Judge from N.L. hearing Labrador man's appeal that could change fishery future
The venue may be an 11th floor courtroom in downtown Ottawa, but a judge from Newfoundland and Labrador is hearing a pivotal legal challenge that could overturn limits on corporate control of Atlantic Canada's inshore fishery.
Madame Justice Cecily Strickland of the Federal Court of Canada is presiding in the Elson case which opened Tuesday for two days of legal arguments.
Prior to her 2012 appointment to the bench, Strickland spent 11 years as a lawyer at the St. John's offices of Stewart McKelvey, where she specialized in marine and admiralty law.
The case she is hearing is seen as a test of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans long standing policy that the principal beneficiaries of inshore licences should be the fishermen who hold them.
Cartwight fisherman appealing decision
Cartwright fisherman Kirby Elson is appealing a 2015 decision by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to strip him of his fishing licences because he refused to exit a controlling agreement with two NL fish processors.
In Elson's 2003 agreement with Quinlan Brothers and a related company, Labrador Sea Products, the companies totally controlled his snow crab licence, supplying the boat and crew and reaping the profits.
Elson, who was in Ottawa Tuesday for the hearing, has said he was too poor to go fishing without the agreement.
He has powerful forces behind his challenge, including the Association of Seafood Producers in St John's, which supplied a supporting brief in the case and a legal team from one of Canada's biggest law firms, McCarthy Tetrault of Toronto.
Extra chairs had to be brought into the courtroom for an overflow crowd, which included two officials of Quinlan Brothers.
Elson, his lawyers, Quinlan Brothers, and the processors have not responded to requests for comments from CBC News.
