Madam Speaker, the objective of asking the court to rehear the case is simply this. There is obviously turmoil on the east coast. People are upset because they are not sure what the decision means. They are not sure whether this priority right allows for others, non-aboriginals, to have access to the fisheries resource. We need clarification from the court.
The rehearing is not to rehear the judgment. The court has spoken on that right. It has acknowledged that the treaty right exists. What it has not done is to clarify what right others have given this decision.
We can argue this out until the cows come home but the quickest way to solve this problem is to go back to the court and ask it for clarification. What balance did the court have in mind when it allowed this treaty right? Was it going to allow that treaty right to be infringed? The suggestion in Gladstone and in other cases is that yes, others have rights, but those rights are not stated in this case. In fact, the people affected by the decision were not represented in court.
It is beyond me why the member would not want others to be heard by the court as well. The government did not represent the interests of existing commercial fishermen when it made that case in court. Those people had a perfect right to be heard in that court. For the member from Halifax to suggest that they do not have a right to be heard in court is beyond me.