Nunavut Inuit suing feds over fishing licence allocations to Mi'kmaw company
CBC
Inuit in Nunavut are suing the federal government over a decision to hand over a sizeable portion of fishing licences off Nunavut's coast to a coalition of Mi'kmaw First Nations in Atlantic Canada.
In a lawsuit filed earlier this month, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA) asked the federal court to quash a decision by Canada's Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to transfer the licences for Greenland halibut and shrimp from seafood company Clearwater Foods to the coalition, after the Mi'kmaw group partnered to buy the company in January.
NTI represents all Inuit in Nunavut, while QIA represents Inuit in the Qikiqtaaluk (Baffin) region.
Both groups declined to comment on the lawsuit. In a statement, Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans also declined an interview, but said it "undertook a detailed analysis of this proposal in light of relevant regulations, policies and land claim agreements."
It added, "in reaching her decision, the minister took into account the Fisheries Act, regulations, policies, management plans, land claim agreements and the views from Nunavut and Nunatsiavut with respect to their land claim agreements."
The lawsuit describes how Nunavut fishers have only held about 50 per cent of total fishing quotas for all species off Nunavut's coast, which Inuit argue is disproportionately low compared to the 90 per cent that fisheries in Atlantic provinces have off their own coasts — an acknowledgement the federal government and DFO have made on several occasions.
Clearwater Foods, before its sale in 2021, held a significant portion of those halibut and shrimp licences off of Nunavut's waters.
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