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Nature Environmental Conservation & Protection

Fishing in Contested Waters

Place & Community in Burnt Church/Esgenoopetitj

by (author) Sarah King

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Dec 2013
Category
Environmental Conservation & Protection, General, Native American Studies
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781442641761
    Publish Date
    Dec 2013
    List Price
    $74.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781442610965
    Publish Date
    Dec 2013
    List Price
    $37.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442668447
    Publish Date
    Dec 2013
    List Price
    $27.95

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Description

After the Supreme Court of Canada’s 1999 Marshall decision recognized Mi’kmaw fishers’ treaty right to fish, the fishers entered the inshore lobster fishery across Atlantic Canada. At Burnt Church/Esgenoôpetitj, New Brunswick, the Mi’kmaw fishery provoked violent confrontations with neighbours and the Canadian government. Over the next two years, boats, cottages, and a sacred grove were burned, people were shot at and beaten, boats rammed and sunk, roads barricaded, and the local wharf occupied.

Based on 12 months of ethnographic field work in Burnt Church/Esgenoôpetitj, Fishing in Contested Waters explores the origins of this dispute and the beliefs and experiences that motivated the locals involved in it. Weaving the perspectives of Native and non-Native people together, Sarah J. King examines the community as a contested place, simultaneously Mi’kmaw and Canadian. Drawing on philosophy and indigenous, environmental, and religious studies, Fishing in Contested Waters demonstrates the deep roots of contemporary conflicts over rights, sovereignty, conservation, and identity.

About the author

Sarah J. King is an assistant professor in the Liberal Studies Department at Grand Valley State University.

Sarah King's profile page