Expand it. I'm not a believer in the sea lice epidemic. I believe, as Hitler found out, if you get a good propaganda minister to jump loud enough and for a long enough time, they'll believe anything.
I lived in the Broughton Archipelago for 16 years, in Meem Quam Leese, and I harvested my clams, my halibut, my sole, my crab, and my shrimp all around fish farms. As you can see by my waistline, ain't nothing wrong with this boy. I'm healthy. I challenged Alexandra Morton to come and take some blood tests from me and see what kinds of antibiotics and other toxins are in my blood system, but she hasn't taken the challenge on yet.
We need an expansion, socio-economic strength for the first nations. I worked in the Englewood fish plant in 1997. I drove a friend there for a job interview. The guy who was running it happened to be the manager from the seine fishing plant up in Prince Rupert. “Tommy, come run my forklifts”. So I dragged my butt over there and I started running forklifts. I was tasked to go to Alert Bay to get first nations into the fish plant. I told my cousins, “There ain't going to be a fishing industry, get over there and work”. They came. All of a sudden this propaganda machine started about a sea lice epidemic from Alexandra Morton and I heard about the kids getting beat up in school because their daddy worked for the fish farm industry. And that's still taking place.
I watched people used as token Indians walk down the highway to Parliament and paint graffiti on one of our most sacred aboriginal symbols in this community, Big Rock. How dare they go paint their salmon logo on there, or anyone paint anything on there?
Well, I heard last week that Kingcome's up in arms. They're mad. Who's going to pay the $15,000 for housing and feeding all their band members who went on this migration walk? Propaganda. Token Indians.
I see the unemployment. I see my cousins who are prospering because they work in the fish farm industry. I see them also having the ability to be commercial fishermen, because they retained their vessels. Three-quarters of the boats in this harbour down here that are seine boats, that are owned by aboriginals, were retained because of the fish farm industry. So expansion--expand it. Come talk to the chiefs, the real chiefs, not your token little Indians. Bobby Chamberlain--Chamberlain ain't even a Kwakwaka'wakw last name. I think that comes from Germany. Talk to the true Kwakwaka'wakw chiefs, the ones who are true leaders and controllers of what happens within their traditional territories, and I think you're going to find that the consensus is “Yes, I would like to work with government to expand these farms. I need to see my people working.”