OldBlackDog
Well-Known Member
Anyone who has been paying attention to the trend in how west coast fisheries resources are being managed by our federal government (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) of late probably struggles to ignore the notion of death by a thousand cuts. I say death in the context of access to those resources by non-indigenous people. Whereas there is no shortage of evidence of that trend, a recent news release from Minister Wilkinson is more akin to death by multiple amputations. Have a look at his September 6 message and tell me I’m overreacting.
https://www.canada.ca/…/transformative-change-underway-at-f…
Here’s some cherry picked cut and pastes from his release:
‘While the Strategy is meant to guide employees in understanding why and how reconciliation is significant to their daily work, the Department is releasing it publicly to underscore its importance. It is intended to help ignite a culture change within the Department and beyond.”
“As a guidance document to help employees understand why and how reconciliation matters in their day-to-day work, the strategy is intended to help ignite a culture change within the Department and beyond. It includes a reporting tool to hold the Department publicly accountable for completing `actions and achieving results that support reconciliation”.
“The DFO and Coast Guard commitment is to recognize and implement Indigenous and treaty rights related to fisheries, oceans, aquatic habitat, and marine waterways in a manner consistent with section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the federal Principles Respecting the Government of Canada’s Relationship with Indigenous Peoples.”
“Transforming our relationship with Indigenous peoples requires that all employees be mindful of the commitment to reconciliation every day. The principles are meant to guide our employees as they work toward completing the concrete actions, but also in all other aspects of their day-to-day work.”
“By measuring the results of their initiatives related to reconciliation through the Departmental Results Framework, DFO and Coast Guard employees will be able to see how their daily activities are making a difference to the reconciliation agenda. Through this process, we will be held publicly accountable for their reconciliation actions and results.”
It occurs to me the direction by Minister Wilkinson amounts to the residential school approach in reverse?
Now, if you don’t accept we’re on an entirely new route and rate of elimination of fishing (and hunting and……) that has been an integral part of the non-indigenous life styles since the arrival of participant’s ancestors in British Columbia, there is more to think about. Try this link for a refresher:
https://youtu.be/ne4SLBhU5k4
What is germane here is not a three hour video on the potential for First Nations to partake of the emerging cannabis economy. Rather it’s the background legalities that have taken us in that direction. The instructive part of this is the presentation between 2:35 and 3:04. To me it lays out perfectly the sequence of events from enactment of the Canadian Constitution (1982) and the evolution of the Section 35 fishing rights (food, social and ceremonial or FSC). The presenter does an excellent job of summarizing the various milestone legal decisions that have taken us from the relative obscurity of indigenous fisheries through their ascent to dominance today. We’ve now got a growth industry financed by us taxpayers to exploit the door opening to places I’m convinced no one ever imagined 37 years ago. Lawyers are good at that.
The predictable reaction by some readers here will be, oh, that racist genocide proponent is at it again. I’ll reiterate, though, what I’ve said frequently here and elsewhere. I am no longer concerned about allocation. The writing is on the wall in that respect. What I do care about is conservation. Tragically, however, I see no evidence out there on the waters of this province that anything the courts have mandated and DFO and its indigenous partners have trumpeted is manifested in anything other than more of what has created the long and growing list of endangered salmon and steelhead stocks. Unless and until both those parties start by agreeing to eliminate indiscriminate fishing practices like gill netting in the Fraser and Skeena rivers (for openers) there is not going to be enough fish left to continue to use as the currency of reconciliation.
While I’m on this, why not just get on with the inevitable? Save us taxpayers the bottomless pit of expenditures on lawyers and the inestimable cost of “government to government” negotiations that are obviously progressively removing non-indigenous participation in fishing opportunity. Turn over what remains of Pacific fishery resources to our indigenous people and save the rest of us millions or perhaps billions waiting out the courts to do it for us? Help me understand what the down side of that is for that other 95% of Canadians who have been paying DFO to eliminate our access and opportunity all along.
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http...aspFD5WkJN552CbMKOCHXQ78lB7UM5na0V6XvePbbsz30
