Fisheries Committee on June 13th, 2013

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Thank you, Mr. Chisholm.

Mr. Woodworth.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Minister Ramsay, Mr. Colford, and Mr. Vician. We appreciate your taking the time to speak with us today as we work out the scope of our interest in studying fisheries in the northwest of Canada. And that's where I'd like to begin.

In relation to the devolution of powers and the ongoing work on that, Minister Ramsay, could you tell me what you perceive to be the most important contribution the Government of Canada could make to fisheries in the Northwest Territories in the context of the new arrangement of powers?

[David Ramsay]

Thank you, Mr. Woodworth. That's a very good question.

Going forward, we see the path is working with FFMC and the fishermen who are on Great Slave Lake.

We've had a great deal of success with Growing Forward. I'm not sure if your committee is familiar with Growing Forward. Late last year we signed another agreement, Growing Forward 2, on agriculture.

If the federal government had a program for us that was similar in nature to the Growing Forward fund, we could cost-share dollars with the federal government to put infrastructure in. I talked about a new fish plant in Hay River and the possibility of having fish processing stations around Great Slave Lake. Doing that is going to take some capital.

Our government is certainly looking at getting the fishery back to where it used to be, employing people, and getting our fish to market. We've had a great deal of success working with the federal government on the agricultural front. Perhaps a program could be developed that would enable us to look at cost-share dollars for the fishery as well. The most important thing for us right now is to find a way and a means to get a new plant in Hay River and to fix up and modernize an aging fleet on Great Slave Lake.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Perhaps I will put that in my own terms just to make sure I have it. The way you see it, with the devolution of power, the most important role for the Government of Canada remains in the marketing and processing of fish, at least when it comes to fisheries. Is that the drift?

[David Ramsay]

Yes. That's correct.

Even after devolution, Mr. Woodworth, we won't have the financial flexibility as a government to.... If you look at the building Canada plan, a great deal of our success recently has rested on federal programs. After devolution, that situation will continue.

We're in the process now of looking at a big deal on infrastructure and infrastructure development here in the NWT, working in partnership with the federal government. So post-devolution, we see that continuing.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

What about the science and the monitoring of fish stocks to ensure a controlled and sustainable harvest in the Northwest Territories? Do you see that becoming a Northwest Territories responsibility? How would you gauge the role of the Government of Canada in that?

[David Ramsay]

Thanks, Mr. Woodworth.

As that's more of a technical question, I'm going to go to Mr. Colford for a response.

Thank you.

[John Colford]

We would see the Department of Fisheries and Oceans maintaining their presence in terms of science and monitoring. They've played a key role in the history of the Northwest Territories in terms of our fisheries, and we hope they will continue to do so.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Do you perceive any particular challenge in that area, or are things operating pretty well right now?

[John Colford]

It all comes down to capacity and what you're faced with. Mr. Chisholm spoke before about climate change and its impacts on fisheries.

The big threat to our fishery is invasive species. We're seeing new species coming into the lake now. We're seeing new species coming into our rivers. We actually caught salmon a couple of years ago up on the Mackenzie River. That is completely foreign to this area, but, mind you, welcome. We don't mind salmon; it's the other species we really don't want. We don't want to see zebra mussels. We don't want to see the carp.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

The federal government recently made a regulatory proposal regarding aquatic invasive species. I wondered if you were aware of it and how you would assess it.

Is it going to be helpful or not to you—if you're aware of it?

[John Colford]

We are aware of it as a government, through our Department of Environment and Natural Resources. They would be overseeing those regulations.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

The idea, as I understand it, is to provide a full suite of enabling regulatory tools under the Fisheries Act to deal with the introduction of invasive species into Canadian waters, to complement provincial and territorial authorities, and to bridge gaps.

Has your department done any analysis to see if that's how it will work out?

[John Colford]

My department, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, isn't actually involved with that. That's vested with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. As with species at risk, we're working very closely with the Government of Canada, and it is a high priority.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

I want to ask a bit more about how the federal government establishes its presence in the Northwest Territories. I'm familiar with the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. Are there any other management boards or co-management boards that are operating in your territory that you can tell me about—that is, regarding the federal government's role in fisheries?

[John Colford]

The representative body for the commercial fishers up here in the Northwest Territories is the Northwest Territories Fishermen's Federation. They are based out of Hay River.

DFO has offices in Hay River as well as Yellowknife. There are a number of co-management boards as well in terms of the fisheries across the NWT, where the federal government and us are both involved.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Would any of these involve first nations, or are they non-specific in that way?

[John Colford]

They all deal with first nations.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Okay.

I think, Mr. Chair, that's as far as I'm going to go today.

Thank you very much, gentlemen.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Thank you very much, Mr. Woodworth.

Mr. MacAulay.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I appreciate you recognizing me.

Welcome, Minister Ramsay, and your backup team.

First of all, the fair price for your fur impressed me. I'm pleased to hear that, I want to tell you.

That's a traditional industry that I would expect is doing quite well. Am I correct?

[David Ramsay]

Yes.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Now that's great.

You also indicated that the fish are returning to Yellowknife Bay and Great Slave Lake. About 40 years ago, you had an excellent fishery there and it was overfished.

What is the major reason for the decline in stocks there? Was it overfishing? Was it environmental issues? What happened? Was it just overfishing or was it not handled properly?

[David Ramsay]

No, it was before regulations were put in place. I spoke specifically about Yellowknife Bay. We had two producing gold mines within city limits of Yellowknife. We're on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, and there's Yellowknife Bay.

When I'm talking about fish, the lake trout and the inconnu disappeared for the time the mines were in operation. The mines haven't been operating now for over ten years. The fish have come back.

We've always had a healthy stock of fish in Great Slave Lake itself. It was overfished for a period of time, but we have fishermen out there now, and we're not getting anywhere close to the quota that we have in place today.

We believe there's a lot of room for advancement in trying to get more fish out of our lake, more people employed, and our fish to market. It's something we're very intent on pursuing.