Fisheries committee  Very briefly about forestry, I need to advise the board that the Mi'kmaq chiefs of New Brunswick are actually in court with the province in regard to the forest management plan, the new plan: increased harvests, decreased buffers and deer yards, use of contentious sprays, the province delegating management to industry.

Fisheries committee  Absolutely.

Fisheries committee  Absolutely. To begin to have a process of management for the entire system would seem to make a lot of sense, to not look at any species in isolation, and to actually have first nations traditional knowledge, science at the table, as part of that discussion. It's being really meaningfully involved with that, not one-off meetings now and again, which really don't get you at the table with the people who are making the decisions.

Fisheries committee  Absolutely. In the Miramichi Salmon Association and the Atlantic Salmon Federation, we do speak with each other. Bill Taylor, with the Atlantic Salmon Federation, actually worked with us, sat with us, and supported us in looking at other options for food for the community. We're open to doing it.

Fisheries committee  I'm sorry I was a little heavy on the legal in the introduction, but we had to lay the ground that we're absolutely open to co-management and speaking about options. We've been involved initially with resource managers from DFO to look at other options for food for our communities, and for the most part those discussions have not led to many other options.

Fisheries committee  I have a statement, and we'll see how much time is left once we go through that. I'll try to be brief. My name is George Ginnish. I'm the Chief of the Natoaganeg, or the Eel Ground First Nation. I welcome you here today to the unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq and to our district, the seventh district of the Mi'gmaq Gespe'gewa'gi.