Bernadette Jordan

[Business of Supply, November 24th, 2020]

Madam Chair, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and I both appointed Allister Surette to act as a special representative in this issue with regard to moderate livelihood.

Mr. Surette is a well-respected member of his community. He has experience in fisheries files in the past. His job is going to be to meet with commercial harvesters, to meet with first nations communities and to meet with stakeholders like the municipalities to find out what the best path forward is in order to rebuild relationships, in order to provide clarity to industries—

[Business of Supply, November 24th, 2020]

Madam Chair, under the previous Conservative government, there were significant cuts to DFO in a number areas, including science, and conservation and protection. We have reinvested in DFO to make sure that we have what we need in order to do the job that is so important in our coastal communities. We have to make our decisions based on science, and yet the cuts that were made under the previous government made that very difficult. We have reinvested to make sure that the science is available to us.

With regard to conservation and protection, we know how important those jobs are on the water and to our rural coastal communities. We are doing everything we can to make sure that we support the conservation and protection officers.

[Business of Supply, November 24th, 2020]

Madam Chair, the C&P officers have a very difficult job, but they do a very good job. We did see cuts under the previous government to C&P, but we want to ensure they have the tools they need to do the jobs they are given.

I know that conservation is a top priority for not only commercial harvesters, but for indigenous people as well. We want to ensure we have a long-term sustainable lobster fishery. That is one of the reasons we need to work to address the concerns around a moderate livelihood and implement the right that was granted under the Supreme Court decision.

[Business of Supply, November 24th, 2020]

Madam Chair, the money that was made available to the harvesters allowed them to make really tough decisions with regard to whether they would fish for the season. A number of people took advantage of this program. They desperately needed these benefits because they knew the fishery was in dire straits when we started COVID-19. They were actually one of the first industries impacted by the pandemic. They saw the decline of the fisheries in early February when everything was still moving across the world.

We knew it was important to ensure that harvesters had the money they needed to make those tough decisions about whether they were going to fish this year. One of the—

[Business of Supply, November 24th, 2020]

Madam Chair, we recognized very quickly that when COVID-19 hit, commercial harvesters were going to be seriously impacted because of the closure of export markets as well as the closure of restaurants. Because of the way their enterprises are structured, they did not qualify for a number of the programs we had in place for relief for businesses. That is why we came up with the fish harvester benefit and grant program. That was an almost half-billion-dollar program to support harvesters. It is the largest single investment in fisheries since the cod—

[Business of Supply, November 24th, 2020]

Madam Chair, there has been significant increase in funding since 2016, after we came into government. We have announced over $484 million in new funding for small craft harbours. This is over the $90 million budgeted annually. In 2019-20, my department worked on over 245 projects to ensure that small craft harbours were kept in good shape and to meet the needs of the commercial fishing industry.

As I said earlier tonight, small craft harbours are an economic driver in our rural coastal communities and we need to—

[Business of Supply, November 24th, 2020]

Madam Chair, as I have said a number of times this evening, I am not averse to a mark-selective fishery. However, we need to make sure that as we go forward, we do it in the right way and address the concerns we are hearing from conservationists, commercial harvesters and indigenous populations. We want to make sure we are doing what we can to protect the stock, but we also know that a mark-selective fishery is a possible path forward. We want to make sure we are doing everything possible with the right science to make the right decisions.

[Business of Supply, November 24th, 2020]

Madam Chair, as I have said, we have had to take drastic measures with regard to the chinook salmon because of the decline in the stock. We know that these management decisions are difficult. We know it has been hard for the commercial fishers, as well as for the anglers. We know they provide a lot of economic growth in the area. However, at the same time, the chinook are in a very bad state. They need to be protected. We need to do everything possible to grow their stocks.

We will continue to make fisheries management decisions, but will at the same time recognize—

[Business of Supply, November 24th, 2020]

Madam Chair, the at-risk Fraser River salmon face a number of significant challenges and the road to recovery requires a long-term view and close collaboration with first nations, provinces and stakeholders. Significant management measures introduced in 2019 to protect the chinook salmon were difficult but necessary. A decision was made to continue to strengthen these conservation measures in 2020-21. These measures included delaying commercial—

[Business of Supply, November 24th, 2020]

Madam Chair, the wild Pacific salmon stocks are in serious decline. Tough measures have to be taken to ensure we can continue to work to address the concerns around the decline of these stocks. We know this has been very difficult for anglers. We are meeting with them on a regular basis to discuss their concerns and find the best path forward.