Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the committee, fellow witnesses and guests.
I'm Justin Martin from Millbrook First Nation. I'm the Mi'kmaq fisheries coordinator for the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs, operating through the Mi'kmaq rights initiative. I'm here supporting Potlotek First Nation.
I would like to reiterate the opening statement of Regional Chief Prosper that it is beyond the scope of this committee to provide any legal definition of the legal concepts of what is a moderate livelihood and what is a moderate livelihood fishery. We must first understand our people's needs and empower them to develop what truly is a livelihood for them and their families.
Over the past 20 years, DFO has attempted to assimilate the Mi'kmaq livelihood fishery into the DFO management system, a colonized system that is not only not historically or culturally relevant to Mi'Kmaq values and principles but is also a system that focuses on creating wealth from our dwindling resources. Over and over, this system has failed to protect the resources our indigenous peoples have sustainably used for thousands of years. We are the rightful stewards of our resources.
Mr. Chair, this is not a regulatory issue; this is a rights issue. This is about the Mi'kmaq nation managing our fishery in accordance with our cultural values and principles, which is our inherent right. This government must change how they view the primary function of this control when addressing the rights of indigenous peoples. We must decolonize that control by providing mandates to work with our indigenous peoples—not to control them, but to co-manage the fisheries and codevelop the lands to empower the indigenous peoples of this country.
Quantifying what a moderate livelihood is has never been my intention; it is, rather, to demonstrate what our grassroots members' interpretation of that treaty right is through implementation. This method has provided the critical data to begin to understand what our members believe is a “moderate livelihood”. Our level of harvesting is being managed in accordance with netukulimk, taking only what we need to sustain our families and communities. We do not harvest to create wealth for individuals. If there is a conservation issue, it is not one that rests on the shoulders of the livelihood harvesters but one that rests on the shoulders of the commercial fishing industry.
Currently, there is very little language in the DFO-managed commercial lobster fishery directed towards sustainability. Here is an excerpt from the netukulimk livelihood plan regarding this topic:
Sustainability involves five distinct factors: environmental, social, economic, cultural and spiritual. Each of these are principal factors for the sustainability of a Mi'kmaq fishery livelihood.
Each of these sustainable factors is defined alongside netukulimk to form the baseline management values for the livelihood fishery.
I would like to close with a quote from Grand Chief Norman Sylliboy: “Let us do what we have always done.”
Thank you. Wela'lioq.