Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here today.
I know I've mentioned this before, but I need to reiterate the implications of what we're talking about today.
I was born and raised in St. John's, Newfoundland, right downtown. As a result of the cod moratorium, my family picked up our entire lives and drove from St. John's, Newfoundland to Nanaimo, British Columbia, which we now call home.
These decisions being made have real implications on the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and, quite frankly, on people across Canada, because we know that all the fishing that happens benefits Canadians across the country. It is incredibly disappointing to see the way in which this has been handled to date. I really wish that the minister were here today to see us working together for the solutions required and that we were able to ask her these exact questions.
We know that historic overfishing by offshore draggers was a primary factor that contributed to the collapse of northern cod in Newfoundland, yet we're seeing decisions being made that feel like an endless cycle of making the same decisions. Not only that—the overfishing that occurred—we had people in decision-making positions who allowed this to happen.
Mr. Burns, I'm wondering if you could please tell me if you agree with this. We've heard referenced many times today the promise that was made. I want to be very clear. The promise was that the first 115,000 metric tons of 2J3KL northern cod quota would be allocated only to inshore and indigenous groups before offshore corporate groups gained access.
That was the promise made. I know that you can't speak to the decisions made by the minister. I understand that. I won't ask you to try to do that, but would you agree that this promise that was made over and over by the Prime Minister to people in Newfoundland and Labrador was not met?