Nova Scotia's "lobster wars" won't be resolved without government intervention

I don't always agree with the Globe and Mail's editorial columns, but today's makes a lot of sense.

The ongoing stand-off in southwestern Nova Scotia beween Indigenous and non-Indigenous lobster fishermen is getting quite nasty, and has the potential to get much nastier. Both sides have a certain amount of right on their side - the Indigenous fishermen have treaty rights and the letter of the law behind them, while the non-Indigenous fishermen are right to insist on good stock management to ensure the survival of the species (who knows how much truth is to the allegations that the Indigenous fishermen have been bagging young, undersized lobsters, and/or pregnant females). 

But this is by no means a totally intractible and insoluble problem, like some others. The solution, however, does require some federal government intervention and law-making, something that should have been taken care of years ago. As long ago as 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that 18th century treaties did indeed grant the Indigenous comnunities of the Maritimes a right to earn a "moderate livelihood" from hunting and fishing. But the court ruling stressed that they could not just hunt and fish the region into oblivion, and that some regulation of fishing practices were needed, and that governments, not courts, were the correct avenue for establishing reasonable rules and regulations.

Since then, government after government of all stripes, not wanting to rock the boat, so to speak, has signally failed to do so, which is why we find ourselves in the current impasse. And, as the editorial points out, there is very unlikely to be a resolution to the problem until government gets involved and legislates a few rules. 

I don't agree with Jodi Wilson-Raybould's opinion that the violence in Nova Scotia is due to racism - that is just her unhelpfully sticking her Indigenous oar in, as she is prone to do, but the commercial fishermen are not objecting on grounds of race: they would be equally opposed to any group who they see as compromising their fishing livelihoods. But  I do agree with her when she says that the government needs to intervene in a practical manner, rather than just condemning the violence.