Mr. Speaker, for months now the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has been refusing to provide or to make public his department's legal opinion on the Marshall decision in the Supreme Court of Canada.
We now know why he has refused. Department of Justice lawyers in the federal court have taken a position on the Marshall decision contrary to the stated public position of the minister.
Would the minister confirm that justice department lawyers acting on his behalf in the federal court in Nova Scotia have denied that natives have a treaty right to harvest lobster?