Fisheries Committee on June 10th, 2026

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Now let's talk about seals, which are another predator that feeds on salmon. What do you suggest? Could more seal hunting help restore the balance?

[Myriam Bergeron]

Promoting seal hunting would definitely be a good thing. It could also diversify and support certain local economies. Regardless of the impact on Atlantic salmon, this is an activity and an industry that deserve to be encouraged.

For the past few years, places like the Maurice Lamontagne Institute have been working to better understand the impact of seal predation on Atlantic salmon. We've had a very hard time obtaining seal samples. Hunting them to collect stomach contents and tissue samples is very complex, you see.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

A strategy was recently announced, in March. It set out more than $80 million to stabilize and rebuild salmon stocks.

You said that you didn't have tools that lived up to your ambitions. Why did you say that?

[Myriam Bergeron]

Funding is clearly very welcome, because many of the priorities are already known, and we know what to do.

Unfortunately, $82 million is both a lot and very little at the same time. That means we need to optimize the work and the impacts. It's important to have a short-term vision. For example, we can take action, such as planning and stocking, and provide support to care for our rivers and populations. However, we also need to have a longer-term vision when it comes to climate change. It's important to understand that thermal dynamic so that, in 10 or 20 years, returning salmon can still have pockets of cool water where they can rest as they continue up the rivers.

These concrete examples demonstrate how we can both support on-the-ground actions with community organizations to promote the presence of salmon, and work with researchers and provincial or national organizations whose research already prioritizes identification with a view to making the best decisions in the future.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go to a second round of five minutes. We will start with Mr. Bragdon for the Conservatives.

You have five minutes.

[Richard Bragdon, Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to each of the witnesses for being here today and for sharing your expertise and experience.

I want to direct most of my questions to you, Mr. Gruben.

Thank you so much, Chief, for being here and for taking the time to share the impact that this decision is having on your people, the Wolastoqiyik nation. We value your input and appreciate your insights.

I want to start off by asking this question: Were you, as the chief of a first nation, consulted or notified about the decision regarding the closure of the biodiversity centre in your community?

[Justice Gruben]

We were not.

[Richard Bragdon, Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Did you find out, as the rest of us did, via a press release or the notification that went out publicly?

[Justice Gruben]

Yes.

[Richard Bragdon, Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Have you had any meetings with, or the ability to communicate how you're feeling to, the government or the minister in order to encourage a change of course?

[Justice Gruben]

Yes. We had very productive meetings with Minister Thompson, one of the first ministers willing to meet with a list of chiefs on the east coast. We felt the meeting went very well and was very productive.

[Richard Bragdon, Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

I should ask you, Chief, what you feel needs to happen to make this right and get this decision changed or reversed. I would like to have your insights as to what you feel would help. Then we'll get into specifics around the salmon species.

[Justice Gruben]

Thank you.

Our ask is to extend the timeline of the closure of the Mactaquac Biodiversity Facility. Additionally, keep the supplementation program and live gene bank program, which are essentially keeping the inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon species alive—a specific genetic and vulnerable species.

Our ask is to keep the programs running and extend the timeline because if the facility closes, as it stands, there will be no salmon above the dam and likely downstream in two or three years.

[Richard Bragdon, Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

It's my understanding, Chief, that you folks work closely with the Tobique First Nation on the efforts they make on the Tobique River at a hatchery for the restoration of the salmon species there, and that there have been some encouraging signs.

Can you speak to that and to how the biodiversity centre in Mactaquac plays a role in that operation?

[Justice Gruben]

Yes.

I want to take this opportunity to introduce an elder from our community and village, Patrick Polchies.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to introduce Chad Solomon. Chad is a technician and our only personnel working at the Mactaquac Biodiversity Facility. I believe he'd be more able to answer that question.

[Chad Solomon, General Labourer, Billijk (Kingsclear First Nation)]

I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question, please?

[Richard Bragdon, Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Sure.

Mr. Solomon, I know Tobique First Nation is doing a lot of work on the Tobique River with some hatchery programming and salmon species restoration efforts. It works in collaboration with your efforts at Kingsclear First Nation and the Mactaquac Biodiversity Centre. I understand there's been some encouraging signs—returns in Tobique First Nation. This is, in no small part, due to your efforts.

Can you speak to how important both are, please?

[Chad Solomon]

Yes. We work closely with the Tobique First Nation and with the hydro dam right there in the village of Kingsclear. We are the ones who are moving the Atlantic salmon above the dam and getting them to Tobique. If this facility closes, there won't be a way of transporting them up over the dam.

[Richard Bragdon, Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Is your estimation, Chief and witnesses, that if this facility were to close—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have one minute.

[Richard Bragdon, Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

—it would lead to the demise of the salmon species in the Wolastoq/Saint John River?

[Justice Gruben]

Correct, it would be jeopardized.

I want to read a quote attributed to Chief Dan George, if I may. This speaks to our obligation and why we're here.

It reads, “The time will soon be here when my grandchild will long for the cry of a loon, the flash of a salmon, the whisper of spruce needles, or the screech of an eagle. But he will not make friends with any of these creatures and when his heart aches with longing, he will curse me. Have I done all to keep the air fresh? Have I cared enough about the water? Have I left the eagle to soar in freedom? Have I done everything I could to earn my grandchild's fondness?”

For us, this species is on the brink of extinction. If the Mactaquac Biodiversity Facility were to close, that would likely take place for this specific genome. That's why we're here today as Wolastoqiyik. We are people of the river. This was once a plentiful species that roared and thundered upriver. It is now facing extinction.

I would allow Patrick Polchies to close with a statement, if possible.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

The time is up. You can come back another time. There's going to be another round.

Next, we have Mr. Cormier for the Liberals.

You have five minutes, please.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Chief, thanks for being here.

Before talking about the Mactaquac Biodiversity Facility, I would like to ask the same question that I asked the other witness: In your opinion, what are the three primary causes of the decline of Atlantic salmon?

[Justice Gruben]

I think our partners here touched on that really well, but there is a missing link.

I'm Wolastoqiyik. A missing link to this is maybe the noise pollution from the decibels of large-scale shipping. I believe it is disrupting migratory paths, and that should be explored. A study should be done on how industry and shipping in the Bay of Fundy and in the oceans, specifically where we're seeing a lot of decline, might be impacting it through sound.

If we look at studies on how this is disrupting migration paths and communication, it's disrupting the salmon ecosystem, as well as other animals and marine life in those ecosystems. This is a factor that I would like to propose.