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[chris gadsden]

Bill C 32 did not make it to the floor of the House of commons this past week. Next week is totally dedicated to Native Affairs so there is little or no chance it will come up then. Then there is a week break so the earliest we should see this back on the Order paper is the last week of May. Will keep you posted.
 
I do want you all to be aware however that the Tsawwassen Treaty is scheduled on the Order Paper for every day next week. In short the Conservatives are committed to getting it passed by that time. This is Bill C34 and includes the approval of the House of Commons for the Harvest Agreement that goes along with the Treaty.
 
Contrary to Common Law which establishes our Right To Fish as Canadians, these Harvest Agreements will give a set percentage of the Salmon to the Treaty Band in Perpetuity for commercial harvest. In short, this government and the Liberal Provincial Government are committed to establishing an Exclusive Right to Fish commercially for Indian Bands.
 
Remember this is not FSC fisheries but Commercial Fisheries. This action will take these fish away from all other Canadians and their heirs forever and a day. This is in direct conflict with every Supreme Court of Canada Judgement on this issue and every Court and Judicial and Political review of the issue since the Days of King John and the Magna Carta at Runnymead.
 
The real tragedy here is that it is my understanding that all the parties in the House of Commons have agreed to put forward only one speaker each on this legislation to speed it's passage through the House in one day if possible.
 
The only MP that I am aware of that is prepared to speak out on behalf of the rest of the Canadian populations is John Cummins and so far there is no indication that the Conservatives are even going to let the Speaker recognize him so he can even speak.
 
And they call it democracy!!!
 
As one person I know put it with regard the attack on our Canadian Right to Fish, First there was King John, then there was Peter Pearse and now there is Loyola Hearn and Chuck Strahl.
 
I urge everyone of your to call, write, e mail your MP's and let them know you are mad as hell and not going to take in any more.
 
We, the other Canadians are being sold out and every Party in the House of Commons, and as best I can determine at this time, every MP with the exception of John Cummins is party to this sell out!
 
Remember Tsawwassen is but the first of 96 Treaties to be signed on the Fraser  and given the standard set by Tsawwassen, there will be no fish left for any other Canadians if this travesty is allowed to proceed.

[Sam Salmon]

Well as to Commercial fishing everything is closed unless there's an opening so there won't be any more fish taken-in addition Natives already control a large percentage of the Commercial fishery-it's NBD

In fact Natives have fished Commercially for thousands of years-coastal tribes traded dried/smoked fish to Interior tribes for all kinds of goods-they also were the first to sell fish to Fort Langley and continued this business until the Govt barred them from the Commercial fishery around WW1.

[troutbreath]

I hear where your concerns are Chris but Commercial fishing has to be regulated to make sure the runs survive. I just hope that this is in the equation. It has been whitey wiping out most fish in North America so I can't say that letting FNs have a kick at the cat is going to make it any worse. Lets hope that closures of fishing at times when stocks are in peril is the rule of the day. Or that the FNs are using the traditional method of ceder or some natural fiber nets to do the snagging from their longboats or birch barks.

I just hope Salmon don't go the way of the Cod.

[Fish Assassin]

Remember the discussion we had prior to the last election as to which party is better for the fishery ? Proves once again all politicians are liars and will do and say whatever to get your vote.

[Sea Nymph]

I've got my pen in hand and am writing my MP  right now. Thx for the info Chris

[nosey]

Any chance of getting someone to post where to write to and who to email?

[chris gadsden]

More from the SDA


To all member of Parliament:



I am writing to you today on behalf of the membership of the Sportfishing Defence Alliance and indeed all citizens of Canada who have an interest in the future of fisheries in this country for all Canadians.

We are advised that in the coming week you will all be dealing with a piece of legislation listed as Bill C 34, an Act to approve the Tsawwassen Treaty and all the side agreements. We have been further advised that you have all agreed to only put up one speaker from each party to speak to this legislation and that you will all support its’ passage. We are further advised that only one member of Parliament, Mr. John Cummins from B.C. is prepared to stand up in the House and speak out on behalf of all Canadians. However it seems that even that token effort on our behalf is not certain as the Speaker has yet to indicate he will be recognized and allowed to speak. 

Ladies and Gentlemen you are about to embark on the greatest legislated travesty every inflicted upon any citizenry with no real understanding of what you are doing. This legislation is 700 plus pages long and we are positive that few if any of the members of the House have either read it or understand the implications. We know for a fact that less than 10% of the B.C. Provincial Legislature read this legislation when it passed their House. We would be surprised to learn the Federal scene is any better.

The Treaty itself which was negotiated and signed with no meaningful input from the public, deals were made and then meetings were held to tell us what they had agreed to. Our opinion was asked for then ignored.

While there are a host of concerns with the many segments of the Treaty, our concern centers on the impact this legislation will have on the fisheries resource and the future fisheries for all Canadians. We feel that the fish allocation made within the Treaty itself in recognition of Aboriginal Rights under Sect 35 of the Constitution are overly generous and will cause management problems in the future. That said, we fully accept the legitimacy of such allocations under Section 35 of the Constitution and do not dispute that they are a right correctly entrenched in a Treaty. We do say again however, that the numbers and management regimes therein are too generous.

Our primary concern deals with the side agreements to the Treaty, specifically the Fisheries Harvest Agreement. It needs to be clearly understood that these agreements were negotiated in total secrecy with no public input allowed whatsoever. Moreover the allocations in these agreements are not part of the Aboriginal Rights under Section 35 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled repeatedly that a commercial right under Section 35 does not exist in the fisheries of the Fraser River.

In fact the terms of the Harvest Agreement were not even made public at the times the terms of the Treaty was made public. Even though these Harvest Agreements were signed at the same time as the Treaty itself, they were not made public until months later when the government had officially signed off on the Treaty.  We repeat these Harvest Agreements were all negotiated in secret and the question begs itself, if this Government were truly committed to dealing with Canadians in and “open and transparent” way, and if they were supportive of these agreements, which they are, then why did they exclude the public and carry out the negotiations and agreements in secret?

Our calculations indicate that the allocation given to the Tsawwassen both under both Section 35 in the Treaty and outside the Treaty in the Harvest Agreements will, when expanded to the other Bands both inside and outside the Fraser River, require the total Fraser River salmon runs to fulfill. This will mean no fishing for any other Canadian, inside the Fraser River nor outside in the Ocean environment. And it is critical to recognize that these allocations are forever and a day, in perpetuity. No non-Indian Canadian will ever be allowed to fish in these waters again.

[chris gadsden]

more
Sorry I fouled a bit of this up before, I hopefuly have corected it now.

Now the Ministers and their Mandarins will tell you that the Tsawwassen Treaty does not set a precedent and other Bands along the Fraser and throughout B.C. will not want as much. In short what these Ministers and their flunkeys are telling you and the public is that they think the rest of the Bands in British Columbia are stupid.

 Honourable members, not only is such a position insulting to the Bands and Indians involved, but it is without merit whatsoever. It has been our experience that the Indian Bands in British Columbia are headed up and composed of some very intelligent individuals and their successes at treaty negotiations show clearly that they are far brighter than our government and the majority of the negotiators we have hired.

Honourable members the legislation you are prepared to rubber stamp is not only a travesty on all Canadians but it is illegal under the current law.

We submit the following excerpts from Supreme Court of Canada Judgments and Judicial Commissions as clear evidence that the proposed actions of the House of Commons with regard to Bill C 34 are in fact contrary to law and illegal.

Chief Justice Wilson states “But as to tidal waters the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, Hill J., adopted the principles of the English and held in Meisner v. Fanning that the Crown cannot grant the waters of a navigable arm of the sea as to give a right of exclusive fishery therein.”

 “With respect to these public rights viz., navigation and fishery, the King is, in fact, nothing more that a trustee of the public and has no authority to obstruct or grant others any right to obstruct or abridge the public in the free enjoyment of them.”   

Viscount Haldane had this to say on the subject. “ In the tidal waters, whether on the foreshore or in creeks, estuaries, and tidal rivers, the public have the right to fish, and by reason of the provisions of the Magna Charta no restriction can be put upon their right of the public by an exercise of the prerogative in the form of a grant or otherwise.”

The Supreme Court of Canada has also held that any such infringement on the Canadian Right can only come about unless specific legislation is enacted that clearly states that the action the government is taking is intended to infringe or extinguish the Public Right To Fish. No such wording exists in Bill C 34.

Yet in the face of this dastardly legislation and it’s impacts on the future of all Canadians, only one, we repeat ONE member of the House of Commons is prepared to speak the truth on behalf of all Canadians. That one member is John Cummins and he will only get to speak if the Prime Minister feels like letting him.

Honourable members of all Parties and political stripes, on behalf of all Canadians we ask you to join John Cummins and make yourself familiar with every part of this legislation, including the side agreements and step up and do your job by ensuring that current and future generations get the best legislation possible and not what we currently see before us in Bill C 34.

Yours in conservation:
 
Bill Otway, President
Sportfishing Defence Alliance
P.O. Box 326, Merritt, B.C.
V1K 1B8

[troutbreath]

Even the FNs have a hard time deciding who's ancestor's pooed on what back forty. So their court cases against each other will keep fishing open until I pass away to the great eagle nest in the sky. But for the current governmet to not allow Cummins to have his say in a democratic society, speaks volumes of how little democracy we all have. Magna Carta or not. Were all Canadians and hopefully worldly humanitarians with concern for everybody and everything's future.

There's been lots of folk putting pressure on the Government to close down sport fishing anyway. Or at least saying it isn't as important as making money off it, or was unethical. When sportfishing revenues drop to a certain level, it becomes a sell off for other gains.