Fisheries committee  Given the importance of restoring the lost protections, the first nations coalition that came together to create the submission before you wasn't saying, “Don't do anything.” They're saying, clearly, “Do something, and do it properly.” The important thing is to restore the HADD p

Fisheries committee  I do agree it's an improvement, what we're doing this round, by the way, rather than no consultation, improved dialogue. We just need to get stronger. In terms of traditional knowledge and how it could be directly referred to in the act, we see it in two places. We've made recom

Fisheries committee  I did hear you. I'm just trying to figure out my response. I do want you to focus on constitutional obligations, and those obligations include obligations to first nations under section 35 protected fisheries rights. Under the Fisheries Act, the minister should be charged with

Fisheries committee  I think one of the things is to be careful about death by a thousand cuts. You streamline, assuming that small projects have little effect, and that's an incorrect assumption. Small projects, many of them, can have very detrimental effects to migrating salmon and other fisheries.

Fisheries committee  Yes, at the treaty tables or non-treaty tables about how we're moving forward in collaborative management, there have been opportunities identified throughout British Columbia on how better to work with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. That's why we're promoting the revise

Fisheries committee  —and you're focusing on fish and fish habitat.

Fisheries committee  Do you mean meetings as it relates to the revisions to the Fisheries Act?

Fisheries committee  I think there were less than four or five information sessions regionally, provided by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans which introduced this review, but they were just introductory meetings to provide a purpose of the review and the nature of the statutory changes.

Fisheries committee  There were five regional meetings in British Columbia.

Fisheries committee  I also note—

Fisheries committee  The First Nations Fisheries Council will have been informed about those steps, but they will not have been consulted. The first nations fisheries organizations are not rights and title holders. They provide capacity and assist first nations in considering these matters, but they'

Fisheries committee  They engage.

Fisheries committee  The actual meetings began in the fall and happened over a period of one month.

Fisheries committee  I also want to note that at the time of those meetings, the funding had not been put in place. The first nations had no opportunity to review ahead of time and seek the advice they would need on amendments to the Fisheries Act. They were basically receiving information from DFO a

Fisheries committee  If I've heard the question correctly, it is correct that it's difficult to measure precisely the implications of the amendments in 2012 and 2013, because it was tongue and groove with the decline in capacity of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. You have to take a longer vie