Deal stems from Donald Marshall Jr.’s historic fishery case

Atlantic Canada’s native chiefs have vowed to pay Donald Marshall Jr.’s family members the money they are owed.
Eight years ago, the leaders of the region’s nearly three dozen Mi’kmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy First Nations bands committed to pay Donald Marshall Jr. $2 million in recognition of the advancement he made of fishing treaties.

But despite the good intentions, most of that money was never
paid, a slight which the family says hurt Mr. Marshall, who died in August of complications from a double lung transplant.

Thursday morning, the region’s chiefs voted to come up with the cash.

"We’re pleased with what they are trying to do," said Simon Marshall, Donald’s younger brother.

On Wednesday, several members of the Marshall family made a presentation to the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs during a meeting in Dartmouth.

"We were pleased and very honoured," Mr. Marshall said about the way the family was treated by the chiefs.

Thursday, the family got word the chiefs were upholding their previous commitment.

"They will take the decision back to the councils," said congress executive director John. G. Paul.

The councils will in turn decide how much they will contribute, both in the short term and over the long term, Mr. Paul said.

In the meantime, congress staff will prepare a background package on Donald Marshall Jr. and his contributions to the native people of the region.

The package will be sent to the bands "so when they are discussing the resolution and what they can contribute, that they will have all the facts and all the information," said Mr. Paul.
The chiefs have also decided that the money will be deposited into a trust, but details will have to be worked out with the family, he said.

The chiefs have vowed to come back with solid plans at their meeting in a month’s time.

In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada sided with Donald Marshall Jr. in a decision confirming native treaty rights involving fishing. He had taken his case to the country’s highest court after he was charged in 1996 with fishing eels out of season and without a licence and trying to sell them. Shortly after the court victory, the policy congress agreed on the compensation package.
To date, only Membertou, Waycobah and a few individual chiefs have contributed a total of $175,000.

By the end of this year, Waycobah will have paid $100,000, but Chief Morley Googoo said in an interview Thursday evening that it’s more about the principal than about how much each band contributes.

For Mr. Googoo, honouring the 2001 resolution was a priority "because I knew the direct benefit that the community gained" from the native fishing rights battle. Besides the profits and boats that his community has acquired, there was also the cash that came with signing the Marshall agreement, he said.

He encouraged bands that can pay to do so, but he also warned against creating divisions in the congress by finger pointing at those who have paid and those who haven’t.

Last month, the congress released a report on growth in the native fishery over the 10 years since Canada’s highest court gave native fishermen the right to fish for a living and to fish commercially. Those benefits include the creation of 1,000 jobs and a $30-million increase in fishery-related revenues.

The fishing rights case was the second major legal battle for Donald Marshall Jr. The Membertou man was wrongly convicted of a murder in Sydney when he was 17 and spent 11 years in prison before he was freed and subsequently acquitted. Another man was eventually convicted.

A royal commission in 1990 found that prejudice and institutional racism in Nova Scotia’s justice system had led to his wrongful conviction.

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