OTTAWA--"Herb Dhaliwal is the biggest problem facing the management of the lobster fishery in the Maritimes, not the natives challenging his authority to regulate the fishery," said John Cummins, M.P. (Delta-South Richmond).

Yesterday the Minister called a press conference in Winnipeg to explain why he has the authority to regulate the lobster fishery in the Maritimes at a time when the commercial fishery is closed. He explained that the Marshall decision strengthened his authority to regulate a fishery where natives have special rights to harvest lobster.

His explanation exposed his own paralysis. He diminished his ability to act and undermined his own authority by purporting to defer to native demands as if they indeed had extra-ordinary rights.

According to the Minister, Miramichi natives are carrying on a "large-scale unauthorized fishery" and that this "unauthorized fishing has continued and increased". It takes place at a time when the fishery is closed.

The Minister has a duty to enforce the law and to protect the fishery based not on the Marshall decision but on the Fisheries Act. The Minister's authority is only fettered or limited when natives have a special right to harvest lobster not available to the general public. His authority is not fettered because Miramichi natives do not have such a judicially recognized special right.

The Department of Justice has already provided evidence to the Federal Court to show that New Brunswick natives do not have either an aboriginal right or a treaty right to be treated differently than other Canadians with regard to the lobster fishery.

The Minister's obligation to enforce the law against those who would fish during a closed time would only face a test if Miramichi natives had an extra-ordinary right to harvest lobster that was fundamentally different than their right to fish as ordinary Canadian citizens. The Minister erred in assuming that his job was to determine and recognize special native rights. That is the job of judges not the Minister of Fisheries.

"The Minister's obligation and ordinary authority to prevent lobster fishing during a closed time is not based on the Marshall decision unless and until the Court's have recognized a special treaty right. Mr. Dhaliwal has undermined his own authority and ability to act by purporting to recognize an extra-ordinary native right to harvest lobster."