Council of Haida Nation takes Federal Government to court over Herring Issues

CHN court filing
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The Council of Haida Nation is moving forward with its plan to ensure a closure of the Herring Fishery off Haida Gwaii this spring, revealing that they have filed a notice of application with Federal Court.

The CHN posted their application to the Court to their twitter feed and website today.

It's the latest step in their ongoing efforts in response to recent moves by the Ministry of Fisheries, which was planning to open a herring fishery off of Haida Gwaii.

Last Friday, we outlined on the blog how the Council of the Haida Nation had declared closed the assessment area of Haida Gwaii, joining First Nations on Western Vancouver Island in expressing their disappointment at the DFO plans

We reviewed those Vancouver Island concerns over the DFO decision with this item from January 13.

On Tuesday, UFAWU/Unifor the largest union in the British Columbia fishery offered its support to a bid from the Haida Nation to shut down the herring fishery this spring, outlining their shared concerns in a letter to the Council of Haida Nations.

The correspondence with the CHN called on the need for DFO to be held accountable on what UFAWU called mismanagement of fisheries issues.

The DFO-Pacific needs to be held to account on this mismanagement. Over the last four decades access to fish and fisheries has become separated from fishermen and adjacent coastal communities. Continued dis-integrated management on our coast is simply unacceptable. -- A passage from a letter of support to the Council of Haida Nations from UFAWU/Unifor


As the Council of the Haida Nation moves forward with its court action, the process now shifts to the Federal Government which has ten days from the date of filing to respond to the Court.

You can find more background on fishery issues on the North Coast and Haida Gwaii from our archive page here.