“For me it’s simple,” he said. “We have a right for this fishery and all we want them to do is to respect that and to let us govern our own fishery and to actually exercise that right.” The Sipekne’katik First Nation argues that a 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision affirming its members’ treaty right to fish allows them to harvest lobster year-round to earn a “moderate livelihood.”

First Nation in Nova Scotia vows to keep fishing despite arrest for ‘unauthorized fishery’

Sipekne’katik First Nation Chief Mike Sack has said the community’s self-regulated lobster fishery, which opened outside of federally regulated season, will continue to operate in St. Marys Bay