Fishing boats from the Sipekne’katik First Nation. The community asserts an inherent right to fish under the Peace and Friendship Treaties and the Supreme Court’s 1999 Marshall decision. Photo courtesy Sipekne’katik First Nation.

In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada overturned Donald Marshall Jr.’s convictions for catching and selling eels and affirmed that the Peace and Friendship Treaties protect a Mi’kmaq right to fish, hunt, and gather in pursuit of a “moderate livelihood“—a treaty right distinct from participation in the ordinary commercial fishery. Twenty-seven years later, the federal government still describes implementation as an ongoing process.



That does not mean nothing has changed. Fisheries and Oceans Canada told a parliamentary committee in 2026 that more than $1 billion has been invested since 2000 in licences, vessels, gear, and training. The annual value of Treaty Nations’ commercial fisheries landings rose from $3 million in 1999 to $144.2 million in 2024. Those are consequential economic gains, and dismissing them would erase real employment, revenue, and institutional capacity.



The problem is not the investment itself. It is the federal tendency to treat investment in access as though it settles the constitutional question. The current Community-Based Access Acquisition initiative commits $259.4 million between 2024 and 2027 so eligible communities can acquire commercial access, vessels, and gear through a willing-buyer, willing-seller........

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