AGRICULTURE MINISTER TAKES OMINOUS TONE WITH FISH FARM
When Premier John Horgan promised to “align the actions of my government with the United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples (UNDRIP),” it wasn’t clear how that would play out with specific decisions.
Now one example has come to the fore during the imbroglio between the NDP government and some First Nations over fish farming and the threat to wild salmon stocks. On Friday the lead cabinet member on the file, Agriculture Minister Lana Popham, sent out a chilling letter to fish farm operator Marine Harvest Canada regarding its continued presence on the B.C. coast.
“I have recently become aware of Marine Harvest’s decision to restock the Port Elizabeth salmon farm,” wrote Popham, referring to ongoing activities at one of the company’s dozen or so operations off northern Vancouver Island.
“It comes at a very sensitive time,” she continued. “We are entering into sensitive discussions with some of the First Nations in the (area) who remain opposed to open-net pen salmon farming in their territories.”
So sensitive a time that some of the offended Indigenous people and their supporters have briefly occupied the constituency offices of both Popham and Horgan.
The minister then proceeded to put the company on notice regarding its obligations toward First Nations, as the NDP sees it.
“Our government has committed to implementing the United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous people,” she wrote. “Practically, this means that companies should make every effort to develop and maintain healthy relationships with First Nations in whose territories companies are doing business.”
The UN declaration runs to 46 specific articles. The key one entitles First Nations to “free, prior and informed consent on any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources.”
Or as Perry Bellegarde, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, has put it, the UN declaration gives Indigenous people “the right to say ‘yes’ and the right to say ‘no.’”
Marine Harvest, which has operated here for decades and employs more than 500 people, has established working relationships with 15 First Nations, including seven First Nations-owned businesses — which presumably amounts to a considerable measure of free, prior and informed consent.
But the region in question — the Broughton Archipelago near Alert Bay — includes other First Nations that want the fish farms removed from what they regard as their traditional territories.
The problem of overlaps among the traditional territories of some 203 recognized First Nations in B.C. is one reason the previous B.C. Liberal government balked at endorsing UNDRIP. They saw it as a recipe for overlapping vetoes.
But the New Democrats endorsed it anyway, all the while insisting that “free, prior and informed consent” was not the same thing as a veto.
Listening to New Democrats on that score, I have been reminded of Humpty Dumpty: “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.”
In any event, Horgan’s embrace of UNDRIP was also incorporated into the mandate letters for individual cabinet ministers.
“Our government will be fully adopting and implementing UNDRIP,” his directive to Popham read in part. “As minister, you are responsible for reviewing policies, programs and legislation to determine how to bring the principles of the declaration into action in British Columbia.”
Now armed with her marching orders from the premier, Popham was, in effect, telling Marine Harvest to establish a healthy working relationship with every holdout First Nation in the region of its fish farms as well. If not? Well, that implied question sets the stage for the most telling part of her letter, namely an implied threat to yank the company’s ability to continue to operate in provincial waters.
“Whatever operational decisions you should choose to make,” the agriculture minister advised Marine Harvest managing director Vincent Erenst, “the province retains all of its rights under the current tenure agreements, including potentially the requirement that you return possession of tenured sites at the end of the current terms.”
The tenures in question are provincial government-approved leases to operate floating fish farms over the ocean bottom. They run for five years and all expire next June.
The renewal process is in the hands of the ministry of forests, lands, natural resource operations and rural development, headed by her cabinet colleague, Doug Donaldson. But he’s no less bound to respect UNDRIP than is Popham.
“My colleagues from the (other) ministry will be in touch with you to describe the process for you to initiate applications for replacement tenures,” the agriculture minister continued.
Last time the renewal process took years, and that was under the Liberals. This time, well, let Popham tell it:
“As you are aware,” she wrote, “government will be reviewing tenures and will make a decision on renewals before the current leases expire.”
Lest the company be in any doubt about the precariousness of its position, she added this: “Issuance of any replacement tenure or any permission to allow you continued occupation of existing sites on a month-tomonth basis remains subject to future decision-making processes and cannot be guaranteed.”
Still, she closed with a cheery “we look forward to your input on the lease renewal decisions,” never mind that the rest of her letter read like the first draft of an eviction notice.