The United Nations anti-racism committee wants Canada to answer to allegations of racist actions committed against Mi’kmaq lobster fishers in Nova Scotia. In a letter issued on April 30, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination makes reference to incidents last fall where members of the Sipekne’katik First Nation encountered violence. The incidents were related to a dispute with non-indigenous fishers aggrieved that the Mi’kmaq band was fishing outside of the federally regulated season. The attacks included destruction of a lobster storage facility being used by the band and a van owned by a band member. The letter, signed by committee chair Yanduan Li, a representative of China, alleges that the RCMP and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) “failed to take appropriate measures to prevent these acts of violence.” The First Nation argues that the Supreme Court’s 1999 Marshall decision, which affirmed the treaty right of the Mi’kmaq people …