Tensions between fishery officers in Nova Scotia and their federal employer got so bad that officers warned that, without proper protection, increased lawlessness in the region’s fishing industries “is gonna get someone killed,” new documents reveal.
The situation reached a breaking point in July last year, when 35 of the 125 fishery officers in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ (DFO) Maritimes Region filed a work refusal, saying they wouldn’t do field work until they received adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect them from the increasing danger.
Communication released to Global News under the Freedom of Information Act provides a rare glimpse into how far the situation deteriorated for officers, saying they were being shot at, subjected to acts of violence at home and work, encountering fishers with long guns (rifles), and were being asked by individuals if they were “willing to die for their jobs.”
Organized crime rings linked to unauthorized lobster fishing have terrorized Acadian fishing communities in southwest Nova Scotia in recent years, RCMP say, with shootings, arsons and online threats related to the province’s most valuable seafood export.
Rampant poaching and violence have also plagued the lucrative baby eel fishery, forcing the DFO to shut it down last year and cut it short in 2023. The eels — also known as elvers — are fished in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Maine and shipped live to Asia, where they are grown to maturity and can fetch up to $5,000 per kilogram.
What has since ensued is a long standoff predominantly fought among bureaucracies behind closed doors, with enforcement caught in the middle.
During one tense exchange, staff accused DFO of ignoring evidence of death threats against officers and were told “people have almost died” due to inaction.
““[This is] work that we’re saying is gonna get someone killed,” one unnamed officer told DFO top brass.
In the months since, industry insiders say the situation on Nova Scotia waters has not improved.
“The violence is certainly, certainly escalating,” says Colin Sproul, president of the Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance.
“I’m just shocked that our fishery has become so overcome with violence, but this is so much bigger than this one issue with the fishery officers.”
Officers returned to work in October after their dispute reached the Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), which ordered DFO to take immediate action to protect its staff.
But the DFO will not say directly what protection it has provided.
“Immediate action was taken to address the [ESDC] direction received,” a DFO spokesperson said in a prepared statement.
But it was a long road for officers to have their warnings heeded.
‘Threats to the lives of fishery officers’
The DFO’s Maritimes Region, covering eastern and southwest Nova Scotia and southwest New Brunswick, accounts for 40 per cent of the landed value of Canada’s commercial fisheries – worth more than $1.64 billion.
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That lucrative haul has made the area a hotspot for violent crime – with fishery officers struggling to maintain authority over unregulated fishing, attempted assaults and tensions with some Indigenous fishers.
An 837-page tranche of documents was released to Global News on the DFO work refusals last week. Though it was predominantly Microsoft Teams meeting invites with scarce accompanying notes or minutes, one Aug. 14 transcript of a meeting between refusing officers and DFO bosses revealed soaring tensions.
During the meeting, Conservation and Protection director Tim Kerr said that according to the Canada Labour Code’s definition of danger, “refusal cannot be based on speculation or unverified information, or assuming something’s gonna happen when you step out the door.”
He also said officers had training to ensure the “operational field work itself is not a danger,” and that if the officers went to the ESDC, “I do not believe that… you will be successful.”
A spokesperson for the officers responded that the DFO had not conducted a fair and impartial investigation. The officer alleged that they had “intel on threats to the lives of fishery officers,” which “the department has, that they’re sitting on,” and disciplinary actions had been brought against officers who “brought concerns up.”
He also stated that their PPE was inadequate. DFO emails released to Global News mentioned requests for hard body armour and long guns from officers.
“What we’re talking about here is we’re being sent … out into the work site, without even being given hard hats,” the officer said.
“We’ve had discussions with police officers, with emergency response teams and nobody can understand why we’re still being asked to do this work.”
The officer went on to say that their tires were slashed during a previous flare-up in 2020 and “nothing has changed since and people have almost died since.”
The refusal continued through two DFO investigations until it reached the ESDC in August.
Only then did officers receive vindication, with senior investigator Jeffrey Pope agreeing that heavily-armed criminals pose a risk to their lives and ordering the DFO to take corrective action to protect its officers immediately.
The investigation found that assessments and protocols provided by DFO had not been reviewed for three years, and “that the protective equipment and tactical protocols currently provided to address this hazard are inadequate.”
DFO says fishery officers returned to work in the days after the ESDC issued the decision, but would not provide an exact date.
The DFO refused to answer any specific questions on the matter, including if officers were asked to return to work or returned to work on their own accord, as well as what “intel” they were alleged to have been provided, and what, if any, new PPE had been supplied since officers’ return.
“As part of ongoing efforts to support officer safety, Fisheries and Oceans Canada continuously assesses and updates equipment and training provided to officers as needed, in line with current risks and emerging threats,” a DFO spokesperson said.
‘Chaos and not a clear set of rules’
According to documents, the DFO does appear to be aware of the risks their front-line officers face, however.
A 2023 memorandum to the then-associate deputy minister of fisheries, Kevin Brosseau, outlined efforts to “support front-line fishery officers” due to “occupational health and safety concerns,” such as adding reality-based training to the officers’ training programs, and a pilot program for body-worn cameras.
One email from a DFO staffer in May 2023 requested an update on helmet procurement “for the health and safety of fisheries officers,” as she had been asking for more than two years.
In November 2023, an email highlighted “concerns with current [fishery officers] that do not have shot gun training,” with more than 80 officers in the Gulf and Maritimes region needing the training.
In July 2024, an email from Fishery Officer Jason McKnight to Regional Staff Officer Stephanie Covey said, “I hear there has been a tender put out for new SBA [soft body armour]. Has there been any discussion with respect to hard body armour for those dicey evenings on the river by any chance?”
As the work refusals continued, Anik Michelle Chartrand, the director general of conservation and protection, acknowledged to fishery officers in an email that they had “navigated an ongoing and challenging enforcement environment that spans several years,” and pledged the expansion of a body-worn camera pilot, more silent partners (screens to protect officers) for vehicles, and training for encountering long guns, as well as drug and drug paraphernalia.
But industry insiders argued this is not enough.
“The violence is… all indicative of the same thing. Chaos and not a clear set of rules,” Sproul tells Global News.
“[…] there’s fishers posting photos on social media in flak jackets and carrying guns.”
Ottawa attempted to regain control over the elver industry this year by introducing new rules for licensing and reallocating quota from commercial harvesters to new Mi’kmaw participants. But several First Nations rejected the plan.
Sproul says the government has long given up trying to enforce the laws. He says the RCMP is also often reluctant to get involved.
“Nobody knows what they’re allowed to do and what they are not allowed to,” Sproul says. [And there’s] violence against people who speak out against it.”
