Good evening, Chair and honourable committee members.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear tonight.
The Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance is a newly formed alliance of commercial fishery stakeholders calling on the Government of Canada to establish clear, lasting, responsible regulatory oversight for all fisheries: commercial, food, social and ceremonial.
Established in 2020, the UFCA represents thousands of independent, multi-species commercial fishermen and fishery associations from across the Maritimes. Our membership also includes small to medium-sized businesses that are directly or indirectly tied to the Atlantic Canadian commercial fishery. For thousands of Atlantic Canadians who work on boats, wharves, processing plants and throughout the supply chain, the commercial fishery is their livelihood. For rural communities and governments, the fisheries represent jobs, a tax base and economic impact that helps to provide vital services for all residents.
Unfortunately, regulatory uncertainty is causing anxiety and concern amongst fishers and other industry stakeholders over the long-term sustainability and prosperity of the industry. Clear rules, regulations, compliance and enforcement are needed.
We want to work with the Government of Canada and first nations to inform and understand viewpoints and ultimately establish regulatory certainty. Our members reject all forms of racism, intolerance and violence and believe that there is a path to move beyond the controversies and heated rhetoric of recent months to a positive outcome for all. The UFCA believes that indigenous and non-indigenous fishermen can work side by side, like they do today in the commercial fishery. We recognize and acknowledge the importance of co-operation with indigenous communities and that indigenous fishermen have a right to fish for commercial, food, social and ceremonial purposes.
Just as commercial fisheries operate today, there is room for diversity. There can be differences within allocation structures, administration and process; however, rules must ultimately and clearly form part of an integrated set of regulations that can serve fishery resources for generations to come and ensure a fair and respectful fishery for all.
Tonight I would like to discuss the imminent Clearwater Seafoods deal and its risks for coastal communities.
The current framework of the deal represents a tremendous missed opportunity for further integration of indigenous fishers into Atlantic fisheries and reconciliation in our communities. It picks winners and losers amongst first nations and further divides indigenous and non-indigenous fishing communities needlessly. There is a better way, and it starts with open dialogue and an end to secret deals at DFO. Communities adjacent to resources deserve a voice in decisions made in Ottawa, and when they are excluded from the conversation, they invariably lose.
We have serious concerns surrounding the proposed framework for the deal, including the lack of protection from the future potential for transfer of ownership of Canada's natural resources to a foreign entity, threats to the owner-operator policy, needless concentration of fishing efforts and others. Clearwater's monopolized lobster fishing area alone is larger than all lobster fishing areas of Nova Scotia combined. The current deal would exclude all fishers but one giant factory-style ship from this huge economic potential, including a majority of Nova Scotia's first nations and all moderate livelihood fishers.
What should be of equal importance to this committee is the fact the current deal would surely pit Mi'kmaq against Inuit in a battle for access to valuable northern shrimp and fish quotas. This fact could be a motivator for the deal and must be explored in more detail. It would be difficult not to view Clearwater's recent outreach to include indigenous partners as a response to the government's rightful decision to abide by the principles of adjacency to a resource in fisheries management and take a portion of the company's valuable quotas and deliver them to northern communities, both indigenous and non-indigenous.
It is beyond belief that the current government can ignore the potential for this fishery access to aid in the integration of moderate livelihood fishers. While it may be possible for the politicians involved on all sides of this deal to consider it a purely business transaction, it is surely not viewed that way in fishing communities across Atlantic Canada. The reality is that what's best for indigenous fishers, the people out on the water trying to make a living, is also the best for our members. What's best for a large corporation seldom is. It is high time for government to unite us along these lines instead of dividing us. All communities can benefit from these resources if their voices are allowed to be heard.
I'm anxious to give more details on a better way forward.
Honourable members, thank you. I invite your questions.