822 Years for DFO to Reply to FOI Request Re. Fraser River Steelhead!

Whole in the Water

Well-Known Member
What a freaking, sad joke DFO is!!!! If it wasn't such a serious and sad situation re. Fraser River steelhead we could all laugh at DFO's total incompetence yet again! Truly it is time for BC to demand that DFO no longer manage the west and east coast fisheries - give control over to the provinces.

https://vancouversun.com/news/local...TfyYZkq4xBRMNPhZOKEk4PshGzaHtK_Jp_dithb9Wq33g

Fraser River the most critically endangered river in B.C: Outdoor council

A Freedom of Information request concerning Ottawa's policy on steelhead conservation was initially estimated to take 822 years

RANDY SHORE
Updated: December 3, 2019
Migrating salmon get help after B.C. rock slide | Vancouver Sun1:34
changes made to a scientific assessment that could have led to stronger protections for steelhead.

How it happened remains a mystery.

When the BCWF filed a Freedom of Information request to learn how the scientific assessment was altered and by whom, the federal government said it would take 822 years to retrieve the documents. A second, less ambitious request was submitted, which the government now says will take 510 days beyond the statutory limit of 30 days typically allowed for processing such a request.

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Land-clearing is leading to habitat destruction in the heart of the lower Fraser River for about 30 other species of fish, Angelo noted in the council’s year-end statement.

Clear-cutting for agriculture and development are damaging rearing areas for chinook and other species between Mission and Hope and on mid-river lands such as Herrling, Carey and Strawberry islands.

The council is pushing to have the islands declared an Ecologically Significant Area under a new feature of the federal Fisheries Act.

Seven southern B.C. chinook stocks are considered endangered, four threatened, one is of special concern and one is not at risk, according to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.

The Big Bar landslide dramatically curtailed access to the upper reaches of the Fraser watershed for struggling runs of chinook and sockeye salmon this year.

The slide created a five-metre waterfall that forced DFO to trap and transport potential spawners below the debris and release them into the river above the slide.

“There was a valiant and heroic effort move fish past the slide,” said Angelo. “The unfortunate reality is that most fish didn’t make it through and those that did were already exhausted.”

There is a window of about three months before spring freshet during which water levels will be low enough to re-establish a passable corridor for next year’s spawners, he said.

Rock removal work at the slide site is ongoing, while DFO consults with experts on heavy construction, explosives and the Department of National Defence on ways to remove the remaining rock debris.

“These things taken together make the Fraser a critically endangered river, the most critically endangered in B.C. and probably all of Canada,” Angelo said.

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Mark Angelo, chairman of the Outdoor Recreation Council, looks out over the Fraser River from near the foot of Kerr Street in Vancouver on Monday.ARLEN REDEKOP/PNG

rshore@postmedia.com
 
Anything that has to do with First Nations is pretty hard to get. Seeing how that final decision was made by the government cabinet, they can invoke cabinet privilege and make this never see the light of day.

This was a decision made by the current Liberal government.
 
Actually, anything to do with DFO that might lead to a court case is the reason for delays. FOIs about the aquaculture industry typically take ~2&1/2 years as the lawyers @ DoJ have to ask the industry's permission and/or go over and blank-out incriminating evidence - stamping it with "client-solicitor privilege" afterwards. This is how DFO & other federal departments operate irrespective of which elected party clowns claim they own the treehouse in Ottawa.
 
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Actually, anything to do with DFO that might lead to a court case is the reason for delays. FOIs about the aquaculture industry typically take ~2&1/2 years as the lawyers @ DoJ have to ask the industry's permission and/or go over and blank-out incriminating evidence - stamping it with "client-solicitor privilege" afterwards. This is how DFO & other federal departments operate irrespective of which elected party clowns claim they own the treehouse in Ottawa.

I guess no one is responsible then
 
I think the biggest unresolved issue I see is that if any department claims an FoI request violates (in their minds) the "Privacy Act" and blanks-out stuff - then what? How do you know it was in fact a "privacy concern" verses they simply don't want the public to know? Where is the arbitrator or dispute mechanism?
 
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