Overview
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada released a preliminary analysis proposing to reissue Greenland halibut and shrimp licences as previously allocated.
- Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association had won a ruling that quashed the earlier reissuance as unreasonable under the Nunavut Agreement’s adjacency principle.
- The contested licences cover zones off Baffin Island and were tied to the 2021 purchase of Clearwater Foods by a coalition of seven Mi’kmaq First Nations.
- DFO says the court-ordered redetermination allows parties to submit views that will inform a fair and reasonable ministerial decision.
- Inuit groups argue Nunavut controls only about half of local quotas compared with roughly 90% held by fisheries off Atlantic provincial coasts, while Ottawa notes Inuit declined to join the Clearwater purchase.