Thank you, Mr. Chair.
You got the lesser Paul Kariya, though we're proud and thrilled for him as a hockey player and for what he accomplished. I'm only slightly less well known than he is.
Thank you to the committee, and thank you to the other witnesses, including my good friend Christina. I know that we're probably going to disagree on more things than we agree on this time around, but she is a good friend and colleague.
I also want to say that my friend, colleague and boss, Christine Smith-Martin, is ill this morning. She is here in Ottawa, in her hotel room, and has asked me to give these remarks, which are hers, to the committee.
I want to acknowledge the first nations of the Algonquin and the Anishinabe, the local peoples whose traditional territories we're meeting on, and, as was mentioned earlier, the loss of life of fishermen on the east coast but also the loss of life among west coast fishermen. Two Haida fishermen passed away fishing in Skidegate Inlet three days ago. I wanted to mention that.
I'm Paul Kariya. I work as a senior policy adviser for the Great Bear Initiative Society, also known as Coastal First Nations. Our organization has been together for about 20 years and has had great success in working together with federal and provincial governments on key land and marine policy issues.
The Haida Nation, Metlakatla First Nation, Gitxaała Nation, Gitga’at First Nation, Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation, Heiltsuk first nation, Nuxalk Nation, and Wuikinuxv Nation, whose territories include over 40% of marine waters and coastline in British Columbia, are the member nations of the Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative organization. While of vast geography, the region has a relatively sparse population. Approximately 23,000 people live here, with close to 50% being first nations peoples, yet we currently hold less than 6% of the commercial fishing access in the region.
For all our communities, fishing has been integral to our economies. However, licensing regimes have led to the conglomeration of licences into investor and corporate hands without regard for the coastal people. Most of our Coastal First Nations members and communities have limited economic opportunities other than fisheries. This coastal region does not have the advantage of the diversity of economic opportunities, services or amenities enjoyed in urban settings. Given the remoteness of the communities, fish are fundamental to first nations as a source of economic, cultural and social well-being. As such, meaningful economic development for first nations in this region must include restoring our access to fisheries as a foundation of our local economies.
Coastal First Nations members have a long history of success in the commercial fishing sector. However, the participation of first nations fishers was significantly reduced in recent decades due to fleet rationalization initiatives that disproportionately affected indigenous fish harvesters, as well as the ongoing corporate concentration of licences and the depletion of marine resources. In general, coastal communities have become increasingly disenfranchised from the resources that originally built them.
Our nations, together with the Great Bear Initiative Society, signed the transformative Fisheries Resources Reconciliation Agreement, or FRRA, in July 2021. It commits Canada and our nations to the collaborative governance and management of fish, fish habitat and fisheries, including financial support for increased access to commercial fishing licences and quota for the nations.
One of the key objectives of the FRRA is to create conditions whereby first nations members can participate fully in the fisheries economy that is foundational to their past and future. Significant funds were provided by Canada to the nations through the agreement to support increased commercial fishing opportunities.
However, this access is based on a willing-seller and willing-buyer transaction, whereby we must buy all the licences and quota from the marketplace and compete with every other interested party. It is well documented that for many commercial fishing licences and quota categories, long-standing corporate and investor concentration, combined with growing offshore ownership and investment of B.C. licences and quota, have driven up prices and continue to do so. Many species fished in B.C. have licence and quota values that far exceed any reasonable return on investment for an independent fisher or a small fishing company.
A direct example is from one of our commercial fishing enterprises, which was recently pursuing the purchase of a high-value dive fishing licence in B.C. for a high-value product sold in Asia. A broker had a licence available for sale, and a reasonable offer was made by the CFE, based on fair market valuation at the time. The broker mentioned not to bother making another offer, as they had a blank cheque from an offshore buyer who was already offering 25% more than the current market value—