"the People's Paths!" NAIIP News Path! - Gunshots at Esgenoopetitj (Burnt Church)

Gunshots at Esgenoopetitj (Burnt Church)

Doug Pritchard, Canada Coordinator CPT
the People's Voice ~ Monday, September 17, 2001

At 6:30 ADT on September 16, 2001, fifty fishing boats from non-Aboriginal communities around Miramichi Bay invaded the waters where Esgenoopetitj First Nation (EFN) is currently fishing for lobster near Burnt Church, New Brunswick.
Several EFN boats responded to protect their traps. Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) observer Natasha Krahn was on board one EFN boat and other CPT members were videotaping from shore.
Krahn reported, "One large non-Aboriginal boat tried to run over the small dory I was in. They threw beer bottles and cut buoys at us. Then we heard automatic gunfire and retreated to shore. Someone is going to get killed here. Please pray right now for an end to this violence."
CPT observers also reported seeing six Royal Canadian Mounted Police boats, two Dept of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) boats, and a large Coast Guard cutter in the bay but these boats have made no moves to stop the attack on the EFN fishery.
EFN fishers have been exercising their right to fish for lobster. This right was recognized by Canada's Supreme Court in the 1999 Marshall decision but has been contested by non-Aboriginal fishers and Canada's DFO.

For more information contact CPT:
Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT)
c/o Claire Evans, Administrative Coordinator
P.O. Box 6508, Chicago, IL 60680
Telephone: 312-455-1199 ~ FAX: 312-432-1213
E-Mail: cpt@igc.org
Christian Peacemaker Teams - Canada Office
c/o Doug Pritchard, Canada Coordinator
1562 Danforth Ave, Box 72063, Toronto, ON M4J 5C1
Phone: 416-421-7079, FAX: 416-467-1508
E-mail: cptcan@web.ca
Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative among
United States and Canadian churches committed to active
peacemaking, which prepares small teams to intervene in
violent and militarized regions using active nonviolence.
Four full time teams are currently located in Chiapas,
Mexico; Bogotá, Colombia; Nova Scotia, Canada; and in
the Hebron district of the West Bank. There are four
regional groups: CPT-Northern Indiana; CPT-Ontario;
CPT-Boulder, Colorado; CPT-Cleveland, Ohio.