On September 11, Fisheries Minister Shea held a meeting on the Fraser sockeye collapse behind closed doors. She invited stakeholders that included prominent First Nation chiefs, but refused entry to the one chief who knows all about fish farms.
Bob Chamberlin is elected chief of the Kwicksutaineuk-ah-kwaw-ah-mish First Nation on Gilford Island, in the heart of the Broughton Archipelago, now fish farming country. Chamberlin is Chair of the Aquaculture Working Group, which addresses aquaculture issues as they pertain to First Nations, with a mandate from UBCIC, AFN-BC, and the First Nations Leadership Council. He is Chair of the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Tribal Council, which represents First Nations in the Broughton Archipelago, hard hit by fish farms. Chamberlin has traveled to Norway several times to speak directly to the executive directors and shareholders of the Norwegian companies that own 90% of “BCs’ fish farm industry.”
Chief Chamberlin knows a thing or two about fish farms. He has seen the bottom and the top. When he called the minister’s office they acknowledged aquaculture would likely come up at the meeting today, but no, there was no room for this chief and he should just respect the wishes of Minister Shea who arrived at via a service elevator to avoid looking Chamberlin in the eye.
OK, you might say this man was just grandstanding and had no business trying to crash this meeting, but I strongly suggest you look a little closer.
In 1997, three Canadian scientists from leading Universities across Canada published a paper in Canada’s leading scientific journal titled ”Is scientific inquiry incompatible with government information control?” In it they dissect how Federal Fisheries managed Canada’s North Atlantic cod stocks into commercial extinction. They conclude “there is a clear and immediate need for Canadians to examine very seriously the role of bureaucrats and politicians in the management of Canada’s natural resources.”
As I mentioned in my previous post, a letter to the Minister of Fisheries Gail Shea, what I see is DFO following exactly in their own footsteps towards demise of our wild salmon. This is why Chief Chamberlin was so rudely denied access to Minister Shea’s meeting on the Fraser sockeye.
The collapse of the Fraser sockeye is highly specific to the fish that passed through the dozens of fish farms off Campbell River and Port Hardy. Wherever there are fish farms all over the world wild salmon tip into steep decline.
We must not allow the Federal Conservative government to avoid this issue. Every single fish farm on the coast of BC should immediately be tested for disease and their health records opened for immediate review.
Unless British Columbians take a stand where politicians can see you, our wild salmon will be left to die out. 17,500 people and counting have signed a letter to the Minister asking only that she apply the laws of Canada to fish farms www.adopt-a-fry.org
Comments
One response to “Minister Shea Bars Broughton Chief from her Meeting”
The idea that government policies might be based on evidence is a concept seemingly alien to the DFO political handlers. The events chronicled above seem to suggest that DFO is out to master the political environment regardless of the scientific and evidentiary basis for the west coast fisheries crisis.
And we, seemingly. keep electing MP’s from all three parties who are not anxious to lock horns with the DFO mandarins. We elect MP’s, not unelected mandarins.
Sad.