INTERESTING NEWS Canada’s Oldest First Nations Newspaper - Serving Nuu-chah-nulth-aht since 1974 Canadian Publications Mail Product Vol. 48 - No. 23—December 2, 2021 haas^i>sa Sales Agreement No. 40047776
Photo by Eric Plummer
Wally Samuel and Keesa Watts dance at a gathering on Nov. 27 at the Alberni Athletic Hall. Held on Samuel’s 75th birthday, the event was an expression of gratitude towards those who supported him through cancer treatment. Story on page 15.
Nations reach out to new fisheries minister Nuu-chah-nulth must have half of the overall catch west of Vancouver Island, says a recently passed motion By Eric Plummer Ha-Shilth-Sa Editor Canada’s newly appointed fisheries minister has inherited a formidable task on the west coast of Vancouver Island, where a contentious relationship with Nuu-chah-nulth has seen decades of litigation, stalled negotiations and a recent directive from hereditary chiefs for their people to fish according to the nations’ own plans. Following this fall’s federal election that brought the Liberals back to a minority government, Vancouver-based MP Joyce Murray was appointed minster of Fisheries and Oceans in October. The federal ministry operates under the mandate of “sustainably managing fisheries and aquaculture,” while “working with fishers, coastal and Indigenous communities to enable their continued prosperity from fish and seafood.” As Murray begins her new role, a cautionary letter was sent to her office on Nov. 10 from Judith Sayers, president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, and Cliff Atleo Sr., chair of the Council of Ha’wiih Forum on Fisheries, warn-
ing that scientific expertise will not be enough. “The collapse of salmon stocks in recent decades is a challenge that your department cannot address on its own based on scientific knowledge,” reads the letter. The letter from Sayers and Atleo also references a motion passed this fall by the council and the NTC. This resolution states that “meaningful reconciliation” includes a 50 per cent share in fisheries west of Vancouver Island, under a comanagement arrangement with DFO that “respects Nuu-chah-nulth laws”. This would far exceed what the federal department allocated to the local First Nations earlier this year. Out of the 88,000 total allowable catch, 7,821 were set aside this spring for the five Nuuchah-nulth nations that operate T’aaqwiihak fisheries, with another 5,000 allocated for First Nations’ food social and ceremonial purposes and 3,441 chinook for nations in the Maa-nulth treaty. Meanwhile, the sports fishery was allocated 35,000 for the west coast of Vancouver Island, while the Area G commercial troll fleet got 36,738 before the chinook season opened.
Inside this issue... No wrongdoing found for officer who shot Moore.........Page 3 Are clearcuts a factor in flooding?..................................Page 5 Nuu-chah-nulth culture in school curriculum.................Page 8 Commissioner points to ‘over-policing’.......................Page 11 New campgrounds in development..............................Page 14
Preliminary catch data had the five nations bringing in 10,734 chinook, while the recreation fishery was decreased to almost 23,000 and Area G brought in 25,225. “We just haven’t been able to exercise our right,” said Sayers during the NTC’s Annual General Meeting in October. “If you’ve ever talked to DFO, it’s like talking to the wall,” added Hesquiaht Chief Councillor Joshua Charleson during the meeting. “They come with an offer, they can’t deviate from this offer because they’re only mandated to give you what the minister has approved before the meeting. Negotiations have basically been stalemate since 2013.” For over a decade, the right of Nuuchah-nulth nations to commercially fish in their own territorial waters has been disputed in Canada’s courts. In a case involving the Ahousaht, Ehattesaht/Chinehkint, Hesquiaht, Mowachaht/Muchalaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled in April that the five nations have the right to a fishery “of a moderate commercial scale”. This court decision removed the terms “small scale”, “artisanal” and “local” that were
used in a prior judgement to define the scope of the nations’ fisheries. Canada opted to not appeal that court decision, but T’aaq-wiihak’s share of chinook was only increased to 13,000. By August a directive came from the five nations’ Ha’wiih, informing their people to disregard DFO’s allocations in favour of the nations’ own fishing plans. “We all went fishing. We sold under the authority of our Ha’wiih,” said Charleson, adding that DFO officers came to the docks once to harass the Nuu-chahnulth fishers. “One of the Tla-o-qui-aht Ha’wiih…he told DFO officers to leave. They never came back, they respected his words.” Following the Nuu-chah-nulth’s 50 per cent share of fisheries off Vancouver Island’s west coast, Charleson explained that in the future nations that are directly tied to the court case will be following their own Ha’wiih fishery management plans. The strategy will be for Ha’wiih to directly buy from their fishers, explained Charleson. “The power of our fishery is Ha’wiih,” he said. Continued on page 3.
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