Burnt Church-2000/01/11-CPT Archives

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) Archives

CPTNET
January 11, 2000

BURNT CHURCH, NB - CPT sends fact-finding mission to New Brunswick fishing grounds
by Doug Pritchard

Mi'kmaq leaders have asked Christian Peacemaker Teams to come to New Brunswick on the east coast of Canada to learn more about the ongoing dispute over access to the lobster fishery and then to share that information with our churches. One leader has also said she would like someone like CPT to work with her and come up with some plans to counteract the risk of violence when lobster fishing starts again in the spring.

CPTers William Payne (Toronto ON) and Janet Shoemaker (Goshen IN) will be in New Brunswick from Jan. 8-22 and plan to meet with Mi'kmaq people, government officials, police, and church leaders.

The current dispute goes back to the Supreme Court decision on Sept. 17,1999 in the Marshall case which upheld the right under a 1760 treaty of the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet peoples to hunt a fish for "a moderate living". When Mi'kmaq people from the Burnt Church and Big Cove First Nations in NE New Brunswick began fishing for lobster after the court decision, their lobster traps were destroyed by non-aboriginal fishers while police and government officials stood by. A climate of impunity, fear, recrimination, and estrangement quickly ensued.

The conflict left the headlines in mid-October once the lobster moved into deep water for the winter. However nothing has been resolved and there are widespread fears that violence will be used again when the lobsters return to this part of New Brunswick in the spring.

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Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative among Mennonite and Church of the Brethren congregations and Friends Meetings and other Christians that supports violence reduction efforts around the world. Contact CPT Canada, PO Box 72063, 1562 Danforth Ave., Toronto ON M4J 5C1, tel 416-421-7079; or, CPT, PO Box 6508, Chicago IL 60680, tel 312-455-1199, fax 312-432-1213. To join CPTNET, our e-mail network, fill out the form found on our WEB page at http://www.prairienet.org/cpt/


		Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) Archives CPTNET January 11, 2000 BURNT CHURCH, NB - CPT sends fact-finding mission to New Brunswick fishing grounds by Doug Pritchard Mi'kmaq leaders have asked Christian Peacemaker Teams to come to New Brunswick on the east coast of Canada to learn more about the ongoing dispute over access to the lobster fishery and then to share that information with our churches. One leader has also said she would like someone like CPT to work with her and come up with some plans to counteract the risk of violence when lobster fishing starts again in the spring. CPTers William Payne (Toronto ON) and Janet Shoemaker (Goshen IN) will be in New Brunswick from Jan. 8-22 and plan to meet with Mi'kmaq people, government officials, police, and church leaders. The current dispute goes back to the Supreme Court decision on Sept. 17,1999 in the Marshall case which upheld the right under a 1760 treaty of the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet peoples to hunt a fish for "a moderate living". When Mi'kmaq people from the Burnt Church and Big Cove First Nations in NE New Brunswick began fishing for lobster after the court decision, their lobster traps were destroyed by non-aboriginal fishers while police and government officials stood by. A climate of impunity, fear, recrimination, and estrangement quickly ensued. The conflict left the headlines in mid-October once the lobster moved into deep water for the winter. However nothing has been resolved and there are widespread fears that violence will be used again when the lobsters return to this part of New Brunswick in the spring. __________________ Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative among Mennonite and Church of the Brethren congregations and Friends Meetings and other Christians that supports violence reduction efforts around the world. Contact CPT Canada, PO Box 72063, 1562 Danforth Ave., Toronto ON M4J 5C1, tel 416-421-7079; or, CPT, PO Box 6508, Chicago IL 60680, tel 312-455-1199, fax 312-432-1213. To join CPTNET, our e-mail network, fill out the form found on our WEB page at http://www.prairienet.org/cpt/