Fisheries committee  My advice to them is privileged, but what I would say is that there is obviously the Vanderpeet hurdle that they have to get over. But I do think there's a very large open issue—and Cheam has an outstanding claim about this—and that's the question of title to the Fraser River and

Fisheries committee  In terms of the work being done, yes, it was a fait accompli, and the reality was that it was going to be done by Cheam. Ultimately, if Cheam opted not to do it, it was going to be done by Jakes Contracting or Lafarge or somebody. It was going to be done unless DFO said there was

Fisheries committee  The answer is that there's an invitation for Cheam to participate. There's a huge process that goes on, and there are issues about where the priorities are. Lincoln can expand that, but one of the issues is with respect to IR #2, for example. There is a concern that gravel extra

Fisheries committee  So there were those meetings, and then it was implemented.

Fisheries committee  To fully answer your question about the chronology would take a good two hours, because the chronology really starts back in the mid-nineties. There was a very large process put in place through the province, the Fraser Basin Council—

Fisheries committee  I know, and this is the problem. You saw a large approval process that identified certain critical areas and general approaches. There was then a series of steps that started probably around 1998 and identified areas that were of more concern for fish reasons, and there was som

Fisheries committee  Sir, just to answer the last part of your question, DFO has a choice about how to deal with it. One way would be to prosecute, which could play out a bunch of ways. It could play with a ruling that there is aboriginal title and they're entitled to sell. Or it could play out like

Fisheries committee  There may be a bit of talking at cross-purposes about the monitors. I can be corrected on this if I'm wrong, but the monitors don't really act as overall enforcement agents. They primarily function during the authorized openings. They are more landing monitors, because the openin

Fisheries committee  In terms of flow.

Fisheries committee  Except for very local changes. It creates a new channel where previously there might not have been a channel.

Fisheries committee  There are a few studies indicating that the bed of the river is aggrading and that there is an increased flood risk. Certainly, at Cheam itself, on its second reserve, it has encountered exactly that problem. Some of the channels have filled up and their second reserve has been t

Fisheries committee  As I understand it, there was an arrangement with respect to the issue of royalties to be paid on the gravel that was removed. As a purely financial matter, those did flow to Cheam because they were part of a larger accommodation arrangement. But in terms of the operational issue

Fisheries committee  Well, the reality—

Fisheries committee  Aside from certain aboriginal economic opportunities, there is no commercial fishery above the Mission Bridge, which is where Cheam is. The practical reality would be to say, have you engaged in fishing elsewhere? Who knows where it is, but the reality is that there isn't a comme

Fisheries committee  Monsieur Blais, perhaps I can just add a few little points here, because I get a lot of the frustrations expressed to me as their regular legal counsel. On a practical level, there are two things that constantly come up. One is that even when there are particular government offi