Madam Speaker, every member of the House and every Canadian who has been following recent events in the east coast lobster fishery appreciates the fragile nature of the situation that has developed in the aftermath of the recent supreme court decision affirming treaty rights for Mi'kmaq and for aboriginal people in Canada.
Confirmation within the last hour of the collapse of the voluntary moratorium is very worrisome. It underscores the importance for every member of the House to try to do everything humanly possible not to inflame the tension that has gripped communities in the east coast fisheries.
I must say in that regard I find it frankly abhorrent to hear the intemperate, inflammatory and simply historically inaccurate references again and again by Reform Party members to a racially based fishery. That does nothing to help move us toward a solution which will ensure a sound, sustainable fishery for all those who deserve their fair share in the aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities of the east coast.
It is evident that major challenges are posed by the Marshall and the Delgamuukw decisions which will impact on a host of resource sectors and not just the fishery. Both aboriginal and non-aboriginal will now be vying for access and will be demanding their fair share.
There seems to have been very little appreciation of the enormous significance of these legal decisions, and I might say not only by the federal government but by the Government of Nova Scotia as well. If there had been, both levels of government would surely have been working together and working overtime with all the stakeholders affected to develop a plan which would be ready to be put in place when the supreme court brought down its decision on the Marshall case. Instead what we have seen is paralysis and ineffectual action, in fact virtual inaction by the federal government.
The government's failure to have a contingency plan was inexcusable and has resulted in a vacuum into which various legitimate stakeholders inserted themselves with predictable results. It is a response, incidentally, that is becoming all too frequent these days as Liberal lack of leadership in the agricultural and airline industry crises so sadly demonstrates.
As I mentioned earlier in my throne speech remarks, that same lack of foresight was not displayed by the Mi'kmaq leadership. As early as April 1999 the Mi'kmaq implored governments to recognize, and I quote directly from a document dealing with the issue of the Mi'kmaq fishery, that the impending decision from the Supreme Court of Canada in the Queen versus Donald Marshall, Jr. case had increased Mi'kmaq expectations for greater access to the east coast fishery while at the same time creating uncertainty and anxiety within the existing industry.
It is regrettable in the extreme the federal government did not have the foresight to at least take under serious advisement the urgings of the Mi'kmaq leadership to anticipate the outcome of the decision.
The Liberal government did nothing as it awaited the Marshall decision. Its inaction allowed tensions and chaos to take hold in the Atlantic fishing communities.
Regrettably calm heads and voices were absent in the aftermath of the Marshall decision, precisely because the current fisheries minister and his predecessor had been conspicuously absent from this file prior to the supreme court decision.
It is little wonder that lobster dependent coastal communities in Atlantic Canada have been wracked with tension and dissension in recent weeks.
Surely the answer is not to blame the supreme court for ruling on a treaty rights issue which was placed before it. Nor is it acceptable, as the Prime Minister suggested, to stay the court's decision or, as some members in the debate keep insisting, to send the matter back to the supreme court.
It is important for us to acknowledge that aboriginal people have been waiting for two and a half centuries for a ruling to clarify their rights of access to the fishery under existing treaties. A lack of preparation and foresight by the government is a lame and feeble excuse on which to criticize our highest court. Talk about shooting the messenger.
What is the right policy response to the challenges now confronting the lobster fishery and other commercial fisheries on the east coast? Atlantic Canadians want and deserve a coherent answer to this question. They want to see a post-Marshall regime based on principles of fairness, equity, sustainability and long term commercial viability.
In the wake of the Marshall decision, Atlantic Canadians want a fair, just and sustainable fishing arrangement. To achieve this end, those involved must be consulted and listened to.
To arrive at a workable set of rules governing access to the resource we first need to consult those who are directly involved, to listen patiently and respectfully to all the stakeholders. Without their insights, knowledge and at least tacit agreement we cannot proceed.
Permit me however to outline briefly some broad ideas which might inform that process and might form the basis of an acceptable solution. First, emphasis should be put on conservation, on preserving the long term health of the stocks. Sound principles of management and conservation based on well grounded science must be implemented.
Atlantic Canadians cannot afford another government induced collapse along the lines of the cod fishery fiasco. Independent expert advice must be sought and must be heeded.
Second, we need to find a way to allocate licences to aboriginal Canadians so that they may enjoy legal and uncontested access to the resource. This may involve the government buying back some licences from commercial fishers. Indications are that maybe 10% of those who are currently fishing would welcome the opportunity to make way for aboriginals to make their rightful claim to their fair share of the fishery. Let us be clear that we are talking here about those who would choose voluntarily to exit the lobster fishery at this point in their lives.
It is absolutely critical to build consensus on a set of rules governing conservation, allowable catches and so on. A level playing field is the only way that we are likely to get buy-in from all groups concerned.
Third, we must work toward establishing community based fishery policies to replace the corporate industrial model which has enriched a few large companies at the expense of many independent inshore fishermen and their families. The unemployment, the poverty and the out-migration in many of these fishery communities is eloquent and distressing testimony to the failure of that approach.
Over the long term, we must work to establish fishing policies that are more community oriented than industry oriented.
It is important to recognize that the modest entry of aboriginal fishers into this resource is not the reason various Atlantic fisheries are under threat.
In my discussions with Mi'kmaq representatives over the last week they have expressed what is understandably a great deal of distress and, I think it is fair to say, hurt at the implication that the problems caused to the fishing stock in the east coast are in any way attributable to their entry into the fishery.
The real threat comes from the indiscriminate and unsustainable practices of corporate fish companies and multinational conglomerates. In my view the Leader of the Opposition was wrong today to condemn a communal approach to resource allocation as he did in respect of the Nisga'a treaty.
There is every reason to believe that increased meaningful local control and responsibility for the resource by fishing communities would generate rules that guarantee a reasonable livelihood for fishers, aboriginal and non-aboriginal, while preserving the future of the resource. To believe otherwise is to demonstrate a striking lack of faith in the decency, fairness and sense of responsibility of fishers.
I pay tribute to the important and ongoing work of the joint working group on the Mi'kmaq commercial fishery that was established in February of this year. Let us hope that same careful, respectful, collaborative approach can get important progress back on track in moving us toward a solution by involving all stakeholders: aboriginal, non-native and government. That working group has been earnestly laying the groundwork for a viable commercial fishery that looks after the interests of all fishers, aboriginal and non-aboriginal alike.
This kind of forward thinking is what we need from our leaders and decision makers at every level, and especially from the federal government where it has been so notably absent.
Let me conclude by saying that we need public policies to govern our fisheries and other resources that are grounded in long term thinking, in devolving decision making to those closest to the resource, and in a sense of fairness and respect for the livelihoods of all. The existing industrial factory style approach underwritten by bad science and greed has taken us to where we are today.
Let us turn this page and refashion the fishery and our other resource industries as well so they will be around to provide a decent livelihood for our children for many generations to come.