On October 21, people gathered on Parliament Hill across the street from the Prime Minister’s Office in support of the Mi’kmaq inherent and treaty right to fish.

On September 17, after 21 years of inaction by the Canadian government to provide a framework to implement the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling affirming the Treaty rights of the Mi’kmaq to fish for a “moderate livelihood”, the Sipekne’katik First Nation in Nova Scotia issued a small number of licences to Mi’kmaq fishers.

On that day, CBC reported that the Sipekne’katik boats launched on St. Marys Bay were met on the water by non-Indigenous fishers.

Sakura Saunders described the situation: “Over 60 commercial fishery boats (including trawlers) rallied to intimidate 5 Mi’kmaq fishing boats with 50 traps each attempting to practice their treaty rights on the 21st anniversary of the Marshall Decision.”

By October 5, Justice Gruben tweeted: “Robert Syliboy’s (Mi’kmaq) boat has been destroyed @ Comeauville Wharf, 5 mins away from Saulnierville. In response to Moderate Livelihood lobster fishing. Tensions have not worn off, they are still high & Canada’s racism and refusal to step-in speaks volumes.”

Then on October 14, Agent NDN tweeted: “So I’ve just seen some live streams on FB showing what happened tonight. Settler fishermen raided the Mi’gmaw fishing compound. They cut the power; ransacked the buildings; poured chemicals on living lobsters; lit a van on fire; stole lobster traps; threw rocks; made threats.”

By October 17, a fire destroyed that lobster pound (building) used by Mi’kmaq fishers in the fishing village of Middle West Pubnico, Nova Scotia.

After that happened, Idle No More posted: “The violent actions of the commercial fishermen against Indigenous people is terrorist vigilantism. Mi’kmaq people have been threatened, physically attacked, fishing boats have been damaged, and lobster pounds have been destroyed.”

Their statement highlighted: “The inaction of the federal and provincial government and the RCMP to protect Mi’kmaq people is a violation of Indigenous inherent rights, Treaty rights, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.”

Then on December 13, Pictou Landing Chief Andrea Paul posted on Facebook: “Today – actually about 15 minutes ago a white male (3 of them actually) were seen pulling up our Netukulimk Fishing traps. Our fisher went out to see who it was. They SHOT at him!!! They were there with a rifle and shot at my community member!!! My fisher was alone.”

The following day CBC reported: “RCMP in Pictou County, N.S. have one person in custody after reports of shots fired Sunday in the area of Pictou Landing First Nation.”

For additional context, Vice recently reported: ‘There’s Death Threats’: Indigenous Fishers Nervous as Nova Scotia’s Commercial Lobster Season Opens.

The Burnt Church Crisis that followed the Supreme Court ruling in September 1999 is told in a feature-length National Film Board documentary by Alanis Obomsawin that can be watched online at: Is the Crown at war with us?

A CF-18 at the 4 Wing/Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake. The construction of that base displaced Dene Su’lene’ peoples from their traditional territories. This past August, the Canadian government announced a $9.2 million infrastructure upgrade to the base to support the new fighter jets to be stationed at this base.

The Canadian government intends to award a contract in 2022 to one of three companies to build a new fleet of fighter jets to replace the current fleet of CF-18s. That fleet cost $4 billion to purchase in 1982 and $2.6 billion to upgrade in 2010.

The first delivery of the new warplanes would come in the mid 2020s and the full fleet of 88 planes would be delivered by the early 2030s (likely 2032).

As an interim measure, the Canadian government approved in November 2018 the purchase of 18 second-hand Australian F-18s.

The Department of National Defence had indicated the cost of buying and upgrading these warplanes would be $895.5 million.

In June 2018, Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese reported Canada might actually buy 25 Australian fighter jets, but that: “The Liberal government has set aside up to $500 million for the project and that would cover the seven added jets”

By February 2019, after the approval of the purchase, Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux reported that the actual cost of buying, upgrading and flying the fighter jets until 2032 would cost between $1.09 billion and $1.15 billion.

Lee Berthiaume of the Canadian Press then reported in January 2020 the figure of $3 billion to purchase the 18 fighter jets and extend the life of the current fleet.

Berthiaume further reported at that time that an additional $800 million is to be spent on new weapons, sensors and defensive systems.

By June of this year, Pugliese had reported: “The U.S. government has cleared the way for Canada to buy more than $1 billion worth of new missiles and related equipment for the Royal Canadian Air Force’s CF-18 fighter jet fleet.”

The first Australian fighter jet was delivered in February 2019 and the final aircraft is expected to be delivered in December of next year.

Now, CBC reporter Murray Brewster reports that only three of the seven F-18 fighter jets have been integrated into the air force and the Department of National Defence says key upgrades to as much as one-third of the current fleet will take up to five years.

Brewster adds that this cost and delay has prompted Selkirk, Manitoba Member of Parliament James Bezan, the Conservative defence critic, to say it would make more sense to accelerate the purchase of the new fighter jets.

The cost of new fighter jets

In contrast, a peace coalition opposed to the purchase of the new fighter jets has called for a full-cost accounting of the new warplanes.

The Government of Canada says the acquisition of the new aircraft, associated equipment and setup to enable entry into service will cost $15-19 billion.

But there is every indication the actual cost will be billions more.

In 2011, CBC reporter Meagan Fitzpatrick reported that while the Canadian government said the purchase cost of 65 F-35s would be $9 billion, the Parliamentary Budget Officer pegged the purchase price and sustainment costs at $29.3 billion over 30 years.

Despite the scale of the purchase, no official calculation has been made public on the full, lifecycle cost of the 88 new warplanes, but it is a certainty that the actual cost (when operations, sustainment, disposal and contingency acquisition costs are considered) would be billions more than the sticker price.

The Parliamentary Budget Office currently does not plan to cost the new fighter jet until the Canadian governments chooses among the three contenders: the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet; the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II; and the Saab Gripen.

But the Canadian government has not given a specific date of when it will shortlist one of the contenders or if that decision will be made public.

Public Services and Procurement Canada has only said: “The initial evaluation of proposals is anticipated to be completed by spring 2021, at which point Canada may choose to enter into dialogue with two or more compliant bidders and request revised proposals.”

We also do not know if it will be a matter of days, weeks or months before the selection of the fighter jet and the signing of the contract.

Nor do we know where the Parliamentary Budget Office full-cost calculation of the chosen warplane would fit into that timeline.

The lack of transparency and answers to these fundamental questions about costs is a matter of great concern and should be addressed.

Just prior to the Climate Ambition Summit, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated: “Humanity is waging war on nature. …Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century.  It must be the top, top priority for everyone, everywhere.”

That summit, co-hosted by the United Kingdom, the United Nations and France, in partnership with Chile and Italy, took place on December 12, the 5^th anniversary of the conclusion of the COP21 talks in Paris and the Paris climate agreement.

That agreement contains a ratchet mechanism by which nations must update their commitments every five years.

At COP21, Canada pledged to reduce carbon its emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels (703 megatonnes) by 2030.

In this 98-second pre-recorded video played at the summit, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated: “We will raise our emission reduction ambitions. And in partnership with provinces and territories, we as a country will strive for the upper end of a range of 32 to 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.”

Most countries gauge their carbon emission reduction targets based on a 1990 baseline, for instance the European Union has pledged to reduce their carbon emissions by 55 per cent below 1990 levels by 2030.

If Canada were to use its 1990 levels (603 megatonnes), its promise at the Climate Ambition Summit would represent a 17.7 to 27.4 per cent reduction.

Hundreds of people had called on the Canadian prime minister – through a PBI-Canada urgent action – to strengthen Canada’s target, present a credible plan to achieve that target, uphold the Indigenous right to free, prior and informed consent and recognize the situation of human rights defenders on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

They highlighted that on average four land and environmental defenders have been killed every week since the Paris climate agreement was reached in December 2015. More than one-third of those fatal attacks have been against Indigenous land defenders.

Furthermore, the UN High Commissioner for human rights has stated climate change is a massive threat to human rights and the UN Human Rights Council passed this resolution calling for the protection of environmental human rights defenders given the crucial role they play in protecting vital ecosystems and addressing climate change.

These crucial issues were not at the forefront of the summit.

Yesterday, Greta Thunberg tweeted: “At the #ClimateAmbitionSummit leaders celebrate their shameless loopholes, empty words, distant insufficient goals and theft of present and future living conditions – calling it ‘ambition’. There are no climate leaders. The only ones who can change this is you and me. Together.”

And Tim Gore, head of climate policy at Oxfam, says: “The Climate Ambition Summit lacked real ambition. World leaders must step up in the next 12 critical months to pull the world back from the brink of catastrophic climate change. Commitments to near-term emissions cuts are still insufficient to limit warming to the 1.5C Paris goal.”

The 12-month timeline that Gore references relates to the COP26 climate summit that will be held in Glasgow, Scotland on November 1-12, 2021.

PBI-Canada will continue to highlight the importance of frontline land and environmental defenders working to stop the war on nature.

Secwepemc land defender Kanahus Manuel has posted on Facebook: “Before Wolverine passed away he called on the government to have a national inquiry into the Gustafsen Lake standoff in Unceded Secwepemc Territory 1995 and the use of police and military against Indigenous Land Defenders.”

She adds: “In the courts it was exposed the amount of live rounds (77,000 rounds fired) used against Indigenous land defenders including Wolverine. I stand with Wolverine in his call for a federal inquiry into Gustafsen Lake Standoff!”

The CBC has previously explained: “The standoff began in 1995 when about 20 First Nations occupied a piece of ranch land near 100-Mile House that they said was sacred and part of a larger tract of unceded territory.”

The town of 100-Mile House is located about 190 kilometres north-west of Kamloops, British Columbia.

That article adds: “In response the RCMP brought in 400 armed officers, backed by helicopters and armoured personnel carriers, blew up a supply pick-up truck with buried explosives, and fired thousands of rounds of ammunition.”

APTN has also noted: “The RCMP used an IED [improvised explosive device] against the warriors during the standoff and Bison armoured personnel carriers provided and driven by the Canadian Forces.”

That article adds: “One of Wolverine’s last acts [before he passed away in March 2016] was to issue a call for a public inquiry into the actions of the RCMP and Canadian military during the Gustafsen Lake standoff.”

That letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated: “The core issues that so forcefully clashed against each other remain at the forefront of the hearts and minds of Indigenous people. That is our right to self-determination, autonomy and protection from the dispossession of our lands and territories.”

Wolverine’s letter to the Prime Minister also stated: “An inquiry into the Ts’Peten standoff would [help ensure] that threats, intimidation, defamation and force are never again used against Indigenous people in Canada.”

The APTN report notes: “The standoff gave Wolverine a global platform that saw him travel to places like the United Nations and to Zapatista territory in Chiapas, Mexico. Kanahus Manuel, who was there at the time of his death, said Wolverine’s name is known from the Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota reservation down to Mapuche territory in Chile.”

Wolverine passed away on March 22, 2016. Almost 5 years later, his call for a public inquiry remains unfulfilled by the Canadian government.

For more, please see Gord Hill’s video Gustafsen Lake Standoff in five minutes.

These stills from RCMP surveillance footage show a truck being driven by land defenders on a dirt road at Gustafsen Lake and the aftermath of the IED explosion.