Preface

The events of the fall of 1999 caught Canadians unaware.No one -Mi'kmaq, Department of Fisheries and Oceans personnel, officials from the Department of Indian Affairs, academic experts, or the public at large -anticipated either the specifics of the Supreme Court decision on the case of Donald Marshall Jr or the controversy that followed.1 It is easy with hindsight to criticize people in positions of authority for failing to plan for the fallout from the Supreme Court ruling.Even though the decision was unexpected, it was not outside the pattern of recent judgments on Aboriginal matters.The scenes of conflict between First Nations and non-Aboriginal fishers which followed disturbed observers across the country.Canada had, for the most part, managed the difficult and often tense relationship between indigenous and transplanted societies over the past twenty years without violence and public anger.Major conflicts like the Oka standoff in Quebec and the Gufstanson Lake controversy in British Columbia stood out as exceptions to a general rule.The widespread anger and frustration sparked by the Marshall decision seemed to drag on and on, from community to community, engulfing a region generally known for the absence of conflict on First Nations issues.Making sense of the Marshall decision, both as a legal decision and as a symptom of the broader tension between indigenous and other Canadians in the Maritimes, is an important endeavour.Almost a year after the initial judgment, the issue remains as timely and urgent as it did in September 1999 .Tensions run high, particularly at Burnt Church, the centre of the confrontation.More broadly, Maritimers are gradually understanding that the Marshall decision has potent implications for the region as a whole.First Nations people, despite their concerted efforts in the past, rarely figured prominently in Maritime politics.Similarly, compared with provinces like British Columbia and Alberta, Aboriginal issues in the Maritime provinces seldom generated much public debate.The Supreme Court judgment touched off a storm of protest, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, x Preface and transformed the discussion about the nature and extent of First Nations rights in the region.Bitter protests by non-Aboriginal fishers were matched by equally angry assertions of authority, even sovereignty, by First Nations groups.Many Maritimers assumed -erroneously -that the long-term absence of western-type conflict signalled First Nations' satisfaction with the status quo.A lot has been learned on all sides over the past year.To a degree that most Maritimers do not yet appreciate, the Marshall decision (along with the broader agenda of Aboriginal legal rights) promises to change forever the face of natural resource use, economic and political relations, and indigenous-newcomer contact in the region.What follows is, by design and execution, an overview.It endeavours to explain, in general terms, why there is a debate over Aboriginal rights in the Maritimes; why eighteenth-century treaties are important in the first years of the twenty-first century; why Mi'kmaq and Maliseet people have so many hopes and aspirations imbedded in legal and political processes; how Maritimers reacted to judicial involvement in regional life; and how federal, First Nations, and provincial politicians responded to the intense pressures of the 1999 -2000 dispute over Aboriginal rights.The broader goal is to alert Maritimers and other Canadians to the historical, contemporary, and future significance of the Marshall decision and to offer some insights into how this fundamentally important debate might transform the region in the years to come.First Nations rights will not disappear, regardless of what opponents and critics of recent decisions hope and believe, and demands will increase over time, not decrease.Aboriginal groups feel -with justification and relief -empowered by a legal process that finally accepted arguments they have been making for generations.I hope that this book, by explaining the historical context, summarizing the events of the past year, and contemplating the future, will help Maritimers and Canadians understand this fundamentally important Supreme Court ruling and encourage them to reflect on the need for more positive, supportive approaches to the situation of First Nations people in the region and across the country.The Marshall decision will no doubt be the focus for many other books and studies in the years to come.First Nations researchers will, by drawing on the unique and powerful insights of elders, situate this decision within the rich oral traditions of Mi'kmaq and Maliseet communities and provide a level of understanding that is not possible through the documentary record.Historians will re-examine and debate both the documentary evidence surrounding the eighteenthcentury treaties and the use of historical evidence in Canadian courtrooms.Legal scholars will consider the immediate and long-term

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