Hold the Trudeau Government Accountable for Violence Against Indigenous Peoples
Hands Off Chief Mike Sack and
All Mi’kmaq Fishers!
Chief Mike Sack is the courageous leader of the Sipekne’katik First Nation of the sovereign Mi’kmaq people. He was illegally arrested and taken in for questioning following a press conference August 17 at which he announced his community will resume their self-regulated fishery. Like all previous federal governments, the Trudeau government refuses to recognize the hereditary rights of the Mi’kmaq to fish, or their sovereignty. The fact is that the Mi’kmaq do not have to ask Canada’s permission to fish as they have responsibly done for millennia.
Following his release from custody after 45 minutes, Chief Sack stated that what the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is doing is unacceptable, “unfair” and “systemic racism” which he and the other Mi’kmaq fishers will fight using all available means, including the courts. Furthermore, he said that his community had been in touch with the DFO about the Mi’kmaq’s upcoming plans to begin their fishing season.
The arrest of Chief Mike Sack and the seizure of several lobster traps by DFO officers comes less than two months after the Trudeau Liberals smugly announced on June 21 that Canada has adopted Bill C-15, An Act respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Despite signing onto the UN Declaration, Canada as it is currently constituted has no intention of addressing injustices, eliminating the forms of violence, racism and discrimination or respecting inherent rights or treaty rights.
The government always blames the Mi’kmaq for threatening the “sustainability” of the lobster fishery. It claims its decisions are evidence-based but the facts show the claim is fraudulent. It has been refuted time and time again by data and expert science-based opinion. Despite this, the government and its official media use the fraudulent claim to incite racism against the Mi’kmaq and sow strife between the small fishers and the Indigenous peoples.
The Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada calls on Canadians to support the Mi’kmaq people and their use of ocean resources to their own advantage and that of small fishers. Canadians oppose the plunder and theft of these resources by narrow private interests, mostly foreign and mostly U.S.
Who caused the crisis in the fishing industry and destruction of the livelihood of fishers in the Atlantic region is well-known. Defend the rights of the Mi’kmaq and small fishers! Take a stand against government’s use of force, violence and divisions. Uphold Treaty and Hereditary Rights!
(With files from Government of Canada, CBC)