Evidence of meeting #5 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was dfo.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
John Cummins Conservative Delta—Richmond East, BC
The same could then apply to the fish that the Cheam are now harvesting. From your experience and the experiences of other people, I guess that most of those are eventually going find their way into the marketplace.
10:25 a.m.
As an Individual
Absolutely. They're intended for food, social, and ceremonial purposes, which means for their own use, but they will ultimately end up as a sale item, somewhere down the road.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
John Cummins Conservative Delta—Richmond East, BC
You may or may not buy into it, but this is my opinion. By continuing to allow the food, social, and ceremonial fisheries, when the department is fully aware that these fish are going to illegally enter the marketplace, they are in fact aiding and abetting an illegal activity, in my view.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
John Cummins Conservative Delta—Richmond East, BC
It's good that we agree.
You talked about 25 enforcement positions that will be reduced due to retirement or even promotion. That number was tossed about earlier in the year. Do you know if that number for the reductions in the Pacific region enforcement is still the case?
10:25 a.m.
As an Individual
I think it is, but I'm not positive. Those numbers came from Bill Otway. He's the one who inspects all of those numbers, being the president of the Sportfishing Defence Alliance, but I assume that is correct.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
John Cummins Conservative Delta—Richmond East, BC
One of the justifications given for the department's lack of concern was that these positions weren't going to come out of enforcement per se but out of the habitat side of enforcement. The suggestion was that we shouldn't be alarmed. Did you hear that excuse given?
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
John Cummins Conservative Delta—Richmond East, BC
In other words, issues like the one we're dealing with today on gravel were of little consequence to the department, because gravel is essentially a habitat issue. The department is saying they're going to lessen their ability to monitor these kinds of situations.
10:25 a.m.
As an Individual
Absolutely. The interesting thing, as a sideline, is the gravel from the Big Bar area that's being piled up right now is actually slowly being washed away because we have a freshet right now, and some of the gravel is actually going back into the river.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
John Cummins Conservative Delta—Richmond East, BC
There you go.
In the area that we're talking about above Mission, how many fishery offices are now operating between Mission and Hope? Do you have any idea?
10:25 a.m.
As an Individual
I do not have that number, but I think it is around six. Marvin, maybe you could help me out. I'm guessing it's six.
10:25 a.m.
As an Individual
There's one in Mission, one in Chilliwack, and one in Cloverdale.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
John Cummins Conservative Delta—Richmond East, BC
Isn't it the case that only Mission and Chilliwick are on the river? Have you any idea how many officers operate out of those?
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
John Cummins Conservative Delta—Richmond East, BC
But we do know that over the last number of years there has been very little in the way of availability on a 24-hour basis and on the weekends. Isn't that correct?
10:25 a.m.
As an Individual
I think you're absolutely correct there. Locally in Chilliwick there are maybe six or eight officers, so if they were to operate on a 24-hour-a-day basis, you can do the math; you just don't have the time. Also, they do not travel by themselves anymore; there are always at least two, and usually three, so they're all tied up in one incident at one time--two or three at a time.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
John Cummins Conservative Delta—Richmond East, BC
It's hard to understand unless you've been there, but this is not an easy section of the river to patrol. It's easy to get lost if you're not familiar with it.
10:25 a.m.
As an Individual
If there were a fog, you and I would both get lost. That's how difficult it is.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
John Cummins Conservative Delta—Richmond East, BC
We've gone upriver by Island 22, come back down on the wrong side of an island, missed the launching point completely, and had to come back up the river. It's very easy to do.
My point is that if you're not experienced in that area as a fisheries officer, you could get yourself into trouble; if you're called upon to assist somebody else, you may not be able to find them if you don't know the area.
10:30 a.m.
As an Individual
Not only would you possibly miss the landing site you're trying to get to, but you will also probably run into a gravel bar somewhere along the river and wreck your motor in the process.
10:30 a.m.
Conservative
10:30 a.m.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
Mr. Chairman, it would be nice if Mr. Jim Wild and Mr. Paul Sprout would be asked to be here on Tuesday when the DFO appears before us. They've made some pretty serious allegations towards them, and I'd sure like to hear their side of the story to see if they have rehabilitated themselves in this regard.
Gentlemen, I want to thank you very much for your opportunity here.
I want to ask you a sidebar question. In the papers now, DFO is talking about a new agreement regarding a commercial fishery for some aboriginal groups on the river. Some fishing groups here with us last week indicated that because of the large potential for fish to go up the river, they would agree to that kind of a proposal, but we've also heard from other people, such as Mr. Phil Eidsvik, that they would disagree with that proposal.
What are your views on that possible agreement to allow a limited commercial fishery with some first nations groups along the river?
