Herb Dhaliwal

[Fisheries, September 22nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, let me once again commend Bob Rae for the excellent work he has done. I also want to thank him for continuing to say that he will make himself available where he feels he can do more good work. I appreciate that very much. Certainly I have always said that it is through dialogue and co-operation that we can get real agreements in the long term.

Meanwhile, at this time the Miramichi is closed for conservation reasons. Our scientists have said that fishing there threatens the resource. The Miramichi is closed for fishing and our enforcement officers enforced that last night and removed traps.

We will continue the dialogue because in the long term we will resolve it at the table not through enforcement.

[Fisheries, September 21st, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, not only for this minister but for all ministers in the government, public safety is number one.

Whenever enforcement action is taken, we ensure that the safety of our own officers as well as the public is our number one priority and every opportunity is taken to make sure that we avoid confrontation. This is important for myself as well as for the solicitor general.

[Fisheries, September 21st, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is right in that I have written to the chief. There has been ongoing communication for a very long time urging a negotiated agreement just as 29 other first nations have done where we have an orderly transition program for them to fully participate in the commercial fishery.

The variation order to close the lobster fishery has been issued and I know that they will want to fully comply with the law. I would urge them once again to pull all the traps in the Miramichi so that we can go on to the more constructive things we can do.

[Fisheries, September 21st, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier today, due to conservation concerns we have closed the lobster fishery at Miramichi. I would urge the community of Burnt Church to abide fully with that because I know they believe in protecting the stock for their future generations and I know they want to abide by the law. If they do that it will be the right thing. All members of the House should urge them to fully abide by the law and protect the resource because the rule of law is important to Canadians.

[Fisheries, September 21st, 2000]

As usual, Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has his facts all wrong.

Of course the mediator was there talking to all the parties trying to bring them together. This was the proposal he was talking about to all members there to try to get a common peaceful resolution on this matter.

The hon. member should check his facts before he brings them forward to the House. It has been the attempt of this government to resolve it peacefully. For Canadians right across the country the rule of law is fundamental, and we will ensure that we follow the rule of law for all Canadians and will protect the resource for all Canadians and future generations.

[Fisheries, September 21st, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, right from the beginning of this year we have had a federal representative who met with first nations bands and worked with them individually on their needs. Unfortunately, Burnt Church was not willing to sit at the negotiating table.

I have personally been to the Miramichi. I met with the chief and the band council members. Then my deputy minister went down and met with them. Then Bob Rae, from a list provided from Burnt Church, went down and tried to negotiate a deal.

Yesterday Bob Rae said that they had agreed to a substantial reduction in the traps that were in the Miramichi. Progress was being made. Unfortunately, that did not happen. For conservation purposes, today I closed the lobster fishery in the Miramichi.

[Fisheries, September 21st, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I am sure the hon. member knows that we have been enforcing the law. As I said yesterday, we pulled up 2,700 traps, arrested individuals and seized vessels.

It is incumbent on every responsible government to take every means possible to try to get a peaceful and co-operative agreement to avoid conflict. That is exactly what we are doing. Yes, I have shown restraint because we want a peaceful resolution. We want a resolution that reduces conflict. Every effort has been made to do that. In the final analysis, the rule of law will prevail.

[Fisheries, September 21st, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, first of all I want to thank the hon. Bob Rae for his tremendous efforts in trying to bring the two parties together. I am disappointed that Mr. Rae was unable to bring resolution to this matter as we all had hoped.

Today I issued a variation order to close the lobster fishery in the Miramichi. Because conservation is threatened, we want to make sure we protect the lobster. I would urge the Burnt Church community to abide by that order and pull all the traps so that we protect the lobster fishery for all Canadians and for future generations.

[Fisheries, September 20th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, of course the government always has plans to deal with situations that do not work out. The hon. member should know because I have gone to the fisheries committee. I have laid out the direction in our response to Marshall. Obviously he is not listening.

Let me quote for him a Progressive Conservative member who said “I congratulate and support the federal fisheries minister in accepting his responsibility and exercising his powers”. This was said by John Crosbie, the former fisheries minister.

[Fisheries, September 20th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, let me repeat what I said earlier. As the hon. member knows, Mr. Rae is the mediator who was trying to bring the communities together. He has reported that Burnt Church first nation has agreed to substantially reduce the number of traps in the water in Miramichi Bay. This is a good step. We will watch to make sure that happens. It will really be in the action and not the words. I have always said that we want to make sure that all of the traps that are out there are authorized and legal. Any that are not authorized are illegal fishing and we will take steps to make sure that we deal with unauthorized and illegal fishing.