Article content continued

“I am concerned that the relationship between Five Nations Clam Company and its partner, Premium Seafoods, could have played a role in Minister LeBlanc’s decision,” Doherty wrote. “By awarding the lucrative licence, potentially worth millions of dollars to a Liberal colleague’s brother’s company, it would appear the minister has improperly furthered private interests.”

The controversy stems from a decision the Liberals made last year to create a new Arctic surf clam licence and award one quarter of the existing quota to a partnership that includes multiple Indigenous communities.

The move was intended to further reconciliation by helping Indigenous peoples gain a foothold in a lucrative market and to break the monopoly on Arctic surf clams that has been held by Halifax-based Clearwater Seafoods. The clams are a popular sushi ingredient in Asia and, in 2016, the company’s revenue from surf clam sales was nearly $92 million.

In February, LeBlanc announced the licence would go to Premium Seafoods and the Five Nations Clam Company, a new entity comprised of Indigenous groups in Quebec and all four Atlantic provinces, headed by Chief Aaron Sock of the Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick.

However, as Doherty points out in his letter, Five Nations didn’t actually have all of its Indigenous partners nailed down when it was awarded the licence — it only formally announced its partners in March. “Could the minister have given preferential treatment to Five Nations and Premium Seafoods over other competing bids that on the surface, appear to have met the expression of interest criteria?” Doherty wrote.