The Marshall Decision and the Last 21 Years

Twenty-one years and half a billion dollars (give or take) later, First Nations in Atlantic Canada are still fighting for their treaty right to hunt, fish and gather in pursuit of a ‘moderate livelihood’ as affirmed in the 1999 Supreme Court’s Marshall Decision. Since the landmark decision, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) “has launched several programs in response, beginning with the Marshall Response Initiative, which provided these First Nation communities with licences, vessels ...