Madam Speaker, I am happy to rise today on a topic that very much impacts all of us across Canada. I am happy to be the NDP critic for fisheries and oceans, to participate as a member of the fisheries and oceans committee and to reinforce the importance of us taking the time to acknowledge the important work of fishers across Canada. For those reasons and many others, I am more than happy to support a motion for us to move forward with declaring that the government should designate October 1 as national Canadian seafood day. Who can disagree with that? We will be supporting the motion.
We know that fishers, harvesters, processors and other sector workers across the country deserve to have the recognition of a national Canadian seafood day. It is an industry that supports communities, contributes to food security, and generates economic opportunities and well-being for Canadians.
I have mentioned this before in the House, but I think it is particularly applicable to what we are talking about today. I am originally from St. John's, Newfoundland. I am now honoured to live in Nanaimo, British Columbia, on the west coast. They are two coastal communities very much impacted by what is happening in the fisheries.
The reason my family ended up moving from St. John's, Newfoundland to the west coast, where our home is now, was the cod moratorium. Although my family were not fishers, we were very much impacted economically by the implications of the cod collapse. I wanted to reinforce that because I know that my story, and with it the reasons why my family packed up our car, sold everything and drove from one side of Canada to the other, is not an individual one. I have heard from so many across the country who are deeply impacted by what is happening along our coasts and who want to have the ability to participate in a highly sustainable food source for Canadians across the country.
Fishers across the country do so much to support us in providing us with sustainable food choices. We need to be doing all we can to support them. We know that our fisheries are particularly hard hit right now with the climate crisis and with waters warming. There are so many species around Canada that are impacted. We need to be ensuring that we are doing all we can not to be adding more barriers and challenges for the species that need to be protected.
Days fly by quickly in these roles, so I cannot remember exactly when this was, but within the last two years, I met with a group called Fishing for Communities in Victoria, British Columbia. It is a network of “Indigenous and non-Indigenous fish harvesters, small businesses, fishmongers, chefs, restaurateurs, fishing families, and community organization” who are deeply concerned about the future of the seafood system and fisheries-dependent communities on the west coast of Canada. I will pull a piece right off the website because I feel that it has a really good way of summarizing what is going on, specifically on the west coast of Canada. It says, “Decades ago, fisheries policy changed on the West Coast [when DFO] privatized fishing access rights making fishing licenses and quota available to the highest bidder on the open market.” Since then, B.C. fish harvesters, first nations and coastal communities have struggled to continue their way of life. Unable to compete with corporate and global interests in the fishery, fishing and processing jobs have declined and disappeared.
One particular example of this occurring is highlighted in an article in The Northern View. One community that has been particularly hard hit is Prince Rupert. I spoke directly with commercial fisherman Joel Collier and his wife, the co-owner in their harvesting business, Melissa Collier. This is what was talked about in a story dated July 2022.
The article came out a while ago, but it is still so applicable to what we are seeing today. It states:
Commercial fisherman Joel Collier was shocked when he docked in Prince Rupert this past summer, seeking a shower and shops to restock on supplies, only to find that many of the services and businesses he expected had disappeared.
“Prince Rupert being a huge fishing hub in the past, it was a pretty alarming change,” Melissa Collier, Joel’s wife, a fellow fisherman and co-owner of their harvest business, said.
The article talks about the fact that when Joel, who is a fisher, and his then partner stopped at Prince Rupert to shower and to be able to access the basic necessities, it had all suddenly shut down. It also talks about how they were looking for a part for their board, which they would normally be able to access in a business in this town. I believe it was a marine antenna. They were unable to access this particular piece of necessary equipment in order to continue on with the fishing. They went to another dock and, again, similar problems occurred.
This is the story we are hearing from many in these coastal communities and from the fishers who rely on them; because of the fact that we are seeing so many local fishers being hard hit right now, there is an impact on coastal communities. It impacts not just the people who are out on the water but also the communities themselves that rely on the fishing industry to thrive, to bring income into the community, which is how we see vibrant communities that are flourishing.
The issue here around the particular ownership model on the west coast actually came up in the fisheries committee prior to my being a member of Parliament. I was elected in 2021. In 2019, the fisheries committee put together a report called “West Coast Fisheries: Sharing Risks and Benefits”. The committee had a list of clear recommendations for the government as to how to best move forward to address the following issue: Currently, there is a system set up on the west coast that disproportionately benefits large corporations and negatively impacts local fishers. The report is asking for the benefits to be provided to those who have boots on the boats, as they like to refer to them. It states that those who are actually out and fishing should be accessing the benefits of the fishing industry. Instead, on the west coast, we see an overabundance of profits going into large corporations that are not only seeping the benefits out of coastal communities but also sending the investment elsewhere.
We have a tremendous amount of resources here along the coasts of Canada, as well as in the Great Lakes and rivers. The fishery is an industry that needs to be benefiting Canadians here at home. Unfortunately, that is not what we are seeing on the west coast. We need to see the government taking the actions required to move forward with addressing this. To make matters worse, approximately 85% of Canadian-caught seafood is exported, while we import 63% of our seafood. It makes no sense. We have a system that contributes to more greenhouse gas emissions, disempowers small-scale fish harvesters and may affect the future of our fisheries and oceans.
There is the Fisheries for Communities group and, as I mentioned before, there are many different people who are part of this work. They are asking for the government to give fishing access back to fish harvesters, first nations and coastal communities. They go on to say that only first nations and people who work on fishing boats should be able to own a licence and quota, as I was talking about with respect to the boots on the boats, and that there should be policies in place that phase out big business, investors and non-domestic ownership.
With that, I would like to say I am happy to see that we have the motion coming forward, and I hope the government will implement real policies to support fishers here in Canada.
