Fisheries committee  What we've got is in the transitional provisions. That piece says two things. It says that if you have an authorization under the previous regime, it continues as an authorization under the current regime. It also says that Parliament has decided there is a new standard with respect to how these things are managed, and if you think you shouldn't need to continue with the conditions of your authorization, you can apply to the department or the minister within 90 days, and the department will review this within a further 120 days and decide whether the conditions of the authorization need to continue.

Fisheries committee  You know, as I said, there are different views about what constitutes consultation, but you're absolutely right in terms of what we have done. We have engaged with some groups in terms of how we're going to implement this legislation. I'm talking to them about how we're going to implement the legislation to ensure that they have a good understanding of it.

Fisheries committee  What was in place in the old section 32 was that you can't kill fish by means other than fishing, unless the minister authorizes it. There is no direction for the minister. He can authorize whatever he wants under any circumstances. The new regime says basically the same thing.

Fisheries committee  No, it's the productivity of the fishery. Now, what it doesn't cover is that if there is an area where there is no fishery whatsoever, we're not interested in the killing of fish by means other than fishing. But if there's a fishery, we're going to protect it. That's basically what the new rule...how it's different.

Fisheries committee  The environmental damages fund was established by statute in, I think, 1985. It's administered by Environment Canada. We are going to be working with it. What we will do that's new, given these changes in the Fisheries Act, is we will work with Environment Canada to identify where those funds should go.

Fisheries committee  No.

Fisheries committee  The legislation actually states that land claims agreements and things within the land claims agreements must be protected and respected. On a project-by-project basis, on an issue-by-issue basis, our department will always seek to meet its consultation requirements. That will be the case going forward.

Fisheries committee  We've done a quick review of how many are out there that are still current. What usually happens is you're given authorization that says, go ahead, you can build a structure, but there are conditions on that. The condition is you must provide compensation or offsetting. You must monitor that the compensation is working.

Fisheries committee  It's going to depend. I know that's not a terrific answer, but it really is going to depend. What's being done under the new Fisheries Act, or the amended Fisheries Act, is that we are protecting commercial, recreational, and aboriginal fisheries and the fish that contribute to those fisheries.

Fisheries committee  During the discussions on Bill C-38 and since that time, we've had a number of calls with a large number of aboriginal groups. The national aboriginal groups we've spoken to. The land claims agreements groups we've spoken to. Some of the regional groups we've spoken to. We have not met with 638 first nations in the country, but we have spoken as much as we can to some of those groups.

Fisheries committee  We were talking about the new Fisheries Act and how it's going to work. That's really what it was. We did not have consultations about “What do you think of the amendments, and do you want us to change it?”

Fisheries committee  It acts like CEPA, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Penalties under CEPA go to the environmental damages fund and then get applied to projects that are related to environmental protection. There are also funds, I believe, from the Canadian Wildlife Act that go to it. Most of the environmental legislation has the funds from the penalties go to the environmental damages fund.

Fisheries committee  I don't think I can comment on whether what we've done would constitute consultation. There's a view that virtually everything you do can contribute to consultation. We have talked to aboriginal groups. We have not had an extensive engagement process with the 638 first nations—or 641, whatever the number is.

Fisheries committee  Thanks for the question. The main prohibition is section 35. Section 35 says you can't have a work, undertaking, or activity that causes serious harm to fish that is part of a commercial, recreational, or aboriginal fishery or to fish that supports such a fishery.

Fisheries committee  You know, generally there's never enough time for all these things. That said, as you will know, and other members will know, we've had a number of attempts to change the Fisheries Act in the past. We had Bill C-32, and we had a previous Bill C-45, which had a number of these changes—not all of these changes, by any means.