Canadian Heritage Committee on Feb. 11th, 2014

[Pierre Latraverse, President, Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs]

I would like to say thank you to the committee for hearing the opinion of the Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs.

In Quebec, we are currently enjoying some of the most beautiful years for hunting, fishing and trapping. That is because game and fish are abundant, of course, but it is also because hunting, fishing and trapping are protected by the Act respecting the conservation and development of wildlife, which came into effect in 2002.

Under the act, practising these activities is a right; no one may knowingly hinder a person who is hunting, fishing or trapping from carrying on that recreational activity. In a sense, the act makes it clear in everyone's mind that it is lawful in Quebec to hunt, fish and trap and to allow all hunting, fishing and trapping enthusiasts in Quebec to carry on those activities with pride.

By establishing a national hunting, trapping and fishing heritage day, the federal government is also indicating to all Canadians that harvesting wildlife is part of who we are and that it is perfectly legitimate to do so. Such a message will have a significant effect across the country in all contexts. The role that harvesting game and fish has played in a number of aspects of Canadian history no longer has to be demonstrated. But we must go beyond a simple embracing of the historical role and show that hunting, fishing and trapping still figure among Canadian values.

The national hunting, trapping and fishing heritage day will allow us to declare that the activities are still relevant, that they provide Canada with many benefits, and that they allow communities to live, people to work, businesses to grow and all Canadians who practice these sports to live an active life close to nature and to wildlife.

With this initiative, the Government of Canada also recognizes the benefits to our society of wildlife harvesting activities in both economic and wellness terms. The values that the activities impart, including community spirit, respect for others, respect for the outdoors and its wildlife, and the sustainable development of natural resources, are also values that provide Canada with one of the highest standards of living in the world.

In addition, those who practice hunting, fishing and trapping are in a position to appreciate Canada's natural riches and to understand the diversity and richness of the natural characteristics that make up our country. They are often the ones at the origins of the most significant conservation measures.

At the moment, the main challenge facing the federation—and it is also probably the case for all those involved in wildlife management—is training the next generation to be active. In this context, a national hunting, trapping and fishing heritage day will certainly be a very useful tool. If we want our sector to remain a major economic lever for Canada as a whole, if we want millions of Canadians to continue reaping the benefits that come from being close to nature and to wildlife, if we want hunting, fishing and trapping to continue as an essential economic engine for some communities, we must take advantage of actions like this.

Our federation has created many innovative projects designed to maintain the interest in hunting, fishing and trapping at the highest level. The projects include online tools such as Zone Chasse and allonspecher.com or the very recent mentoring site. A day like this is very timely for us. It will certainly become the starting point for one or more major new promotion projects.

Hunting, fishing and trapping have a unique status in Quebec. From now on, the activities will also have a distinct status all over Canada. The federation is convinced that, with this action, the Government of Canada will give new impetus to the promotion and consolidation of wildlife harvesting activities all over Canada.

On behalf of all those committed to wildlife in Quebec and of our colleagues in the other provinces and territories, please accept my thanks.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Merci.

Mr. Farrant, you have five minutes.

[Greg Farrant, Manager, Government Affairs and Policy, Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good afternoon to you and the members of the committee. On behalf of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, which is celebrating its 86th anniversary this year, our 100,000 members, and our 710 member clubs across Ontario, we appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today in support of Bill C-501.

Canada was built on the staples economy. To use a more pedestrian expression, this nation was founded by people who were hewers of wood and drawers of water. A large part of that early staples economy was based upon hunting, fishing, and trapping, which have all been part of our history and the fabric of this country predating the arrival of the first non-aboriginal explorers and colonists on our shores.

As the member for Winnipeg North noted during debate on this bill in the House, one of our most venerable and largest retail institutions, the Hudson's Bay Company, was founded in the late 1600s largely on the basis of the trade in furs, which led to the opening of the Northwest Passage and other northern routes on the backs of hunters and trappers.

Today millions of Canadians across this country engage in recreational sport fishing and hunting, while for tens of thousands more these activities are a way of life, a means of making a living, a ceremonial or treaty right, or a means of putting food on the table. For all of the above, these activities are second nature.

Mr. Norlock referenced earlier other provinces that had passed similar legislation. That number is now eight that have either passed or are in the process of passing legislation that recognizes the cultural and heritage value of these activities and the right of Canadians to participate in those activities according to the law. The provinces of Alberta and Manitoba have also established special days that recognize the importance of hunting. Ontario was one of the first provinces to formally recognize these activities by passing the Heritage Hunting and Fishing Act in 2002.

As Mr. Norlock also indicated during his testimony, Bill C-501 is an inherently simple piece of legislation, but underlying its simplicity is the fact that the activities that the bill speaks to are critical not only in terms of our heritage but also in terms of the impact they have on the conservation of our fish and wildlife populations and the contributions made by anglers, hunters, and trappers to that conservation, and indeed to our national economy. The bill mimics similar legislation in the U.S., which has celebrated a national hunting and fishing day since 1972.

Dating back to the 19th century, anglers, hunters, and trappers were the earliest proponents of conservation and scientific wildlife management in this country. They were the first to recognize that rapid development and unregulated uses of fish or wildlife were threatening the future of many species. Led by Teddy Roosevelt, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and a host of sportsmen on both sides of the border, early conservationists helped create the first laws restricting unfettered use of wildlife. They worked in support of sustainable use of fish and wildlife, and helped to create a licensing system for those who engage in these activities. This eventually resulted in the creation of the North American wildlife conservation model, the underpinning for most fish and wildlife programs in existence on this continent today and a tribute to the legacy left by earlier generations of anglers and hunters.

I am pleased today to provide each member of the committee, through the clerk, with a DVD produced by us several years ago. It traces the important contributions made over the last 120 years by anglers, hunters, and trappers to the health and welfare of our fish and wildlife populations in both Canada and the U.S. Hunting, fishing, and trapping in Canada combined contribute over $13 billion annually to the Canadian economy.

In 1995 the Province of Ontario set up what still exists and is known as the “special purpose account”, the money from which is used to fund all fish and wildlife programs in the province. The money comes from two sources. The first is revenue generated by anglers and hunters in their hunting and fishing licences. The second is the province's consolidated revenue fund. For 2012 and 2013, anglers and hunters in Ontario contributed $72.3 million of the $105 million that was spent on fish and wildlife in Ontario.

In Manitoba hundreds of acres of wetlands have been permanently protected thanks to grants generated by waterfowl hunters. The money from the migratory game hunting permit is directed to a fund administered by Wildlife Habitat Canada to support hundreds of conservation projects across the country.

Ducks Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl, Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, and dozens of other national, provincial, and local conservation-based hunting, fishing, and trapping organizations have also contributed millions to the protection and restoration of our natural resources or the purchase of valuable wetlands to keep them from development.

In 2012 OFAH along with our colleagues on both sides of the border, including the organizations represented here today, hosted the National Fish and Wildlife Conservation Congress here in Ottawa. This brought together hundreds of fish and wildlife experts from across North America and Australia to discuss the future of fish and wildlife, and the programs to sustain them.

During second reading debate on Bill C-501, there was clearly strong support for the bill from all sides of the House. It was also clear that the bill enjoys broad support across party lines, and that for some, like the members from Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, and Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, they have personal experiences themselves that have given them an innate understanding and appreciation of why fishing, hunting, and trapping are vitally important to millions of Canadians. The member for Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier raised an important point that is often overlooked in debates. She noted the tangible economic benefits that angling, hunting, and trapping bring to areas across the country through tourism, through licence sales, and the purchase of other goods and services that ultimately create jobs.

The last point that I will raise was actually made during debate on a previous version of this bill in 2010. Madame Lavallée, who was at the time the member for Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, but who's no longer in this place, spoke of the important role that hunting, in particular, plays in wildlife management and the control of populations. She noted that wildlife managers she had spoken to told her that if recreational hunting and trapping were ever abandoned, wildlife management budgets could never be increased enough to pick up the slack, and both wildlife and public safety would suffer as a result.

This bill is an important step toward the recognition of the important heritage of hunting and fishing in Canada and the contribution that anglers, hunters, and trappers make to the conservation of our natural resources.

We commend Mr. Norlock for introducing this bill. We're proud to support it, and we appreciate the opportunity to appear here today.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Thank you very much, Mr. Farrant.

We're now going to go to some questioning.

For seven minutes, Mr. Falk.

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I think not only is hunting and trapping and fishing the activity that our country was probably founded on, but it's also an activity today that people still use as their livelihood and are involved in. But, primarily, I think people use it as a recreational day. Certainly, most people do consume what they harvest, and I think that's good.

I get pretty excited listening to my three-year-old granddaughter, who, together with her five-year-old brother, get up in the wee hours of the morning and spend a couple of hours with their father in a blind, doing some pre-season scouting for white-tailed deer. What a wonderful time that is for the three of them, not only to spend time with each other, but also to learn about nature, to learn about wildlife, to learn about conservation and just to observe the beauty that we have here in Canada.

In my former life, prior to politics, which I'm still involved in—heavy construction and gravel—we own a bunch of properties. It's interesting, on the weekend that fishing begins in the province of Manitoba, and also on the first day of white-tailed deer hunting, we have a disproportionate number of employees who are sick and are unavailable for work.

It's an important part of many of my employees' lives, hunting and fishing. In fact, we have some gravel pits that we intentionally stock with rainbow trout and we make available to our employees for fishing. One of the big activities is ice fishing. I observed just last weekend my employees out on the ice with their shacks, with their tents, harvesting rainbow trout. I think it's an important part of our culture. Certainly in my riding it is. We also have a lineup of employees who try to get their dibs on our properties for black bear hunting and white-tailed deer hunting, and lay stake to the claim that they may have exclusive rights to hunt on those properties.

I think it's an important activity. I'm very pleased to support the bill. What I'm curious about is the same question that I asked the presenter of the bill. It's not a prescriptive act; it's going to be descriptive. It's going to be a national hunting, trapping and fishing heritage day. How do you think your organizations could use that day to promote the mandate and the vision that your organizations have?

[Greg Farrant]

I'll certainly give it a go, Mr. Falk.

The OFAH already does outreach on a regular basis. One of the outreach programs that we're most proud of is our new Canadians program. This bill would help focus some real attention on these particular pastimes, these recreational pursuits, that would also help us draw new Canadians into these cultural and heritage activities. We host new Canadians days every year where we have new Canadians, mostly from the GTA, coming to the OFAH in Peterborough.

They spend the day fishing. They spend the day at our Heritage Hunting and Fishing Centre next door, which has dioramas, fish aquariums, and things like that. They spend the day with the teachers, who are employed there, who teach provincial curriculum, and it's the same thing with the thousands of school kids who come each year.

This focuses the activities that we're talking about here today on a larger plane, on a national plane. We all individually, provincially, have certain heritage days or certain heritage recognition for these activities. But by bringing this into the national fold, I think it exposes people who don't hunt and fish, who don't understand that anglers and hunters are the leading conservationists. It gives us an opportunity to talk about it and it certainly gives us a chance to expose to new Canadians coming to this country just exactly how important these heritage activities are to us.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Mr. Brennan.

[Jim Brennan]

Certainly, I can sympathize with the problem that Mr. Falk has with his company because we have exactly the same human resources issue at the start of the hunting and fishing seasons in our organization.

That being said, certainly there are an awful lot of activities that are going on across Canada right now that really we would use this to draw significantly greater attention to, particularly in our organization, with our mentored hunting program. Just to give you an example of the success of these programs, we surveyed—along with out Manitoba partners—the participants who went through the mentored hunt programs between 2004 and 2010. The survey respondents said that 76% of the participants continued hunting after going through the mentored hunt program and 58% reported recruiting somebody new to hunting as a result of that.

By bringing national attention to the importance of fishing, trapping, and hunting, it would certainly help us to demonstrate or raise awareness of the programming that is available right now through us and through other organizations like OFAH, and other organizations around the country. Certainly, it would be an awareness boost, we think, for these heritage activities.

[Pierre Latraverse]

In Quebec, we already hold a number of activities to promote hunting and fishing. We have produced several videos that have been translated at the request of our colleagues in other provinces. They are called ”Why Hunt?“ They show, for example, a girl about 13 or 14 years old going hunting with her father. They also show a forty-something realtor, a woman, a Quebecker from Lebanon who now knows about hunting and who gives cooking demonstrations. They were all very, very well received.

We have also built bridges to First Nations through hunting days. We have learned how First Nations people hunt and fish. We have had retriever dog demonstrations to show how dogs can help us to hunt. People have to know that dogs are not just pets; they also like to work. You can take those dogs and get them to show how they retrieve ducks or tree raccoons. We showed different ways in which the animals can be used. There were even bowhunting demonstrations in places where old-fashioned bows are still used. In Quebec, we have specific seasons for bowhunting.

This is important information, because it shows that the activities are permitted in Canada. I have seen people from some cultural communities refrain from going fishing because they think that the activity is not allowed in Canada. People must be educated about the riches that Canada has.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Thank you, Mr. Latraverse.

Mr. Nantel, Mr. Lapointe, you have seven minutes.

[François Lapointe, NDP, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Good morning, gentlemen. Thank you for joining us.

Good morning, Mr. Latraverse. Let us have our discussion in French. In Ottawa, that our basic right and you have no need to apologize for it.

A part of your testimony astonished me. I was thinking about my winter coat, which was made in L'Islet. I represent the constituency of Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup where there are many, many hunters. The collar of my coat is made from natural fur, not synthetic. Just this week, some city friends touched the collar and pointed out that it was not synthetic. They asked me how I could wear a collar like that. At that point, I really let them have it for a long time. I told them about Frank Pelletier, a trapper in my constituency, who traps over a really wide area. I have only met him two or three times but he showed me a whole bunch of things. One of the things I learned was that he is a very major figure in terms of our knowledge of the area and the wildlife in the Chaudière-Appalaches region.

You said earlier that it was lawful to practice hunting, fishing and trapping in Canada. In your opinion, will this national day help to promote that? How difficult do you think it is to make city folk understand that it is extremely healthy and extremely important to become involved in these activities as we are doing now, in the 21st century?

[Pierre Latraverse]

That difficulty can be resolved by major communication activities. We have created major communication programs in Quebec and they have been picked up all across Canada. The Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs is a leader in many areas.

As an example, take allonspecher.com. The application works on all smartphones and tablets. It lists all the places in Quebec where you can put a boat in the water, by administrative region. You can even check to see whether there is a guide or an outfitter on this lake or that lake, in whichever administrative region you are. You can see which kinds of fish you can catch there or find out when fishing is permitted. We have the same kind of thing for hunting, called allonschasser.com.

Last year, Quebec hosted Game Fair, an event from France. The Italians, the French, the Germans and the Brits were amazed to see the modern digital tools for hunting and fishing that are available in Quebec. We made a presentation to the Canadian Wildlife Federation. A lot of people from other provinces like what we are doing. It goes hand in hand with education. We do it very well.

[François Lapointe, NDP, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

How do you reach out to city people like the ones who patted the collar of my coat and told me that they could not believe how I could wear a little bit of fur that was not synthetic? How can we use this official day to set the record straight and reach out to people like that who are so far removed from the rural reality of hunters and anglers?

[Pierre Latraverse]

In Quebec, city people can take part in Fishing Fest. In Montreal's Rapids Park, we have organized fishing days. Everyone received a fishing rod so that they could go fishing. The water had been stocked with fish. Fishing licences were not necessary on that day. The event was so popular that it is now held over three days. People also get the information they need. With the government's help, we have even translated the principal hunting and fishing regulations into several languages so that people who do not speak French or English can do the activities without running the risk of being charged or prosecuted because they are not familiar with the law.

To those activities, we add retriever dog demonstrations, bowhunting, modern trapping methods and the new kinds of traps in use. We also wanted to show people that an old fur or animal-skin coat left in the woods would disappear in a few months, whereas a coat made of synthetic material, nylon, for example, would still be there 40, 50 or 100 years later.

[François Lapointe, NDP, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

That is a very good argument.

In passing, my two children have twice taken part in these fishing days in Montmagny. I made sure we were among the people in attendance. It was a great success. There were a lot of people there.

We also have goose hunting, which gave rise to the Montmagny snow goose festival. It is a major tourist attraction. The festival is named after a hunting tradition.

I would like to talk about something a little more sensitive. If I remember correctly, something unfortunate happened three years ago. Someone completely lacking in judgment set up on highway 132 to shoot geese. There were blinds, and a hunter got shot. I was stunned. I don't hunt geese, but I know very well that you don't set up on highway 132 and shoot everywhere. How irresponsible!

As I said, could an official day also be used—first and foremost—to ensure that all Canadians understand the importance of hunting, fishing and trapping, and to what extent the way these activities are practised now is good for the environment? Could it also be used to remind people of some of the basic safety rules? Do you think that would be appropriate?

[Pierre Latraverse]

When we hold this kind of activity, we always provide all the necessary information. We indicate that hunting and fishing must be carried out in a regulated way. We provide booklets on the basic regulations. That is why Quebec has websites like zonechasse.com and allonspecher.com. All the regulations can also be accessed on smartphones and tablets. There are presentations on the regulations. We show people where they can get the regulations, how to comply with them, and we always invite a wildlife protection officer to be present during these festivities. We simply want to show that hunting and fishing is controlled in Quebec.

[François Lapointe, NDP, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Latraverse.

A little earlier, we were wondering what activities might be typical for that day. Mr. Norlock said that members of Parliament could organize activities in their constituencies. How do you see that? What type of activities could we organize to help you—you and your organizations—to raise the public's awareness of the importance of what you do? What could we do to support you coherently and intelligently?

[Pierre Latraverse]

I remember going to Saint-Jacques-de-Leeds a few years ago with a group that was hunting white-tailed deer. The group paired farmers with hunters because there were problems with destruction. A hunting festival was organized at that point. All the activities were related to hunting because there was only hunting at the time.

Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean has a hunting festival in late August and early September…

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Thank you, Mr. Latraverse.

Mr. Dion, you have seven minutes.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Brennan, just to be clear and sure, Ducks Unlimited Canada supports this bill with no reservations?

[Jim Brennan]

We support the establishment of a day to recognize and celebrate hunting, fishing, and trapping, so, absolutely.

The core of our supporters are obviously conservationists but we have many supporters who are hunters, fishermen, and trappers.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

My question is for Mr. Latraverse and Mr. Farrant. It is purely intuitive, and I would like to hear what you have to say about it.

If I'm fishing with a friend on a magnificent lake in the Laurentians, maybe the Rouge-Matawin wildlife area or in the Maison-de-Pierre ZEC, and I see a small boat in the distance. I can tell with all certainty that there are two people on board. It might be a man and a woman, but usually it's two middle-aged old stock French-Canadians or English-Canadians. If they are immigrants, they will have been in Canada a long time. If they are immigrants, they are usually from Europe, like my father-in-law, who is from Austria. He hunted all his life in the Alps. When he arrived in Lac-Saint-Jean, he was very happy. He came to Canada because he had read Jack London, so you can just imagine.

Now, you are saying that you are making huge efforts to introduce the next generation and newcomers to these activities. In my riding of Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, which is quite multicultural, I have a lot of difficulty finding anyone who shares my passion for fishing, not to mention hunting and trapping.

What are you doing to attract new nature lovers to hunting, fishing and trapping and to diversify these activities so that they reflect the face of Canada today? If you speak to owners of outfitters and people with hunting and fishing stores, you'll see that they are concerned.

How successful have you been with this in Quebec and Ontario? Since we're running out of time, could you tell us how this additional day, a National Hunting, Trapping and Fishing Heritage Day, could be used to the utmost to achieve your goal?

[Greg Farrant]

Thank you, Monsieur Dion, for the question. I appreciate it.

We are coming up on the cusp of national family fishing week in the next short while. There is also an Ontario family fishing weekend, which brings thousands of people. For instance, just outside of Peterborough we host an event that last year had 2,300 parents and children out on the ice on Chemong Lake ice fishing.

We have two programs at the federation—TackleShare and Travelling TackleShare—that go to all the provincial parks in Ontario and, as our colleagues in Quebec do, provide people from urban centres who might not normally fish and hunt but who might be there with their families the opportunity to have fishing rods and reels. The programs show them how to use these and tell them about the rules and regulations.

The federation has a Get Outdoors program that has exposed thousands of children over the years to hunting, fishing, and shooting with firearms and bows and arrows and crossbows and such things, on a range. We have Get Outdoors camps every summer that are sold out in 33 minutes. Each summer now, we have had to put on three. They bring 600 kids to the Get Outdoors camps, where they learn about hunting and fishing, recreation, ATVing, and such things.

Our heritage centre, which opened three years ago, is a $2-million heritage centre that last year brought through 6,700 school children from areas close to us, with their teachers. It is aligned with both the primary school and the secondary school curriculum in Ontario and teaches them about the heritage activities and tries to impart the love of hunting, fishing, and conservation to these kids.

In Ontario the OFAH provides, on behalf of the Province of Ontario, the hunter education courses. In 2001 we put through 5,000 students; last year we put through 27,000 students. Many of those were women and students under 18 years of age. There is definitely an increase in the interest in hunting and fishing among both young people and women.

In urban areas, we're working right now with the City of Toronto on an urban recreational fishing program that will involve all the municipal areas of the GTA in recreational fishing days and a recreational fishing component that will spread right across the waterfront in the GTA. A bill like this will fit beautifully within this kind of heritage activity in Ontario.

Those are some of the things we're doing to attract new Canadians and young Canadians and more women to hunting and fishing pursuits.

[Pierre Latraverse]

Quebec is similar to Ontario. I'll give you an example.

Last year, we gave firearm safety and handling courses. We gave over 20,000 people an introductory course on hunting with a firearm. The course is mandatory to get a hunting licence. According to the statistics, almost 25% of them were young people and women.

Our Fauniquement Femme PLUS program teaches women the basics of hunting and fishing. For example, we show them how to start an outboard motor, shoot, be it a gun or a bow, put bait on a hook, canoe, and so on. The program is very much appreciated. Women take the train in Montreal to an outfitter between La Tuque and Lac-Saint-Jean. They are in nature and can see animals and fish. These activities are very popular.

Every association in our federation that requests it will receive the funding they need to introduce the young and not-so-young to these activities. In our federation, we have expanded to include a new generation of people who have never been involved in these kinds of activities. It might be a friend or someone who has never hunted. We have programs for that. We do special fundraising so that young people can be involved in hunting and fishing activities. We are setting up a mentoring program, which will let middle-aged people—like me—to pass on their significant experience to young people so that they will continue to have a good relationship with nature.

In another part of my life, I am the vice-president of Stratégies Saint-Laurent, an environmental group. I can tell you…

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Merci, Monsieur Latraverse.

That will have to be the last word from our witnesses. Merci.

We'll briefly suspend and then we'll move to clause-by-clause. I know Mr. Norlock is anxiously awaiting that part of the meeting.

Thank you to our witnesses.