Fisheries committee  Honourable members of Parliament...[Witness speaks in Salish]. Leaders, friends, my name is Sru-ets-lan-ough. I come from Cheam and I thank you for having us here today. On behalf of the council of the Cheam First Nation, I also would like to thank you for the opportunity to sp

Fisheries committee  I guess that one of the things is that most of the B.C. first nations have not signed treaties or given up resources in any agreements with the federal or provincial governments. A lot of our people feel that because of this, the resources still belong to the first nations. With

Fisheries committee  I just mentioned that some of our members felt that was infringing on our rights. Some of the clauses in there looked more toward the treaty clause, and we're not a treaty band per se.

Fisheries committee  Some of our members did participate, but as a band we declined to sign on because it infringed on some of our rights. Some of our members who have spouses in other communities were designated by the other communities to fish under the economic program.

Fisheries committee  I'll go back to the original question. We did not sign on to the economic fishery or the pilot sales agreement because we felt the document was too cumbersome and that it did infringe on our section 35 rights. It contains too much dialogue that would better form part of a treaty

Fisheries committee  The non-recognition of a lot of our titles and rights does lead to strained relations, and because the points of view from both sides are different, sitting down at the same table and coming to a solution is difficult. But a solution is probably what we need, because our people f

Fisheries committee  There have been a few steps over the last couple of years. We have been working with the department. One of the biggest issues that our people used to face is the fact that our people would be closed to our fishery, yet our neighbouring sectors, recreational and commercial, wer

Fisheries committee  One of the things on the gravel issue is that it's not only the Department of Fisheries that's involved. You have the Province of B.C. and also the local communities, the municipalities, the City of Chilliwack and the Fraser Valley Regional District. They're all involved in the g

Fisheries committee  I'm not too sure if any of them do. We used to have people participating in the commercial industry probably twenty or thirty years ago, but not today. In the recreational fishery, I don't think there are too many. There might be one or two members who participate in it.

Fisheries committee  Our community right now has a membership of just under 500. About 60% live off reserve.

Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  Most of our fishermen would probably fish eight to ten months of the year.

Fisheries committee  But not consistently.

Fisheries committee  It's up to the individual members. We don't designate any individuals to do the fishing for everybody.

Fisheries committee  Yes.