRCAANC
- Murray, Joyce; DFO-MPO; Minister; MO-BM
- Ng, Mary; 343-203-7332; GAC-AMC; Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development; MINT-MINT
- Plett, Donald Neil; 613-992-0180; SEN-SEN;Leader of the Opposition; LEA-LEA
- Rodriguez, Pablo; 819-997-7788; PCH-PCH;Minister; MIN-MIN
- Sajjan, Harjit; 343-203-6238; GAC-AMC;Minister of International Development and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada; MINE-MINE
- St-Onge, Pascale; 819-934-1122; PCH-PCH;Minister of Sport and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec; OFF-CAB
- Tassi, Filomena; FDO-FDO;Minister; MIN-MIN
- Vandal, Dan; CIRNAC-RCAANC;Minister, Northern Affairs; EOCIRNAC-BHDRCAANC
- Wilkinson, Hon Jonathan; 343-292-6837; NRCAN-RNCAN;Minister; MINO-CMIN
>> > From: National Kapiti Electorate Office
>> > Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:14:19 +1300
>> > Subject: RE: NZ HEALTH MINISTER TONY RYALL - MS PENNY DO YOU READ
>> > EMAILS AS WELL AS WRITE THEM?
>> > To: David Amos
>> >
>> > Dear Mr Amos
>> > Thank you for copying Nathan in with your email to NZ Health Minister
>> > Tony
>> > Ryall. This has been passed on to Nathan for his information.
>> >
>> > Regards
>> > Heather
>> >
>> > Heather Shaw| Electorate Agent for Hon Nathan Guy MP for Otaki
>> > P: +64 4 298 2906| F: +64 4 298 4845| Shop 3, 23 Amohia Street,
>> > Paraparaumu,
>> > Kapiti Coast 5032
>> > www.nathanguy.co.nz
>> >
>> > Regards
>> > Heather
>> >
>> > Jan 3rd, 2004
>> >
>> > Mr. David R. Amos
>> > 153 Alvin Avenue
>> > Milton, MA U.S.A. 02186
>> >
>> > Dear Mr. Amos
>> >
>> > Thank you for your letter of November 19th, 2003, addressed to
>> > my predecessor,
>> > the Honourble Wayne Easter, regarding your safety. I apologize for the
>> > delay in responding.
>> >
>> > If you have any concerns about your personal safety, I can only
>> > suggest that you contact
>> > the police of local jurisdiction. In addition, any evidence of
>> > criminal activity should be brought
>> > to their attention since the police are in the best position to
>> > evaluate the information and take
>> > action as deemed appropriate.
>> >
>> > I trust that this information is satisfactory.
>> >
>> > Yours sincerely
>> > A. Anne McLellan”
>> >
>> > September 11th, 2004
>> >
>> > Dear Mr. Amos,
>> >
>> > On behalf of Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne
>> > Clarkson, I acknowledge receipt of two sets of documents and
>> > CD regarding corruption, one received from you directly, and the
>> > other forwarded to us by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of
>> > New Brunswick.
>> >
>> > I regret to inform you that the Governor General cannot
>> > intervene in matters that are the responsibility of elected officials
>> > and courts of
>> > Justice of Canada. You already contacted the various provincial
>> > authorities
>> > regarding your concerns, and these were the appropriate steps to take.
>> >
>> > Yours sincerely.
>> >
>> > Renee Blanchet
>> > Office of the Secretary to the Governor General
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: David Amos
>> Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:12:44 -0300
>> Subject: Fwd: We just talked
>> To: scott.white@thecanadianpress.com, pagek@parl.gc.ca,
>> editor@policeprofessional.com
>> Cc: IgnatM , LaytoJ ,
>> jemma@policeprofessional.com, hiddenfromhistory
>>
>>
>> Need i say i was not surprised when Askari and his boss Kevin Page
>> formerly of the PCO office did not respond to my phone calls or email
>> yesterday?
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: David Amos
>> Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:39:54 -0300
>> Subject: We just talked
>> To: askarm@parl.gc.ca
>>
>> Mostafa Askari
>> Director General
>> Library of Parliament
>> Economic and Fiscal Analysis
>> Parliament Buildings
>> Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A9
>> Canada
>>
>> Telephone : 613-992-8045
>>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: David Amos
>> Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:07:59 -0300
>> Subject: You Cato dudes played dumb again about your missing blog and
>> the documents I sent ya but lets see if one of your Directors is a
>> dumb as you and the Feds pretend to be
>> To: barnold@cato.org, kcouchman@cato.org, ckennedy@cato.org,
>> amast@cato.org
>> Cc: "rick. skinner" , "Dean.Buzza"
>>
>>
>> The text of the blog of Tom Palmer's that Cato denies existed can be
>> found within my blog and many other places as well as this email
>>
>> http://davidamos.blogspot.com/2005/03/ides-of-march.html
>>
>> March 24, 2005
>> Crazy as a Loon, but Free
>>
>> Off to Iceland!
>>
>> Well, Bobby Fischer has his Icelandic passport. The U.S. government
>> can now stop persecuting him for the crime of playing chess in
>> Yugoslavia. Fischer may be out of his mind (tha’ts almost certain, if
>> you consider his anti-Semitism and praise for the 9-11 attacks), but
>> he’s not out of his mind for choosing Iceland as his country of
>> refuge. And the Icelanders, who may later regret having such an
>> utterly crazy person wandering around in their country, have done the
>> right thing by offering him refuge.
>>
>> NOTE: I seem to have attracted a stalker, who keeps posting strange
>> messages on this site. Whatever.
>>
>> Posted by Tom Palmer at March 24, 2005 07:09 AM | TrackBack
>>
>> Comments
>> Quite frankly I do not understand this. What does Iceland gain from
>> this? Fischer himself stated that he would NEVER return to chess. So,
>> it is unlikely that he will play for Iceland... and even though he
>> did, it is not like he’d be back at the top.
>> Now, he might want to teach his fellow Icelanders
>> Fischerrandom...Fischerrandom is to chess what Estonian grammar is to
>> linguistic ...And THAT sounds like a threat to me. NV
>>
>>
>> Posted by: Nathalie I. Vogel at March 24, 2005 08:36 AM
>> I doubt that Iceland has much to gain. (And I suspect that the
>> inhabitants of Reykjavik may suffer from having an insufferable
>> loudmouth crackpot wandering around.) But they did the right thing.
>> The better thing would have been for the U.S. to drop its case against
>> Mr. Fischer. I don't think you should lose your passport or suffer
>> criminal prosecution for traveling someplace to play chess. I think
>> that the position of the U.S. government (and of both Democratic and
>> Republican administrations) is the harder one to understand.
>>
>> Posted by: Tom G. Palmer at March 24, 2005 08:47 AM
>> TGP: "Fischer may be out of his mind (tha’ts almost certain, if you
>> consider his anti-Semitism "
>>
>> I don't want to go all Szaszian on someone for what is most likely a
>> casual comment, but suggesting someone is "out of his mind" simply
>> because he is (labeled as) anti-Semitic seems overmuch. Immoral,
>> perhaps...poorly informed, possibly...holding to views developed as a
>> result of childhood associations, maybe...a confusion on either the
>> part of Fischer or the person making the accusation of anti-Semitism
>> with anti-Zionism, quite possible. But "out of his mind"?
>>
>> Posted by: Ross Levatter at March 24, 2005 11:17 AM
>> Ross, Tom did refer to 'his' anti-Semitism; maybe it's not just that
>> Fischer does not like Jews, but that he suffers from a particularly
>> radical form of bigotry.
>>
>> I wouldn't know myself, but that was the inference I drew from Tom's
>> comment.
>>
>> Posted by: Henri Hein at March 25, 2005 02:45 AM
>> Then, Henri, he would be immoral, or bigoted, not "out of his mind".
>> And he should consult an ethicist, not a travel agent or chiropracter
>> to bring him back to his mind or better align it.
>> Again, my point was merely that "out of his mind" implies one must be
>> crazy or mentally ill to be anti-Semitic; I think that's a category
>> error.
>>
>> Ross
>>
>> Posted by: Ross Levatter at March 25, 2005 06:54 PM
>> Ross's points are well taken, but I do think that some term such as
>> "crazy" (I'll stay away from "mentally ill") is useful in describing
>> Mr. Fischer. (And even Thomas Szasz readily admits that there are
>> "lots of crazy people" around; he just says that they're not sick.)
>>
>> The anti-Semitism that Mr. Fischer spouts is not of the "they wouldn't
>> be welcome in our club" sort (bad as that is), but of the "Organized
>> International Jewry is out to get me," sort. The former is an example
>> of bad behavior, bad manners, immoral views, or the like. The latter
>> sort of anti-Semitism is an obsession that seems in general to be
>> immune to either moral appeal (since it's a claim about an alleged
>> state of affairs, viz., that the Jews run everything and are out to
>> get one) or to factual refutation (how do you argue someone out of
>> such a...for want of a better word...crazy view?).
>>
>> Posted by: Tom G. Palmer at March 25, 2005 11:34 PM
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: David Amos
>> To: rjvattuone@aol.com
>> Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2005 9:59 AM
>> Subject: This is going to get interesting
>>
>>
>> Hey Richard
>>
>> Thanks for calling me back the other day. Here is my number in Boston
>> 617 698-6549 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 617 698-6549
>> end_of_the_skype_highlighting. I will be hitting the road shortly
>> and I will be sending out to you hard copy of what I am sending to
>> Scott Daruty. However there is a great deal more you should know ASAP.
>> I am involved against the biggest and baddest of them all and we all
>> know they play for keeps. It is important that you know much and have
>> evidence of it in order to protect yourself. I know they moniter my
>> phone calls and I have know doubt that they listen to the Canadain
>> Cell as well. The fact that you spoke to me honestly and openly puts
>> you in jeopardy. If you had acted like most lawyers, the bastards
>> would leave you alone. If you come to my aid, they will attack you.
>> Trust me it has happened before and I will send proof of it in the
>> following emails. Some contain the Tiffs I mentioned I am curious to
>> see if they get through AOL system. I hack been blocked by them in the
>> past. I have not heard from Barry Bachrach since just after he warned
>> me that the FBI was about to pounce on me on Oct 1st. It seems they
>> have him running scared. I must do my best to protect honest men..
>>
>> The following is what I just posted but it seems Bill Gates does not
>> allow Tiff files in his sites so I will forward it to you to support
>> what I said is true. Answer this email if and when you get it an I
>> will send some others if you wish. However I think it would be better
>> not to use AOL. As I said just get one in Yahoo or Hotmail they work
>> better and are free.
>>
>> From: motomaniac in response to Message 1 Sent: 3/27/2005 9:21 AM
>>
>> In defense of Bobby Fischer I must say that he is just another man
>> like me. He has his strengths and his weaknesses. Just like me. One
>> particular forte of his, the amazing ability to play a game very well
>> thrust him into the limelight for the whole wide world to study and
>> examine his every move. More importantly I believe his fame caused him
>> to become a pawn in the big big game. Although he had his right to
>> privacy, the whole world dogged at his heels and critized his every
>> action as a man. The Masters of War obviously tried use him to their
>> advantage during the Cold War. He is not a stateman or a lawyer. He is
>> simply a free thinking individual who has every right to speak his
>> mind particularly after he has suffered through hell just because he
>> plays chess so very well.
>>
>> I say judge not lest ye be judged and mind your own mouth about things
>> you do not know all the details of. I am far more outspoken than Bobby
>> ever was and yet you have never even heard of my name. It is because
>> the corporate controlled media is not permited to do so. I am nobody
>> with any special talent that had caused me to be thrown into public
>> scrutiny before I was compelled to speak out as Bobby has done. I do
>> not have to agree or disagree with his every word over the years to
>> understand his meaning and his troubles. That said, in all honesty it
>> would behoove us both if his lawyer would listen to me and employ
>> Bobby's fame to expose the truth of all that we say.
>>
>> I am am not a perfect person and neither is Bobby. I do not know him
>> nor do I judge him. Yet I do agree with with his standing in defense
>> of his freedom. The Chessmaster has every right to spout off against
>> the Masters of War because they have offended him greatly. It is for
>> his attorney to weed out the truth and evidence of his convictions and
>> present it in court in order to seek relief on his client's behalf. A
>> jury of his peers will decide the truth of his matters not us bloggers
>> without veiwing and hearing all the evidence. Forget what you may
>> glean from the media. The information is controlled and slanted
>> against him. Listen to what his lawyer says and what is used in
>> arguement against him on the public record. Do not hold court in the
>> media just gossip about things you know are true in order for the
>> courts to act properly in the public interest.
>>
>> Bobby has paid the devil his due and done time in his jails. It is
>> time for him to seek relief. I have as well. I was summoned to jail in
>> the USA while running for Parliament in Canada and held under the
>> charges of "other". I will not want allow myself to be judged on just
>> one particular act or deed. My criminal trial in the USA is coming
>> very soon. I will have lots to say.
>>
>> It is the average of all our days and deeds that speaks of us as the
>> men we are. Like any game, it is what happens in the end that counts.
>> Sometimes sacrifices must be made and sometimes mistakes are made.
>> However once the word "checkmate" is declared, it is all over but the
>> crying as long as we play by the rules and the fat lady sings in tune.
>> I am more than happy to provide to Mr. Vattuone my evidence of much
>> public corruption in order to support Bobby's lawsuit against the USA.
>> It is high time the the Masters of War paid the fiddler and then be
>> compelled to dance to a different tune as we make them fall on their
>> own sword. No one is above the law. The public trust must be upheld or
>> we are all losers in the the big big game. Forget Bobby and chess for
>> a minute and listen to what he is saying through his attorney. I
>> applaud is efforts in support of Bobby and his legal matters. I hope
>> we get on like a house on fire. Any enemy of my foe should be a friend
>> of mine. Bobby lawyer is your neighbor listen to him and then speak
>> out to protect your own civil rights. What happened to Bobby and I
>> could happen to you next. Get it?
>>
>> If anyone wishes to challenge what I have said, respond to this
>> message with a email account that can hold of 25 megs of attachments.
>> I will send you Tiff files of legal documents etc. that will take you
>> down path of of the Garden of Good and Evil that everybody knows is
>> true. I simply made it a point to prove it. My particular forte that
>> helped accomplish such a necessary task is that I am more stubburn
>> than a pig, meaner than a snake and smarter than the average bear.
>> Much to my chagrin, I am just an average sort of chess player and have
>> much to learn from Bobby in that regard but I maintain that chess is
>> just a game. Bobby was compelled to play a far more serious and deadly
>> game just because of his love of a game. I do recognize his talent but
>> my hat is off to him because of what he did and stood for as a man not
>> a chess player. In regards to his legal actions methinks I can teach
>> his attorney a trick or two of mine.
>>
>> If anyone has any questions here is my phone number. 506 434-1379
>> begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 506 434-1379
>> end_of_the_skype_highlighting Feel free to argue me and stress test my
>> ethics to the max. It is your freedom as well as my own that I am
>> protecting. I think anyone has the right to question my motives. I
>> speak plainly and do not hide my identity. Integrity does not need a
>> mask to hide behind. However men like John Ashcroft and all his
>> cohorts need jails to cage honest men who speak their mind about their
>> masks of virtue.
>>
>> Bobby is just one man of many. His is fortunate that he is famous.
>> Iceland would not do such things on behalf of the likes of me and many
>> others. However Canada or Japan or whatever would do the same against
>> me to support President Bush in a New York minute. In fact it already
>> happened. The one file I have attached is the reason Clark Kent Ervin
>> got fired immediately after the recent election. He long along proved
>> to me that he was not interested in Truth Justice and the American Way
>> and in fact he is a dumb as a post. I will wager I could beat him at
>> chess. I know I played him like a fiddle as a lawyer and that is his
>> game of choice. It was really to funny to me the advice he offered to
>> others as he entered into the Aspen Crowd of nasty dudes. I feel the
>> need to quote him. Many a govenment lawyer will understand why I am
>> busting my gut laughing. I hope Bobby's lawyer does too.
>>
>> Lauren Robinson POGO Fellow " Any advice for your fellow public
>> servants?"
>>
>> Clark Kent Ervin "Well, just do your job and let the political chips
>> fall where they may. Unless your're willing to do that, it seems to me
>> you shouldn't take the job in the first place."
>>
>> My answer to his remark is No Shit Sherlock. The former Inspector
>> General can expect a rather profound civil lawsuit. He must argue me
>> Pro Se or a at least without government assistance on his behalf
>> because he failed to act within the scope of his employment and he is
>> now out of the job.
>>
>> David Raymond Amos
>>
>>
>> Posted by: David R. Amos at March 27, 2005 06:12 PM
>> December 7th, 2003
>>
>> Gene Healy Senior Editor Cato Institute
>> 1000 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
>> Washington D.C. 20001-5403
>> Phone (202) 842-0200 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting
>> (202) 842-0200 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
>> Fax (202) 842-3490
>> RE: Corruption
>> Sir,
>> Please find enclosed an exact copy of a letter with all its enclosures
>> recently sent to the Hearst Corporation and many others. Many of your
>> directors such as Lewis E. Randall, John C. Malone and Jeffrey S. Yass
>> should find the documents an interesting read. I ask that you make
>> them available for their review.
>> I watched David Boaz speak on C-Span the other day and heard him say
>> many things. What I found the most interesting was that he said that
>> the Cato Institute was named after some rather prolific letter
>> writers. I invite you all to read mine. They can be found at the
>> website mentioned in the enclosed documents. I could not send this
>> letter to Mr. Boaz because he is not a lawyer and an officer of the
>> court as you are. This is because only law enforcement authorities or
>> officers of the court have any right to listen to the copy of wiretap
>> numbered 139. It is served upon you in confidence as an officer of the
>> court in order that you may act ethically and see that it is properly
>> investigated. Please share the contents of the Cd with only the proper
>> authorities so that I may never be accused of violating anyone’s
>> Fourth Amendment Rights.
>> As I have said to many other lawyers, at the very least I have now
>> made you a witness to my pursuit of justice. I ask you simply the
>> following. What will you do with your newfound knowledge of Civil
>> Rights Violations and Government Corruption?
>> Best Regards
>> David R.Amos
>> 153 Alvin Ave.
>> Milton MA. 02186
>>
>> Posted by: David R. Amos at March 27, 2005 06:22 PM
>> Um, as I was saying about some people being, um, a bit....well,
>> "different."
>>
>> Posted by: Tom G. Palmer at March 27, 2005 09:12 PM
>> Did I mention that I found snotty Oxford dudes had stuffed shirts and
>> were great fun to poke fun at as they bullshit others about how smart
>> they are?
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: David Amos
>> To: marnie.ferguson@keyporter.com
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 5:08 PM
>> Subject: Fw: I just called I am not kidding
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: David Amos
>> To: deborahlbmc@yahoo.com ; egeetter@bu.edu ;
>> dfpletters@dailyfreepress.com ; lawrence_summers@harvard.edu ;
>> wrogersjr@therogerslawfirm.com ; thomas.hannigan@ropesgray.com ;
>> jotodd@toddweld.com
>> Cc: warren.tolman@hklaw.com ; dan@dankennedy.net ; w.kirtz@neu.edu ;
>> howiecarr@wrko.com ; bzelnick@bu.edu ; n.daniloff@neu.edu ;
>> barnicle@969fmtalk.com ; wsj.ltrs@wsj.com ; amy.wolfcale@dowjones.com
>> ; joseph.stern@dowjones.com ; letters@washpost.com ; fair@fair.org ;
>> editor@usatoday.com ; pressreleases@upi.com ; letters@time.com ;
>> newshour@pbs.org ; ombudsman@npr.org ; morning@npr.org ;
>> letters@newsweek.com ; nytnews@nytimes.com ;
>> dfpletters@dailyfreepress.com ; gillooly@dailyfreepress.com ;
>> dfpnews@dailyfreepress.com ; 48hours@cbsnews.com ; pr@ap.org ;
>> nightline@abcnews.com
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 4:21 PM
>> Subject: Fw: I just called I am not kidding
>>
>>
>> Hey
>>
>> It appears that all the Law Schools know nothing of ethical behavior
>> if it may affect their coffers. I made it my task to prove it. Lets
>> see if I can turn the worm and make the light dawn on Marblehead for
>> the benefit of all.
>>
>> Whereas Todd Klipp is on Legal Advisory Committee United Educators
>> (UE) Insurance Risk Retention Group I called Corporate Counsel, Jan
>> Holt and told her something is up and that I would be serving the Hard
>> Copy of the evidence that proves what I say is true upon Mr. Klipp. If
>> I were you I would go to the US District Court in Beantown, query the
>> dockets that bear my name and ask the BU professor Chief Justice Young
>> about his integrity and his association with crooks like Charles J.
>> Kickham Jr. and all of his cohorts.
>>
>> Cardinal Law would be a good witness to ask to start a proper
>> investigation that is if you can get whoever becomes the next US
>> Ambassador to the Vatican to make him fess up about his sins.
>> Otherwise ask his former secretary Robert Kickham he is now O'Malley's
>> secretary. I have no doubt that little bastard knows everything but
>> trust that the three legal stooges Todd, Rogers and Hannigan have told
>> him to shut up and wait for me to quit or die. However I think the
>> Kickhams will soon fold their hand and start rattin out others very
>> soon. Their is no honour amongst theives and I have the Kickhams
>> cornered after three years of hard work. Their big daddy Chucky is
>> dead and the rest of them are as dumb as a post. Uncle Franky has been
>> dead since last June and I have finally forced the court to admit it.
>> None of their accountings have been assented to by anyone and the IRS
>> must check their work before my wife will settle. the Feds have a big
>> problem and everybody knows its me.
>>
>> I am proud to say I won't quit and don't care if I die. I made certain
>> that my truths live on and that no Kickham relatives can no longer
>> claim to be kin to my little Clan. I refuse to allow my family to
>> associate with bible pounding criminals that expound of law nor will I
>> settle with them in order that they may escape justice. They must be
>> held accountable and so should all their friends.
>>
>> I may seem crazy but at least I know my rights and will not allow
>> wrongs against my family to go unpunished, particularly when the
>> wrongs are practiced by people well paid or licensed by the state to
>> insure that matters such as this never happen. If I am not crazy then
>> the governments of Canada and the USA must be insanely corrupt. I know
>> for a fact that there are a lot of ordinary people that agree with me
>> therefore I know I am OK but I have my doubts about you. i am giving
>> Mr. Klipp just enough evidence to impeach George Bush and for safe
>> measure I am giving the same material to many others as well. Here's
>> hoping ethics wins out after all. Otherwise we are all losers and the
>> crooks within such organizations as the Aspen Institute will keep on
>> advising the bastards on how to screw us all.
>>
>> The judges of the First Circuit of the US District Court have a lot to
>> be accountable for and Judge Young is well aware of it all. He has no
>> right to teach others about trial practice and the law until he proves
>> that he understands how to uphold the law. I will be suing the bastard
>> in short order you pick whether you wish to stand with him or me.
>> There is no middle ground in this legal battle for Boston University
>> to stand on. Judge Young is in your employ. However methinks he is no
>> longer a feather in your cap. The University has bragged to have such
>> a man to teach the students. What say you now?
>>
>> Trust that I don't care if anyone reads this email or not. In fact it
>> will be more fun if ya didn't.
>>
>> "The Honorable William G. Young was appointed judge of the U.S.
>> District Court for Massachusetts in 1984, after serving as associate
>> justice of the state’s Superior Court. Prior positions include special
>> assistant attorney general, chief counsel to the governor, and clerk
>> for the Honorable Raymond Wilkins, former chief justice of the
>> Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Judge Young has a long list of
>> pro bono activities, teaching experience, and several awards,
>> including the Award for Judicial Excellence from the Massachusetts
>> Academy of Trial Attorneys. Judge Young developed the course Advanced
>> Trial Practice and also teaches Evidence."
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: David Amos
>> To: jb95@bu.edu
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 1:02 PM
>> Subject: Fw: I just called I am not kidding
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: David Amos
>> To: MauraH@ci.boston.ma.us ; maurah@maurahennigan.com
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 12:36 PM
>> Subject: I just called I am not kidding
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: David Amos
>> To: info@pogo.org ; elliot.gerson@aspeninstitute.org ;
>> pat.zindulka@aspeninstitute.org ; peter. reiling@aspeninstitute.org ;
>> clark.ervin@aspeninstitute.org
>> Cc: brian@questionsquestions.net ; plough@ploughshares.ca ; moto
>> maniac ; cei@nbnet.nb.ca ; kbar@nbnet.nb.ca ; backtalk@motherjones.com
>> ; Wes Penre@Illuminati News.com ; tpalmer@cato.org ; ghealy@cato.org ;
>> david@davidakin.com ; McLellan.A@parl.gc.ca ; david@lutz.nb.ca ;
>> cynthia.merlini@dfait-maeci.gc.ca ; ethics@harvard.edu ;
>> INFO7@elections.ca ; inquiry.admin@bellnet.ca ; cotlei@parl.gc.ca ;
>> Robert.Creedon@state.ma.us ; Brian.A.Joyce@state.ma.us ;
>> Jack.Hart@state.ma.us ; Rep.WalterTimilty@hou.state.ma.us ;
>> Rep.AStephenTobin@hou.state.ma.us
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 9:30 AM
>> Subject: I just left voicemail for Jim Spiegelman
>>
>>
>> Hey Fellas
>> I have picked you Mr. Gerson to send exactly the same material that I
>> sent to two Solicitor Generals last year before I ran for Parliament
>> in Canada. I am certain that material caused Theodore Olson to quit
>> his job and your brand new fellow, Clark Kent Erwin to get the boot
>> from his job right after the last Yankee election.
>> Obviously I picked you because of your own bragging. There is no need
>> for me to expand upon things that you and I know to be true. It is
>> merely my task to prove to the world that you are well aware of my
>> concerns and allegations. Then if you and your Association does
>> nothing to uphold the public trust, I will make it my best effort to
>> embarrass you all in court in front of a jury of my peers. You people
>> claim to inspire people to ethical leaders? I say Bullshit. What say
>> you?
>> Say Hey to Superman for me. Will ya? Yea I know I just did but he
>> likes to keep everything in confidence while his cohorts keep me
>> falsely imprisoned. However I plan to call him to testify during my
>> pending criminal trial as I have the right to do. I should be very
>> interesting to see if he takes the fifth.
>> David R. Amos
>>
>>
>> "Elliot Gerson is responsible for the Aspen Institute's seminars,
>> including the Executive Seminar, topical and custom seminars, and
>> those offered in the Society of Fellows and Socrates programs. He also
>> manages the Institute's public programs and activities, including the
>> Aspen Ideas Festival. He is a graduate of Harvard College, Oxford
>> University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and Yale Law School. As
>> American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust, he manages the U.S. Rhodes
>> Scholarships and is an advisor to the Mandela Rhodes Foundation in
>> Cape Town, which focuses on African higher education and leadership.
>> He was a U. S. Supreme Court clerk and has had a career including the
>> practice of law, executive positions in state and federal government
>> and a presidential campaign, president of leading insurance and
>> healthcare companies, and service on many non-profit boards,
>> especially in the arts."
>>
>>
>> Posted by: David R. Amos at March 30, 2005 05:23 PM
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: David Amos
>> To: backtalk@motherjones.com
>> Sent: Monday, March 28, 2005 4:01 PM
>> Subject: Fw: Cya in court Cato
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: David Amos
>> To: tpalmer@cato.org ; ghealy@cato.org ; tcarpent@cato.org ;
>> dboaz@cato.org ; rpilon@cato.org ; cpreble@cato.org ; tlynch@cato.org
>> ; blindsey@cato.org ; rlevy@cato.org ; tfirey@cato.org ;
>> ecrane@cato.org
>> Cc: Wes Penre@Illuminati News ; freedom_of_information@yahoogroups.com
>> ; Letters@globeandmail.ca ; webmaster@canadalawcourts.com ; lloyd
>> brinson ; J. D. Kuntz ; elois@newdata.ca ; Jack Hook ; John Bjornstrom
>> Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2005 8:47 PM
>> Subject: Cya in court Cato
>>
>>
>>
>> Hey Tommy Boy
>> You invited me. These are your words correct? I tried to register on
>> line but your link does not work. I want to come. we should be in
>> agreement in most things but I know we are not and we should really
>> talk about it before I file my civil lawsuits. You people have already
>> proven to me your malice. this is your last chance to act ethically.
>> My criminal trial will begin shortly thereafter and I may call some of
>> you to testify at it. One of them could be you. I am one of those
>> people that many already turn to for an honest opinion. Right or wrong
>> they know my answer comes from sincere ethical consideration because I
>> am more a man of my word than legions of lawyers ever were. I am good
>> to my friends and sheer hell to my foes. I hate the false fronts of
>> integrity of the people you joke about within your following
>> invitation. You are joking. I am not.
>> Dear Friend,
>>
>> Would you like to be the person to whom others turn for an explanation
>> of the debate over Social Security and retirement, the economics of
>> international trade, or how to control pollution and protect the
>> environment through incentives? Would you like to be better able to
>> explain the benefits of free markets, private property, and free trade
>> to your friends, colleagues, and family members?
>>
>> If so, you should come to Washington, D.C., for the Cato University
>> seminar April 28 to May 1 on Applied Economics: User-Friendly Tools to
>> Understand Politics, Business Enterprise, and Life. The faculty
>> includes top-level economists and policy experts from universities and
>> the Cato Institute.
>>
>> The seminar will be held in the F. A. Hayek Auditorium of the Cato
>> Institute, with dinner and a tour at Mount Vernon, the historic home
>> of George Washington.
>>
>> Our goal is to help attendees become the people to whom their friends
>> turn to explain the economy and how political interference in markets
>> tends to generate disaster. And there's a reason it's being held in
>> Washington, D.C. You see, we want to change fundamentally the culture
>> of Washington, D.C. Washington's a very strange city. Most of the
>> people here spend their working days taking from Peter to give to Paul
>> (minus a substantial cut, of course). Or writing minute and
>> incomprehensible "regulations" on the optimal size of broccoli, or
>> warning people to wear sensible shoes, or just figuring out new ways
>> to strip American citizens of their rights and dignity.
>>
>> You can come to D.C. for a long weekend and learn how to change that.
>> You'll learn how to make the arguments that will convince your
>> friends, coworkers, and neighbors that they don't need or benefit from
>> all those rules, redistributions, regulations, and rip-offs.
>>
>> You're invited to attend one Cato University seminar, or two, or
>> three. Each is a stand alone seminar, but all three are complementary.
>> (The other two are on history and on the art and technique of
>> persuasion.)
>>
>> Please check out the faculty and schedule, and register using our
>> secure registration form. Online registration is safe, easy, and fast.
>>
>> Come to Washington, D.C. ... and learn how to change it.
>>
>> I look forward to welcoming you to Cato University this year.
>>
>> Cordially,
>>
>> and Signed by you. Tom Palmer
>>
>> In order not to be somehow overlooked, I just called you cell phone to
>> cell phone so that I would have a record of contact to let you know we
>> had a problem to discuss. You were to busy to talk so you missed your
>> chance. Methinks you are a fine example of the reason your buddy Gene
>> Healy and his ilk ignored me. I read enough of your work to think you
>> are a very snotty tall talking whore for the Global Corps. I wanted to
>> hear your voice to be certain my feelings were correct. You did not
>> dissappoint me. If you don't like my opinion of you, sue me and bring
>> all these emails to court. I promise I will not file a motion to
>> dismiss. In fact I can't wait to meet your lawyers. I thought what you
>> said about Bobby Fischer was far more offensive and as you can see I
>> blogged in his defense. Many people call me crazy too. That seem to be
>> the label bad actors put on someone when they are cornered. I wanted
>> you to hear my voice so that you would understand that I am not nuts
>> but very sincere. when you shunned my last words were see you in
>> court. Ignore me some more and you certainly will. Check my work
>> before you laugh and call me crazy too.
>> In order to prove you all I am serious I will send Roger Pilon, Vice
>> President for Legal Affairs at 1000 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.,
>> Washington D.C. 20001-5403 hard copy of exactly the same material I
>> sent to two Solicitor Generals last year just before I ran for
>> Parliament. Teddy Olson quit and went into private practice as soon as
>> Stephen Harper opened his mouth about the Arar Inquiry but thus far
>> Landslide Annie has hung onto hers. Now if you have any questions of
>> me before we meet, ask them to New Canadian Ambassador Franky Boy
>> McKenna. He knows exactly who I am and what has happened in the year
>> since. If you want a Yankee perspective ask John Ashcroft, John
>> Edwards. Tom Ridge, Clark Kent Ervin, Theodore Olson or David
>> Aufhauser to name a few. They all are now free agents and in the same
>> hot water as your buddy and now you.
>> I emailed ya, blogged ya, called ya and am now telling some your
>> friends plus a few of mine for good measure. Under Title 18 of the
>> federal code you are all as guilty as everyone else if you don't get
>> honest real fast. Ask Frank Quatronne and Martha Stewart about email
>> evidence in federal court
>> In light of the reasons I was falsely imprisoned and what I had sent
>> you dudes the year before it makes Cato's work in "Go Directly to
>> Jail: The Criminalization of Almost Everything." a total bullshit
>> piece of work. It is my job to properly shame you bastards so that
>> nobody will take you seriously ever again.
>>
>> "At one time, the sanction of the criminal law was reserved for
>> serious, morally culpable offenders. But during the past 40 years, an
>> unholy alliance of tough-on-crime conservatives and anti-big-business
>> liberals has utterly transformed the criminal law. Today, while
>> violent crime often goes unpunished, Congress continues to add new,
>> trivial offenses to the federal criminal code. With more than 4,000
>> federal offenses on the statute books, and thousands more buried in
>> the Code of Federal Regulations, it is now frighteningly easy for
>> American citizens to be hauled off to jail for actions that no
>> reasonable person would regard as crimes. At the same time, rampant
>> federalization and mandatory minimum sentencing are making America’s
>> criminal justice system ever more centralized and punitive. The result
>> is a labyrinthine criminal code, a burgeoning prison population, and
>> often real injustice. Go Directly to Jail examines those alarming
>> trends and proposes reforms that could rein in a criminal justice
>> apparatus at war with fairness and common sense."
>> If you dudes do not want me to turn up after being invited please let
>> me know why in writing and introduce me to the lawyer I will be
>> arguing someday in court.
>> David R. Amos
>> 153 Alvin Ave.
>> Milton, MA 02186
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: David Amos
>> To: dante17678@hotmail.com
>> Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2005 10:20 AM
>> Subject: Fw: Hunky-dory EH Petey
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: David Amos
>> To: rjvattuone@aol.com
>> Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2005 10:04 AM
>> Subject: Fw: Hunky-dory EH Petey
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: David Amos
>> To: lsewell@canadians.org
>> Sent: Friday, March 25, 2005 7:27 AM
>> Subject: Fw: Hunky-dory EH Petey
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: David Amos
>> To: jeffryhouse@hotmail.com
>> Sent: Friday, March 25, 2005 7:03 AM
>> Subject: Fw: Hunky-dory EH Petey
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: David Amos
>> To: Stronach.B@parl.gc.ca ; Mackay.P@parl.gc.ca ; Jack Layton ;
>> Easter.W@parl.gc.ca ; Cadman.C@parl.gc.ca ; Casey.B@parl.gc.ca ;
>> Thompson.G@parl.gc.ca
>> Cc: McDonough.A@parl.gc.ca ; Matthews.B@parl.gc.ca ;
>> macaul1@parl.gc.ca ; Godin.Y@parl.gc.ca ; Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca ;
>> Anderson.D@parl.gc.ca ; Anderson.Da@parl.gc.ca ;
>> david.anderson1@sk.sympatico.ca
>> Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 7:12 PM
>> Subject: Hunky-dory EH Petey
>>
>>
>> I got a better one for ya Petey Boy. "Thar she blows". I bet Belinda
>> is really pissed off at everybody and is letting off some steam. If I
>> were you I would start bailing out of your new party like any other
>> rat that would desert a sinking ship. That is one boat that could
>> never float. The way you back stabbed your way into its creation will
>> likely never be forgotten. Some of the new Senators Martin just
>> appointed proved that didn't they? Right now you are just hanging on
>> and kissing Harper's arse because nobody else will ever trust you in
>> their Dory except maybe the diddler, Billy Matthews. He is used to
>> turningcoat and needs help bailing out his punky little craft. I think
>> the liberals are tired of him by now and Johnny Crosbie is likely
>> pretty pissed at him too. I think you two dudes should be good company
>> for each other as everybody else tries to distance themselves from a
>> couple of cry babies that call themselves Maritimers. You were born
>> there alright but a lair lawyer and a nasty old diddler reflect poorly
>> upon the rest of us. But bad apples fall from the best of trees. The
>> sooner the better so that they don't suck the sap out of the good
>> ones.
>> Dare to argue me Petey Boy? I am ten times meaner with no temper than
>> the man that pitches silly fits kicks chairs. I would kick your arse
>> in a good debate. I would laugh if you asked me to step outside, head
>> for the door and quit talking immediately in a sincere effort to kick
>> your arse in the street. Win or lose, rest assured I would have fun.
>> Fighting is a true Maritime tradition. EH MacKay? Feel free to try to
>> call me a liar. Everybody knows it would be a case of the pot trying
>> to call the kettle black.
>>
>> "The Nova Scotia MP described his relations with Conservative Leader
>> Stephen Harper as "hunky-dory, everything's great - that's a good
>> Maritime phrase."
>> Forwarded Message
>>
>> Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 10:14:47 -0800 (PST)
>>
>> From: David Amos" motomaniac_02186@yahoo.com
>>
>> Subject: Attn Don Amos
>>
>> To: MEC.investors@magnaent.com, dhart@pattersonpalmer.ca,
>> smay@pattersonpalmer.ca
>>
>> As I stated within an earlier email, Scott Daruty finally called me
>> back and pissed me off. He picked the wrong guy to try and toy with. I
>> will take up my concerns with Magna byway of Daruty and Cellucci down
>> here in the Yankee courts. I have much proof of what I sent Belinda
>> Stronach long before she ever became a Member of Parliament up home. I
>> will deal with her in a political fashion first to see if she is
>> interested in up holding the public trust while protecting her
>> interests in Magna. Good luck with your conscience as a lawyer named
>> Amos as you check my work. Here is my phone number 506 434-1379
>> begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 506 434-1379
>> end_of_the_skype_highlighting if you have any questions before
>> deciding whether or not to uphold the law and protect the investor's
>> interests in Magna from my necessary civil actions. I gave my material
>> to Argeo P. Cellucci in Canada in July of 2002 before I sent the
>> Sheriffs out with my first complaints. I know by the fax numbers at
>> the top of my first complaint that it was Ashcroft and Cellucci that
>> directed the US Attorney to try to make my complaints evaporate. Now
>> that Cellucci speaks for Magna and Belinda speaks for Canadians there
>> is a couple of Amos boys that should have along talk about many
>> things. But forget trying to label me as your brother until I am
>> assured of your integrity. I have a high contempt towards lawyers and
>> their sense of ethics for very justifiable reasons.
>>
>> Note: forwarded message attached.
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: David Amos
>> To: dhart@pattersonpalmer.ca ; moto maniac ; cei@nbnet.nb.ca ;
>> kbar@nbnet.nb.ca ; danthebagelman@msn.com ; info@electtomobrien.com ;
>> lcampenella@ledger.com ; jeff.mockler@gnb.ca ; newsonline@bbc.co.uk ;
>> Robert.Creedon@state.ma.us ; Brian.A.Joyce@state.ma.us ;
>> Jack.Hart@state.ma.us ; Rep.WalterTimilty@hou.state.ma.us ;
>> Rep.AStephenTobin@hou.state.ma.us ; dfpletters@dailyfreepress.com ;
>> MEC.investors@magnaent.com
>> Cc: zedp@parl.gc.ca ; rmooremp@nb.sympatico.ca ; savoya2@parl.gc.ca ;
>> thompg@nb.sympatico.ca ; john_kerry@kerry.senate.gov ;
>> martib@sen.parl.gc.ca ; dougchristielaw@shaw.ca ;
>> Mayor@ci.boston.ma.us ; Stephen.Murphy@ci.boston.ma.us ;
>> Governor.Rell@po.state.ct.us ; smay@pattersonpalmer.ca ;
>> johnduggan@legalaid.nf.ca ; brenda.boyd@RCMP-GRC.gc.ca ;
>> McLellan.A@parl.gc.ca ; david@lutz.nb.ca ;
>> cynthia.merlini@dfait-maeci.gc.ca ; ethics@harvard.edu ;
>> INFO7@elections.ca ; inquiry.admin@bellnet.ca ; cotlei@parl.gc.ca
>> Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 12:14 PM
>> Subject: Shame on you Della
>>
>>
>> At least I am a man of my word. I called you personally as I stated I
>> would. I have the record of the call that I was directed to do by your
>> boss, Stevey Boy May. Too bad you would not speak to me to protect
>> your own interests. At least I have your signature because no word
>> from you is worthless to me. You can never claim ignorance of my
>> concerns after directing me to your lawyer. I stuck my hand out to you
>> as a layman but you had picked your friends the lawyers and had
>> enlisted them to bite it? Do you really Think I am afraid of dealing
>> with the likes of Johnny Crosbie and Stevey Boy May when I am
>> preparing a lawsuit against the likes of John Edwards, John Ashcroft
>> and Theodore Olson to name a few? Plus there is the irrefutable fact
>> that you and the law firm you work for have already admitted that you
>> are aware of the crimes practiced against me. You have done nothing to
>> uphold the law and have already filed the evidence of that fact in the
>> Newfoundland Supreme Court. Lady, either I or my estate will bankrupt
>> you and your firm with its own sworn testimony that you witnessed. You
>> can take that to the bank. The first question I must ask you Della
>> what did your law fir do with its copy of the police surveillance tape
>> # 139 and did you listen to it? You should not have because you are
>> not an officer of the court nor are you employed by law enforcement.
>> The Lieutenant Governor Roberts notified me that he had given his
>> copies of the material to Tommy Marshall to be investigated but I have
>> received no word from your law firm as to what the hell they did with
>> their copies. Have your lawyers explain their integrity to you because
>> you and I will never come to an understanding of ethical behavior
>> after your treatment of me today. I often sing the praises of Newfys
>> because they are amongst the nicest folks on the planet excepting of
>> course their lawyers and their cohorts such as you Della. By the way I
>> heard about the clerks in Supreme Court having a little wager over who
>> buys lunch if I managed to do what I said I would do. I would like to
>> meet the lady who felt I was as serious as a heart attack and willing
>> to buy lunch if I was not a man of my word. I would love to buy her
>> lunch some time because the courts need more folks like her in their
>> employment. She clearly did not disregard the word of a common man.
>> On the other hand after our exchange of the mere few words today it
>> would not be wise for me to trust your word or typing if I had left
>> the voicemail you desired. I have much evidence of many edited
>> transcripts of things I have said in the past. You and I will argue
>> them some day no doubt byway of your lawyer friends because I think
>> you don't speak pro se very well in order to protect your personal
>> interests. I just got off the phone with one of Frank Stronach's
>> Yankee lawyers Scott Daruty. He did me the service of really pissing
>> me off today by finally calling me back after I had torn a piece off
>> of Magna in Canada about his neglect of duty on their behalf. He
>> thought he was funny by joking that the Canadian lawyer, Don Amos was
>> my brother. No lawyer is a brother of mine. He thought I was joking
>> when I told him I would sue him personally if he did not uphold the
>> law and rat out Magna's brand new Vice President his brother, Argeo P.
>> Cellucci so I had to repeat myself so he would understand me in no
>> uncertain terms. I do make a lot of jokes about very serious business
>> however it would not be wise to underestimate my sincerity and attempt
>> to toy with me. I enjoy a good fight win or lose as long as I stand on
>> the right side of the battle. You just picked a fight with me lady on
>> a day when I ain't taking prisoners from lawyers or their cohorts. All
>> lawyers are liars and I have proven it. It is only laymen I will
>> settle with from now on and only if they tell the truth, the whole
>> truth and nothing but the truth.
>> I don't care if your god helps you or not. We can all do it again in
>> hell for all I care.
>> From now on I must rely on hard copy of my own creation. For now I
>> will send you and Stevey Boy a bunch of emails that have been
>> forwarded to many other people first. I require the record of doing
>> so. Whereas I have no doubt Stevey Boy will wan to argue about the
>> emails I have already sent I figure why not be hung for a cow as a
>> calf? Since everything in heaven and hell is done in threes. I will
>> forward to Magna's lawyer, Don Amos, Stevey Boy and three large emails
>> that contain Tiff files. There is no need to be redundant with hard
>> copy already sent to Scott Daruty and Johnny Crosbie. You can tell the
>> folks at Patterson Palmer who directed you to offend me that the
>> emails contain exactly the same documents that Greg Byrne and Johnny
>> Crosbie received and that you should all prepare to argue every word
>> within in them. The first email contains a file called Big Day. It
>> contains every document I served upon Two Solicitors Generals Theodore
>> Olson and Anne McLellan before I ran for Parliament and Olson quit his
>> job on June 24th immediately after Johnny Crosbie told Stevey Harper
>> to shut up about the Arar Inquiry. the second file is called Big
>> Canada Add and it is a copy of the documents served upon my political
>> opponents while running for Parliament. Last but not least are what
>> was added to the first to pile of documents and then served upon
>> Patterson and Palmer by way of Greg Byrne.
>> Scott Daruty is receiving the documents within "Big Day" and other
>> interesting material that Magna should find quite interesting to say
>> the least. Magna really made my day when they appointed Cellucci and
>> their new VP. I is comical that he is going to lobby the government
>> about horse racing especially after listening to what is recorded on a
>> lot of the tapes and the fact that the top dog of the RCMP had to
>> teach that dumb Yankee how to ride a horse last summer so that he
>> would not make an ass out himself at the Calgary Stampede. This was
>> almost as rich as when Martin sent Franky McKenna to Washington after
>> he and I had a spit and chew about dogs and pork. At least I am clever
>> enough to realize when I am a lucky man and how to make the best out
>> of a golden opportunity to see that justice is served upon some very
>> nasty bastards. I am very pissed off but still having more fun than
>> ten men. I love cornering lawyers and listening to them stutter and
>> try to duck the issues. I will wager that you are having a bad day
>> too. EH Della? It looks good on you if you are. Why not get mad? I
>> hope you share your anger with the others at Patterson and Palmer and
>> start bitchin about me. Never forget all I want is the truth from you.
>> It will cost you nothing. Why do you want to stand with crooks and
>> liars for a days pay? I bet you have witnessed lots of dirty dealings.
>> I truly beleive that there is no honour in your work. To me working
>> for lawyers is like a lady being sent to a nunnery in Medieval times.
>> I share ol Shake's opinion of such a place. Times changes nothing
>> lawyers still work for Jesuits. Look around downtown St John's and
>> call me a liar. I dare ya. Even the name of the town says it all.
>> Cya'll in Court:)
>> David R. Amos
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: David Amos
>> To: dhart@pattersonpalmer.ca ; moto maniac ; cei@nbnet.nb.ca ;
>> kbar@nbnet.nb.ca ; danthebagelman@msn.com ; info@electtomobrien.com ;
>> lcampenella@ledger.com ; jeff.mockler@gnb.ca ; newsonline@bbc.co.uk ;
>> Robert.Creedon@state.ma.us ; Brian.A.Joyce@state.ma.us ;
>> Jack.Hart@state.ma.us ; Rep.WalterTimilty@hou.state.ma.us ;
>> Rep.AStephenTobin@hou.state.ma.us ; dfpletters@dailyfreepress.com
>> Cc: zedp@parl.gc.ca ; rmooremp@nb.sympatico.ca ; savoya2@parl.gc.ca ;
>> thompg@nb.sympatico.ca ; john_kerry@kerry.senate.gov ;
>> martib@sen.parl.gc.ca ; dougchristielaw@shaw.ca ;
>> Mayor@ci.boston.ma.us ; Stephen.Murphy@ci.boston.ma.us ;
>> Governor.Rell@po.state.ct.us ; smay@pattersonpalmer.ca ;
>> johnduggan@legalaid.nf.ca ; brenda.boyd@RCMP-GRC.gc.ca ;
>> McLellan.A@parl.gc.ca ; david@lutz.nb.ca ;
>> cynthia.merlini@dfait-maeci.gc.ca ; ethics@harvard.edu ;
>> INFO7@elections.ca ; inquiry.admin@bellnet.ca ; cotlei@parl.gc.ca
>> Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 8:33 AM
>> Subject: RE: Me versus Patterson and Palmer
>>
>>
>> Hey Della,
>> I see that Stevey Boy is on vacation and told me to contact you. I am
>> happy to hear that he is saving all of my emails in a special spot for
>> some apparent future litigation. I keep very good records as well and
>> look forward to his argument but I will wager that I sue him first.
>> I see by the following Affidavit you witnessed and Stevey Boy filed in
>> court that every lawyer within Patterson Palmer is a flat out liar. I
>> served Greg Byryne in Fredericton myself with witnesses before Byron
>> Prior served everyone else in Newfoundland. If Byrne did not share the
>> info with his buddy Johnny Crosbie, it is not my fault. Yet I suspect
>> that he did so out of the gate because he sent me an email in which it
>> appears that he was conferring with many others about me and my
>> concerns. It was too funny that Byrne clicked the wrong button and
>> forwarded his email to me as well.
>> I also sent many of your people the same emails that I sent to Byrne
>> and May as soon as I got out off jail last October and Stevey Boy
>> first contacted Byron Prior and I had called him. (Thank you for
>> making a transcript of my voicemail and filing it in court for me. It
>> is quite hard for me to make lawyers even admit that I exist) Some of
>> the aforesaid emails were responded to by other members of your law
>> firm byway of their computers like Stevey Boy's just did. At least
>> computers are far more honest than the lawyers that own them. I am
>> compelled to rely on the integrity of their machines and the ability
>> of their computers and mine to keep perfect records. (Never forget I
>> am being prosecuted for sending an email to a lawyer I have been
>> litigating against for years who even went as far to fraudulently
>> create a document bearing my signature) Because of the fact I can
>> prove contact with many members of the law firm you work for, they can
>> never say that they did not know of my concerns and allegations long
>> before Stevey complained of Byron Prior's actions on behalf of his
>> client Billy Matthews. He only went forward with his malicious threat
>> when he thought my goose was cooked down here. There is quite simply
>> no way you could have prepared his filing on January 21st and he had
>> Judge green sign it in the time between Byron had served it and the
>> Judge signed it without the Bastards reading our private emails and
>> listening to our phone calls. I sent the last email containing the
>> words to Byron's counterclaim just before I went to court that morning
>> and he only managed to see it filed by 3 PM Newfy time. You may be a
>> fast typists but the courts don't work that fast unless they are
>> covering up something big time. No know as well as I that is true
>> because the judge and Stevey Boy do not even want other lawyers to
>> view the public record. Small wonder he took a vacation. If Stevey Boy
>> has any semblance of a conscience he no doubt has trouble dealing with
>> himself. I can only wonder if he and Johnny Crosbie are singing for
>> more tequila right now.
>> As you no doubt know I am preparing to defend myself in a criminal
>> trial in the USA and filing some rather profound civil lawsuits in
>> Canada and the USA that will make the whining of Billy Matthews in
>> Newfoundland Supreme court seem rather comical. I will be filing
>> copies of the documents you no doubt helped create for Stevey Boy May
>> on behalf of your law firm in many courts.
>> If Greg Byrne, the former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of
>> New Brunswick had acted ethically last September while I was in Canada
>> and under Brad Green's jurisdiction I would not have been falsely
>> imprisoned in the USA the following month. I will be suing him, your
>> law firm and many others for personal injury and conspiracy to cover
>> up the many crimes practiced against my Clan and I. My question to
>> you, Della is why don't I sue you too? As you can see if you have read
>> my work my battle is with corrupt lawyers not layman. I would settle
>> with you in a heartbeat for costs if you would be honest about all
>> that you know to be true. If you decide to go against me I suggest
>> that you seek legal counsel outside of your law firm or in fact all of
>> Newfoundland. I am about to take on every damned lawyer within the
>> Newfoundland law Society. You would not be wise to doubt me before you
>> have a look at my work in the USA. I will deal with Newfys under the
>> heading of fun after I have embarrassed the Yankees.
>> I will give you a call as Stevey Boy suggests so that at least you can
>> understand that I am not an unreasonable person and not the sort of
>> person that lawyers claim that I am. I am just a simple, sincere and
>> serious man that refuses to play the wicked games lawyers play. I am
>> willing to die in order to expose the truth. No lawyer can say that.
>> they love money to much to be willing to miss the chance to spend it.
>> Judge me for yourself and your own best interests before you choose
>> whom to stand with.
>> Whether you believe me or not I am battling for your rights as well as
>> my own. I am forwarding this email to many ordinary people like you
>> and me. To Hell with the lawyers and politicians. They do what they do
>> for personal gain not public service. Their concerns are lucre not
>> justice and everybody knows it. All I did was go to great lengths to
>> prove it. There is no need for you and I to argue about simple truths.
>> As far as I am concerned up until the time you received this email all
>> you have done is type things and witness signatures. However you
>> cannot say that anymore.
>> My pending phone call to you is not harassment. I need the Yankee
>> phone bill record of my call to you in order to assist in the defence
>> of my freedom in the USA. Stevey Boy told me to call ya. Please be
>> nice. After today you can't say that you are not involved in my false
>> imprisonment in the USA. I am doing no more or less than Stevey Boy
>> and his malicious clients would do if the same thing had happened to
>> them. If Billy Matthews had been summoned to the USA while he was
>> running for his seat in Parliament to be presecuted by an unsigned
>> criminal complaint and then held without bail under the charges of
>> "other", he would be more pissed off than I am.
>> Cya'll in Court:)
>> David R. Amos
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "May, Steve"
>> To: "David Amos"
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 8:32 PM
>> Subject: Out of Office AutoReply: Dan and Tom Remember me
>>
>>
>> Mr. May is out of the office till 11 April 2005. He will not be
>> checking his e-mail. Please contact Della Hart at 709-570-5527
>> begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 709-570-5527
>> end_of_the_skype_highlighting or dhart@pattersonpalmer.ca if you
>> require immediate assistance.
>>
>>
>> 2005 01 T 0010
>> IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
>> TRIAL DIVISION
>> BETWEEN:
>> WILLIAM MATTHEWS PLAINTIFF
>> AND:
>> BYRON PRIOR DEFENDANT
>>
>> AND BETWEEN:
>> BYRON PRIOR DEFENDANT/PLAINTIFF
>> BY COUNTERCLAIM
>>
>> AND: WILLIAM MATTHEWS PLAINTIFF/FIRST DEFENDANT
>> BY COUNTERCLAIM
>>
>> AND: T. ALEX HICKMAN SECOND DEFENDANT
>> BY COUNTERCLAIM
>>
>> AND: THOMAS MARSHALL THIRD DEFENDANT
>> BY COUNTERCLAIM
>>
>> AND: DANNY WILLIAMS FOURTH DEFENDANT
>> BY COUNTERCLAIM
>>
>> AND: EDWARD M. ROBERTS FIFTH DEFENDANT
>> BY COUNTERCLAIM
>>
>> AND: JOHN CROSBIE SIXTH DEFENDANT
>> BY COUNTERCLAIM
>>
>> AND: PATTERSON PALMER SEVENTH DEFENDANT
>> BY COUNTERCLAIM
>> SUMMARY OF CURRENT DOCUMENTCourt File Number(s):2005 01 T 0010Date of
>> Filing of Document:25 January 2005Name of Filing Party or
>> Person:Stephen J. MayApplication to which Document being filed
>> relates:Amended Application of the Plaintiff/Defendant by Counterclaim
>> to maintain an Order restricting publication, to strike portions of
>> the Statement of Defence, strike the Counterclaim in it’s entirety,
>> and to refer this proceeding to case management.Statement of purpose
>> in filing:To maintain an Order restricting publication, to strike
>> portions of the Statement of Defence, strike the Counterclaim in its
>> entirety and refer this proceeding to case management.
>> A F F I D A V I T
>>
>> I, Stephen J. May, of the City of St. John’s, in the Province of
>> Newfoundland and Labrador, Barrister and Solicitor, make oath and say
>> as follows:
>>
>> THAT I am a Partner in the St. John’s office of PATTERSON PALMER
>> solicitors for William Matthews, the Member of Parliament for
>> Random-Burin-St. George’s in the Parliament of Canada.
>>
>> THAT Mr. Matthews originally retained Mr. Edward Roberts, Q.C. on or
>> about 30 April 2002 after Mr. Byron Prior, the Defendant/Plaintiff by
>> Counterclaim, had made allegations against Mr. Matthews in a
>> publication called “My Inheritance - The truth - Not Fiction: A Town
>> with a Secret”. In that publication, the allegation was made that Mr.
>> Matthews had had sex with a girl who had been prostituted by her
>> mother. That girl was alleged to have been Mr. Prior’s sister.
>>
>> THAT upon being retained, Mr. Edward Roberts wrote a letter to Mr.
>> Prior. That letter to Mr. Prior is attached as Exhibit “1" to my
>> Affidavit.
>>
>> THAT subsequent to Mr. Roberts’ letter to Mr. Prior, Mr. Roberts
>> received a 1 May 2002 e-mail from Mr. Prior. That e-mail is attached
>> as Exhibit “2".
>>
>> THAT subsequent to Mr. Roberts receipt of the e-mail, Mr. Prior swore
>> an Affidavit acknowledging that what had been said in that publication
>> was false. That Affidavit is attached as Exhibit “3" to my Affidavit.
>> Following Mr. Roberts’ receipt of that Affidavit, Mr. Matthews advised
>> that he was satisfied not to pursue the matter any further and our
>> firm closed our file.
>>
>> THAT on or about 25 October 2004, I was retained by Mr. Matthews
>> following his gaining knowledge that a web site, made a series of
>> allegations against him relating to my having sex with a girl of
>> approximately 12 years old through to an approximate age of 15 years
>> old. It also accused him of being a father of one of her children and
>> accused him of having raped that girl. Upon checking the web site I
>> saw that Byron Prior, the Defendant, had been identified as the author
>> of the material on the site.
>>
>> THAT Mr. Matthews instructed me to write Mr. Prior, to remind him of
>> the fact that the allegations had been admitted to being false through
>> a 16 May 2002 Affidavit to advise him of Mr. Matthews’ intentions to
>> commence legal proceedings if the comments were not removed from the
>> web site. A copy of my letter to Mr. Prior is attached as Exhibit “4"
>> to this Affidavit.
>>
>> THAT I attach as Exhibit “5" a transcript from a 5 November 2004
>> voicemail left by David Amos, identified in the voicemail as a friend
>> of Mr. Prior.
>>
>> THAT I attach as Exhibit “6" a portion of a 6 November 2004 e-mail
>> from Mr. Amos.
>>
>> THAT until I received his voicemail and e-mail, I had never heard of Mr.
>> Amos.
>>
>> THAT Mr. Amos has continued to send me e-mail since his 5 November
>> e-mail. Including his 6 November 2004 e-mail, I have received a total
>> of 15 e-mails as of 23 January 2005. All do not address Mr. Matthews’
>> claim or my involvement as Mr. Matthews’ solicitor. I attach as
>> Exhibit “7" a portion of a 12 January 2005 e-mail that Mr. Amos sent
>> to me but originally came to my attention through Ms. Lois Skanes
>> whose firm had received a copy. This e-mail followed the service of
>> the Statement of Claim on 11 January 2005 on Mr. Prior. I also attach
>> as Exhibit “8" a copy of a 19 January 2005 e-mail from Mr. Amos.
>>
>> THAT I attach as Exhibit “9" a copy of a 22 November 2004 letter
>> addressed to me from Edward Roberts, the Lieutenant Governor of
>> Newfoundland and Labrador covering a 2 September 2004 letter from Mr.
>> Amos addressed to John Crosbie, Edward Roberts, in his capacity as
>> Lieutenant Governor, Danny Williams, in his capacity as Premier of
>> Newfoundland and Labrador, and Brian F. Furey, President of the Law
>> Society of Newfoundland and Labrador. I requested a copy of this
>> letter from Government House after asking Mr. Roberts if he had
>> received any correspondence from Mr. Amos during his previous
>> representation of Mr. Matthews. He advised me that he received a
>> letter since becoming Lieutenant Governor, portions of which involved
>> his representation of Mr. Matthews. Mr. Roberts’ letter also covered
>> his reply to Mr. Amos.
>>
>> THAT I attach as Exhibit “10" an e-mail from Mr. Amos received on
>> Sunday, 23 January 2005.
>>
>> THAT I swear this Affidavit in support of the Application to strike
>> Mr. Prior’s counterclaim.
>>
>>
>> SWORN to before me at
>> St. John’s, Province of Newfoundland
>> and Labrador this 24th day of
>> January, 2005.
>>
>>
>> Signed by Della Hart STEPHEN J. MAY Signature
>> STAMP
>> DELLA HART
>> A Commissioner for Oaths in and for
>> the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
>> My commission expires on December 31, 2009.
>> The Conservatives in Canada have very Punky Dory EH Tommy Boy?
>>
>> Posted by: David R. Amos at March 30, 2005 05:26 PM
>> The Cato dudes ain't got nothin on me when it comes to letter writing.
>> Here is where I am teasing abunch of dumb Yankees. The whole world
>> calls our Newfys dumb. So what does that say of Danny williams the
>> Premier? He is a Rhodes Scholar that works for free. Is he dumb or
>> evil? I will have to ask the Aspen Dudes have I attend Tommy's little
>> hoe down EH?
>>
>> Posted by: David R. Amos at March 30, 2005 05:38 PM
>> http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2005/03/former_dhs_insp.html#comments
>> HMMM no link we will try this way ok?
>>
>> Posted by: David R. Amos at March 30, 2005 05:40 PM
>> I'm very proud to have had such a person as David Amos, help us with
>> our fight and the legal work. I will never be able to repay him.Thank
>> you David.
>> Byron Prior
>>
>> Posted by: Byron Prior at August 21, 2005 10:59 PM
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