Mr. Speaker, I would like to provide a preamble to the comments I want to make with the fact that throughout the great country of Canada for centuries aboriginal people have very generously stood by and watched the development of the country for commercial purposes, whatever the resources are. It could be oil and gas. It could be forestry if we look at B.C. It could be mineral resources. Aboriginals have reaped few of the benefits. They have no resource sharing revenue mechanisms to have returns of revenues to them.
At this point in time in our history aboriginal people are saying that they want equity of access. We want to be self-sustaining communities and we want to participate. Quite clearly, to put this debate in context, we must understand that aboriginal people and non-aboriginal people have to work hard to allow cooler heads to prevail, to be reasoned and logical, and to try to find constructive solutions.
In dealing with the debate and trying to help clarify the government's position on the Marshall decision, I am extremely impressed with my colleague, the minister of fisheries, who very appropriately went to the aboriginal people and the commercial fishery in the Atlantic region to deal with the problem. It was very skilfully done. The level of arbitration and consultation had proven results. We have to work not only at dealing with an interim crisis but at a long term and strategic solution for it.
When the supreme court ruling was handed down on September 17 some people said we should have provided an instant analysis and announced some bold new initiatives. Kind of a knee-jerk reaction was what was wanted. Some critics even suggest we simply put down our fist and simply close the lobster fishery indefinitely. Closing the fishery would have been in some respects an easy way out but would have been unproductive for all parties.
The supreme court decision, my colleagues across the way should know, is the highest legal voice in the land and we must respect its rulings. We cannot cherry pick on a decision that the supreme court makes when we feel that we do not like it or other people do not like it. What kind of a country would we have? What would happen to the charter of rights under those conditions?
In this case the court upheld the 1760 treaty with the Mi'kmaq but with the modern interpretation of what it means in 1999. The judgment spoke of a moderate livelihood for natives and not an open-ended accumulation of wealth in the fishery.
Just as important, the court also said the right could be regulated. I am sure some people who want to inflame and create fear unnecessarily would have us believe that there would be anarchy on the seas, that native people would go out there indiscriminately after decades and years of depending on country foods and on the fishery for sustainability. That they would go out there and pillage is ludicrous.
As we can see, the judgment is complex and there are still a number of issues to be resolved. The minister immediately sought clarification of the ruling to provide the best possible response in the shortest period of time. This analysis took less than two weeks when many other cases have required months.
We have heard in the House of Commons today a reference to what the opposition considers the fact, that this is a race based right. It is very important to understand that the collective rights of aboriginal people are not race based. Those comments are race based. The collective rights of aboriginal peoples are human rights that accrue to them by virtue of their existence as people with their own cultural, legal and political traditions.
Aboriginal peoples have welcomed others to this land and have asked only for a reasonable accommodation of their fundamental human rights as individuals and as people. With our particular brand of Canadian ingenuity we as Canadians have inherited and built upon a constitution that seeks accommodation between those people that were here and experienced colonization and all those that have come afterward.
The Mi'kmaq of the maritimes have waited 240 years to have their fundamental rights respected under a treaty entered with the crown, a treaty that is part of the constitutional fabric of the country. The Mi'kmaq like other aboriginal people have been asked to respect the rule of law and they have done so by taking their claims to the courts.
I cannot express strongly enough my belief that Canadians of all origins are by nature a generous and accommodating people who respect the rule of law. I have no doubt that we will continue to prove ourselves to be so in the future, but the will and the spirit to co-operate has to be there. We cannot achieve that level of accommodation if we create fear in the public. It is our responsibility to instil hope. It is our responsibility to be responsible in what we say to the public. If we inflame with those kinds of comments we are doing nothing to resolve the issue.
It is important for the House to know the roles the minister of fisheries has played. Instead of closing the fishery, as I mentioned earlier, the minister took the harder road of negotiations. The minister and the government wanted to respect the supreme court ruling. There were other suggestions that were not taken up for obvious reasons.
Where others might have given up the minister continues to seek solutions through dialogue and co-operation. The minister continues to be involved on a daily basis. He is in constant touch with the aboriginal leaders, the commercial fishery, government officials and Atlantic premiers.
Early on the Marshall decision was a prominent issue when the Atlantic Council of Fisheries Ministers met in Quebec City last month. There was a clear recognition from all jurisdictions of the need to clarify the implication of the court decision and to put in place a management regime. The council recommended that regime must ensure the conservation objectives are not compromised and be fair to other interests in the fisheries.
Conservation is one issue but there is another issue. We can play on that. We can use that to be partisan. We can use that to be smaller than we should be. We can do that and that is about economic preservation. Major investments have been made by the commercial fishermen out there. They have increased the value of lobster licences. It is a major investment. It is their retirement package. If we have a sudden influx of other people who would take up in that industry it devalues that investment. That is a major concern. That is an economic preservation concern. That is another thing to think about.
However it is quite interesting if put it into the proper context. On district 23 in the Burnt Church area of Miramichi Bay the number of lobster trapped used by aboriginal people adds up to less than 1% of the number of traps used by the non-commercial fishery. Is that a conservation crime? Is that something that at this point we will have to be totally unreasonable about? It is something we should think about. We have to put everything in context.
I agree that we should be looking at finding a solution. We all witnessed the unfortunate incidents in the days following the court. In conclusion, we have to work hard.
As I said in the beginning, closing the fishery would have been the easy solution, the quick fix. But there is no quick fix on an issue that affects people's rights, lives and livelihoods. I am confident that the minister's staff and department will continue working in the right direction to better the lives of everyone involved.