Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My question is for Mr. Rehn.
I want to thank you for your testimony on genetically modified salmon. I'm particularly concerned about the impact on first nations communities. Wild salmon populations have been declining, and their survival is threatened by a variety of environmental factors.
Many first nations on the west coast, and in particular in the area where I live, on the Salish Sea, have expressed strong opposition to genetically engineered salmon and deep concerns about the threat it poses to their food systems, their culture and the ecosystems that these nations have stewarded for millennia.
You spoke a bit about the importance in many first nations cultures. I also wanted to hear your thoughts on some of the intellectual property and cultural concerns.
There's a quote by Valerie Segrest, who is an indigenous food nutritionist, as follows:
Perhaps the most disturbing part of it all came when I was sharing my thoughts on this with a colleague of mine, and he pointed out that a corporation now owns the DNA of wild Chinook salmon. Someone now owns my ancestral foods' DNA. I remember that as a spirit-shaking moment and thinking, “How dare you?”
She talks a lot about the way in which colonization and genocidal policies work and the actions being carried out by agribusiness—in particular, AquaBounty, when it comes to genetically modified salmon—on intellectual property.
Other nations have expressed concerns about the lack of consultation. Can you talk a bit more about this?