Little Hawk
Active Member
JOHN CUMMINS, M.P.
> Delta - Richmond East
>
> NEWS RELEASE
>
> June 24, 2010
>
>
> Cohen Inquiry: Who is DFO Protecting?
>
> Wayne Wouters, the Clerk of the Privy Council has decreed that fishermen and
> environmentalists like Alexandra Morton will be given no resources to study
> the hundreds of thousands of documents that DFO is about to dump on the
> Cohen Inquiry.
>
> Wouters was Deputy of Minister of Fisheries from 1997 to 2002. The PCO is
> the bureaucracy that staffs the central office of the government, both the
> Cabinet and its committees and the Prime Minister.
>
> DFO has advised the Inquiry that it has identified 300,000 documents
> covering only the last five years of the fishery. Now with just days before
> the Inquiry must complete its first report to the Prime Minister and send it
> to translation, only a minuscule portion of the documents have actually been
> received by the Inquiry. The first report must be submitted in both English
> and French by August 1, 2010 and the final report of the Inquiry by May 1,
> 2011.
>
> DFO will decide what documents to submit to the inquiry. Everyone remembers
> how the Department withheld key documents from Bryan Williams when he
> conducted his post season review in 2004. Clearly DFO is up to its old
> tricks in offering up a huge number of documents covering only the last 5
> years and actually delivering only a handful of documents so far. Any
> serious investigation of DFO management would have to go back to the early
> 1990's, the period when sockeye declines first became apparent to fishermen.
> This, of course, includes the period when Wouters was Deputy Minister of
> Fisheries.
>
> Justice Braidwood in the Taser Inquiry report indicates why it is
> fundamentally important that DFO documents and testimony be given careful
> consideration.
>
> " "I concluded that . there were suspicions that inaccurate
> information was released deliberately in order to cast the officers' conduct
> in a more favourable light.
>
> Interestingly the only funds that the Clerk of the Privy Council agreed to
> provide fishermen and Morton was for lawyers. Both Morton and commercial
> fishermen dependent on Fraser sockeye who originally called for the Inquiry
> have received only a small part of the legal funds.
>
> " The Alexandra Morton group of environmental organizations will
> receive 460 hours of legal funding.
> " The David Suzuki Foundation group of environmental organizations
> will receive 1570 hours.
> " Area D gillnetters fishing in Johnstone Strait and Area B seiners
> (most owned by Jimmy Pattison) will receive 985 hours of funding.
> " West Coast of Vancouver Island trollers and the UFAWU will receive
> funding for 760 hours.
> " Area E gillnetters fishing on the Fraser River and the Fisheries
> Survival Coalition who have fought for the Inquiry since 1992 and who have
> been hardest hit by the decline of Fraser sockeye receive 835 hours of
> funding.
> " The BC Wildlife Federation receives 790 hours of funding.
> " Aboriginal groups receive 7,421 hours of funding.
> " The Pacific Salmon Commission, operated jointly by DFO and the US,
> receives 1045 hours of funding.
>
> Without adequate funding Fraser River commercial fishermen and credible
> environmentalists like Alexander Morton will find it very difficult to
> carefully consider what is likely to be more than one million documents.
>
> Wouters denial of funding smacks of yet another DFO insider using his
> position to protect himself and his former colleagues at DFO.
>
> Contact: John Cummins, M.P.
> (613) 992-2957, (cell) (604) 970-0937, (604) 940-8040 or www.johncummins.ca
"Some could care less if there's any fish left for our kids!"
> Delta - Richmond East
>
> NEWS RELEASE
>
> June 24, 2010
>
>
> Cohen Inquiry: Who is DFO Protecting?
>
> Wayne Wouters, the Clerk of the Privy Council has decreed that fishermen and
> environmentalists like Alexandra Morton will be given no resources to study
> the hundreds of thousands of documents that DFO is about to dump on the
> Cohen Inquiry.
>
> Wouters was Deputy of Minister of Fisheries from 1997 to 2002. The PCO is
> the bureaucracy that staffs the central office of the government, both the
> Cabinet and its committees and the Prime Minister.
>
> DFO has advised the Inquiry that it has identified 300,000 documents
> covering only the last five years of the fishery. Now with just days before
> the Inquiry must complete its first report to the Prime Minister and send it
> to translation, only a minuscule portion of the documents have actually been
> received by the Inquiry. The first report must be submitted in both English
> and French by August 1, 2010 and the final report of the Inquiry by May 1,
> 2011.
>
> DFO will decide what documents to submit to the inquiry. Everyone remembers
> how the Department withheld key documents from Bryan Williams when he
> conducted his post season review in 2004. Clearly DFO is up to its old
> tricks in offering up a huge number of documents covering only the last 5
> years and actually delivering only a handful of documents so far. Any
> serious investigation of DFO management would have to go back to the early
> 1990's, the period when sockeye declines first became apparent to fishermen.
> This, of course, includes the period when Wouters was Deputy Minister of
> Fisheries.
>
> Justice Braidwood in the Taser Inquiry report indicates why it is
> fundamentally important that DFO documents and testimony be given careful
> consideration.
>
> " "I concluded that . there were suspicions that inaccurate
> information was released deliberately in order to cast the officers' conduct
> in a more favourable light.
>
> Interestingly the only funds that the Clerk of the Privy Council agreed to
> provide fishermen and Morton was for lawyers. Both Morton and commercial
> fishermen dependent on Fraser sockeye who originally called for the Inquiry
> have received only a small part of the legal funds.
>
> " The Alexandra Morton group of environmental organizations will
> receive 460 hours of legal funding.
> " The David Suzuki Foundation group of environmental organizations
> will receive 1570 hours.
> " Area D gillnetters fishing in Johnstone Strait and Area B seiners
> (most owned by Jimmy Pattison) will receive 985 hours of funding.
> " West Coast of Vancouver Island trollers and the UFAWU will receive
> funding for 760 hours.
> " Area E gillnetters fishing on the Fraser River and the Fisheries
> Survival Coalition who have fought for the Inquiry since 1992 and who have
> been hardest hit by the decline of Fraser sockeye receive 835 hours of
> funding.
> " The BC Wildlife Federation receives 790 hours of funding.
> " Aboriginal groups receive 7,421 hours of funding.
> " The Pacific Salmon Commission, operated jointly by DFO and the US,
> receives 1045 hours of funding.
>
> Without adequate funding Fraser River commercial fishermen and credible
> environmentalists like Alexander Morton will find it very difficult to
> carefully consider what is likely to be more than one million documents.
>
> Wouters denial of funding smacks of yet another DFO insider using his
> position to protect himself and his former colleagues at DFO.
>
> Contact: John Cummins, M.P.
> (613) 992-2957, (cell) (604) 970-0937, (604) 940-8040 or www.johncummins.ca
"Some could care less if there's any fish left for our kids!"
