Mr. Speaker, the minister has spent hundreds of millions of dollars buying lobster boats, licences and gear because he said that the Marshall decision recognized a treaty right to harvest lobster.
The Department of Justice lawyers, in federal court, disagree with the minister. They deny that natives have a constitutionally protected right to harvest lobster.
Which is it? Who is speaking for the government on treaty rights to harvest lobster? Is it the minister of fisheries or is it the Department of Justice? Who is speaking for the government?