The Battle for Resources

In 1993 Donald Marshal, a Mi’kmaq Indian, was charged with fishing for eel in Pomquet Harbour, Nova Scotia, in violation of federal fisheries regulations. Although this appeared to be innocuous, Marshal’s actions were intended to bring before the courts the question of First Nations resource rights in Atlantic Canada. Marshal and his supporters argued that the aboriginal right to manage and harvest natural resources and sell them for financial gain had never been extinguished and was recognized in treaties signed with Britain in the 1760s. The case was of local significance because of longstanding conflict between First Nations and the federal Department of Fisheries in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick over the rights to manage fisheries; it was of national significance because it was believed that Marshal’s vindication would have strong implications for assertion of First Nations resource rights in other parts of Canada.

Marshal’s path through the courts is familiar...