NORTH BAY, Ont.-Fifty-four people from Lake Nipissing say they are guilty of doing what they've been accused of: fishing. However, their lawyer says, that doesn't make a difference.
The defendants are charged with violating Ontario's hunting and fishing laws, as well as commercial fishing laws of Nipissing First Nation. But their lawyer, Michael Swinwood, is countering that those charging them have no authority to do so.
He said the Robinson Huron Treaty of 1850 was signed by Potawatomi people from the United States who didn't actually represent the Indigenous communities of Lake Nipissing.
The ministry and First Nation signed a memorandum of understanding in 2016 by which provincial conservation officers help Nipissing First Nation enforce its fishing laws, which include restrictions on the commercial fishery.
But the defense is arguing that no governments, not even First Nation chiefs and councils, can legally control hunting and fishing around Lake Nipissing.
Nipissing First Nation is a colonial creation of the federal government and its Indian Act, he says. He states that the people who lived around the lake when the treaty was signed were part of the largely forgotten Amikwa Algonquin Nation, and that Lake Nipissing and the land that surrounds it were never surrendered to the Canadian government, so it does not have the power to control who hunts and fishes there.
Further, he states that a chief and band council only have authority under the Indian Act in relation to the reserve, so they don't have authority over the lake either.
The premise of the case could open a whole can of worms not only for the fishing industry, but for hunting and even cannabis dispensing-another First Nation case Swinwood is defending with similar arguments.
The trial will continue in the coming weeks and is expected to hear from experts on Indigenous history.
Lake Nipissing is the seventh most fished lake in the province, including the Great Lakes, and is a provincially significant lake. It was fished commercially until 1922. Now, the only commercial fishery on the lake is operated by Nipissing First Nation.
In 2013, the ministry and First Nation agreed to a 30,000 kg limit on the fishery, with anglers allowed 10,000 kg and NFN commercial fishery allowed 20,000.
Those limits have since been raised to 50,000 kg, with anglers allowed 20,000 kg and the commercial fishery allowed 30,000.
Fishing rights at Lake Nipissing could open a can of worms for other Indigenous land rulings.
