Federal funding to repair wharf damaged at N.B.'s Burnt Church

The Canadian Press
March 6, 2001

BURNT CHURCH, N.B. Ottawa will fund repairs to a wharf where a native lobster fishing protest was held last year. The wharf, on Miramichi Bay in northeastern New Brunswick, was among several damaged in a storm last fall and members of the Burnt Church reserve feared the federal government planned to destroy it.

That would have left native fishermen, who have clashed violently with non-natives for the last two years over the bay's rich lobster grounds, sharing a nearby wharf used by the commercial fishermen.

Charles Hubbard, the federal Liberal representative for the area, announced Tuesday $1.14 million in funding for wharf repairs.

Hubbard says the Burnt Church wharf will be made usable and safe prior to the start of the spring fishing season.

It was estimated the wharf would cost $600,000 to repair. The money will also help fix wharves in the northeastern New Brunswick communities of Neguac, Pointe-Sapin, Escuminac and Cap St-Louis. { au: dt: 03/06/01 sc: cpress}