Evidence of meeting #77 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was oceans.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
What would you say to John and the big gillnet fishing fleet he has?
9:10 a.m.
Vice-President, Arctic Program, World Wildlife Fund-Canada
I would say that everything is subject to indigenous rights and the duty to consult, and that there should be meaningful discussion, dialogue, and consultation.
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Thank you, Mr. Hardie.
Thank you, folks.
We have Mr. Doherty, for seven minutes, please.
9:10 a.m.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our guests who are here.
I want to acknowledge that we have some members in the gallery from the Fisheries Council of Canada. We met with them yesterday, and they are sharing some of the exact same conversations—
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
I have a point of order.
Mr. Chair, I believe that you are not supposed to recognize people who are in the room, outside of the witnesses.
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
We'll let this go for now, but it is not common practice to point out people who are not....
9:10 a.m.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Fair enough.
Again, Mr. Chair, we do have members of the Fisheries Council of Canada who are listening—
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Okay, I think we noted it the first time, Mr. Doherty. Thank you very much.
Continue, please.
9:10 a.m.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Mr. Crowley, does the World Wildlife Fund receive any funding from the Canadian government?
9:10 a.m.
Vice-President, Arctic Program, World Wildlife Fund-Canada
Yes, we do on occasion receive from certain programs.
9:10 a.m.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Thank you.
Mr. Helin, it was the testimony of the World Wildlife Fund that they work closely with coastal communities, stakeholders, and indigenous communities. Have you worked with the gentleman beside you?
9:10 a.m.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
There's much in the media about Lax Kw'alaams in terms of the economic opportunity that has been seemingly lost, perhaps because of outside interests, as your testimony noted.
For your background knowledge, Mr. Helin, I live in Prince George and I'm very familiar with our opportunities in the north and how sporadic they are as well. We need to be able to seize every opportunity we can.
Can you inform the committee about the economic opportunities that have potentially been lost because of the government's decisions and perhaps outside interests weighing in?
9:10 a.m.
Mayor, Lax Kw'alaams Band
I don't know if you've read the papers lately. I've been very reluctant in the past to go to the media on internal issues with our band. You get tired of the noisy people and the naysayers coming into your community and getting all the press. I spoke out about what we negotiated with that PNW LNG proposal on the coast that was over $2 billion dollars in benefits over the 40-year life of that project. It's huge for us, you know.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
You did a lot of work with other indigenous communities making sure that they understood the opportunities that were presented to them to really lift our indigenous communities out of abject poverty. Is that correct?
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
I have read the newspapers. I've heard your message loud and clear.
Your testimony earlier was that you did meet with Minister Garneau a number of times, but really only a couple times on the tanker moratorium.
Is it more information sessions that you are getting rather than two-way dialogue?
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Mr. Crowley, you mentioned about modernizing the Canadian economy.
What does that mean?
9:15 a.m.
Vice-President, Arctic Program, World Wildlife Fund-Canada
Primarily, for me, that means taking into account such things as climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. For instance, if you look at the Canada Petroleum Resources Act, it's really about promoting oil and gas exploration and exploitation. It doesn't take into account other economic values, such as tourism, cultural values, food security, or climate change, for instance.
It means bringing contemporary issues into the mix and ensuring that those issues are aired properly.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Are you aware that Premier McLeod, from Nunavut, said that the relationship with this government is paternalistic and patronizing, the opportunities for the north have been cut out from underneath of them as well, and that dialogue has not been as engaging as they would hope.