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Monday, May 30, 2011

Supreme Court Decision re: Nuu chah nulth Fishing Rights

In regards to the recent Supreme Court Decision(Headline: Court of Appeal upholds Native Fishing Rights) regarding the Nuu chah nulth(Indigenous Nation on the West coast of Vancouver Island) people's, harvesting and sale of 'Indian Food Fish'(A term taken from Canadian Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans[DFO] terminology).
As has always been the case, we the Indigenous People of this land simply wish to improve our lot in this world. At this point in our historic interaction with the country of Canada, we find ourselves still playing the same old game of, 'catch-up', to so-called, 'mainstream' folks. For Coastal Indigenous People generally, seafood has always been, and continues to be our mainstay as a primary nutritional food source, and as a trade item; in our history, seafood provided the basis of our wealth. But in recent times, the Federal Government of Canada has been consistent, and persistent, in the practice of its use of 'Canadian Law,' as both a weapon of subjection, and as a social and psychological deterrent, to prevent Indigenous People of this land from accessing our resources, including seafood, and as a result, from prospering in this world, as we rightfully wish to do.
My sense of the situation is that this landmark case has come none too soon. Each time that I see or hear of a case of The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, interfering with the rightful harvesting practices of Indigenous Peoples of this land, I automatically recall the image of the DFO craft being willfully and intentionally directed by a DFO officer, at high speed, over top of a Indigenous owned fishing craft, and I see the Indigenous fishermen jumping from their boat into the sea, to save their lives. This to me, is the position that DFO has always held in relation to the Indigenous Peoples of Canada. DFO has always been the action tool of a country and a populace, that has no clear, accurate, and reality-based vision of where it truly stands, in the context of lawful reality, in relation to the Indigenous Peoples of this land. This Nuu Chah Nulth Fishing Rights case will serve as a door way, a portal into reality, through which Canada, and Canadians will be compelled to pass.

Greg Robinson, Haisla Fisherman.