Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to Ms. Denny and Mr. Bernard for being with us today.
When I see what's happening in Nova Scotia, it troubles me greatly.
I think back a few years ago to when I was president of the B.C. Wildlife Federation and we had conflict on the Fraser River over salmon fishing. There was a meeting scheduled to bring the parties together to discuss the different activities that were taking place to try to understand each other's positions better. The day that meeting was supposed to take place, there was a conflict on the river, and one of the first nations' chiefs was hit in the cheek with a pellet from a pellet gun. Luckily, there were no serious injuries, but because of the incident, the meeting that was supposed to be held—being hosted by DFO—was immediately called off.
I happened to be in the office of the organization at the time and worked with people in that office.... We contacted the first nations chief's office directly, and we were able to continue that meeting. We put it together so that both sides could come together to talk and understand each other's position much better.
Out of that came the Fraser River Peacemakers organization, which has worked for years to better understand the different positions of the fish harvesters on that river. There has been peace, to a great extent, compared to what was there before.
I will quickly ask both of you, do either of you feel that this might be part of the solution in this situation?