R v Paul, 2003 NSSC 164

This case was heard in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

The Respondent, Jerome Paul, was a Mi'kmaw fisher from Indian Brook (Sipekne'katik) First Nation who fished for snow crab under a licence that had been granted by his community under a system that the Band had implemented separately from the federal licensing regime. Mr. Paul was surveilled by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and was ultimately charged with fishing without a licence.

At trial in the Nova Scotia Provincial Court, Mr. Paul relied on the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in R v Marshall, [1999] 3 SCR 533, and challenged the federal government's authority to regulate the licencing of Indigenous fisheries. Mr. Paul was convicted, but he was granted a conditional discharge and was ordered to carry out community service and submit to supervised probation for one year. Additionally, the Court ordered that Mr. Paul forfeit the fishing gear that he had used, as well as a portion of the proceeds that he had earned by selling the crab he caught while fishing under the licence that had been issued by his community.

The government appealed the sentence and argued that Mr. Paul should have forfeited all the money earned from the sale of the crab; however, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court upheld the lower court's sentencing decision.

View the Decision on CanLII: https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nssc/doc/2003/2003nssc164/2003nssc164.html

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