Shelley Denny: making room for Mi’kmaw livelihood fishery easier than you think

by | Oct 19, 2020 | News

Shelley Denny is a Mi’kmaw doctoral candidate in the Interdisciplinary Program at Dalhousie University – Contributed.

As published in The Chronicle Herald on October 14, 2020:

“Isn’t it worth each commercial licence holder exploring giving up 2.5 to four traps annually in return for building better relations, avoiding conflict, and abiding by the multiple decisions of the courts?”

Shelley Denny, a Mi’kmaw doctoral candidate in the Interdisciplinary Program at Dalhousie University, speaks to the violence directed at Mi’kmaw people as they exercise their legal right to fish for a moderate livelihood. She highlights the issue of a lack of rules and how it is intertwined with notions of conservation, and provides consideration for an interim solution. The focus of her research is to use Two-Eyed Seeing to develop an alternative fisheries governance model for Mi’kmaw inherent and treaty fisheries in Nova Scotia. Two-Eyed Seeing is a practice that brings together the strengths of different knowledge perspectives for the benefit of all.

Shelley Denny is the director of aquatic research and stewardship at UINR and co-chair of the Apoqnmatulti’k steering committee.