John Cummins, M.P.
Delta-South Richmond		 News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 7, 2001

Deputy Minister Contradicts Fisheries Minister

OTTAWA--"Herb Dhaliwal has been contradicted by his Associate Deputy Minister, Jack Stagg, who has confirmed that no new jobs were created by the government's response to the Marshall decision," said John Cummins, M.P. (Delta-South Richmond).

The Fisheries Minister stated in his Performance Report to Parliament that "more than a hundred Aboriginal vessels have joined the commercial fishery for crab, lobster and other species, bringing employment and economic benefits" to native communities as a result of his department's spending of $160 million in its initial response to the Marshall decision.

The Deputy Minister told the Commons Fisheries Committee that no new jobs were created and that existing jobs were merely "transferred" to native communities. Mr. Stagg, who is in charge of DFO's response to Marshall, made no comment on how non-aboriginal communities were to cope with the job losses.

In the Performance Report the Minister trumpeted the wonders of his job transfer program, forgetting that native fishermen in New Brunswick's Miramichi Bay, Prince Edward Island's Malpeque Bay, and Nova Scotia's St. Mary's Bay illegally fished fragile lobster stocks last year in defiance of the law, often using the vessels and gear purchased by DFO.

"The Minister's fraudulent claims of job creation are consistent with his misrepresentation of what the Supreme Court of Canada actually found in its November 1999 Marshall clarification. While the Minister claims that the Court requires the government to proceed with its disruptive native fisheries policy, Access to Information documents reveal this not to be the case. They show that the Privy Council Office advised the Prime Minister and other Ministers that "the Marshall ruling was confined to Marshall's right to trade eels".

"The government's misguided response to Marshall undermines conservation efforts and is creating huge dislocations in Maritime fishing communities. It is time for the Minister to honestly admit that his actions merely transfers jobs from fishing communities to native communities rather than creating new ones and that his actions bear no relationship to the `limited scope` of the Supreme Court ruling," said Cummins.

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For more information, please contact:

John Cummins, M.P.
(613) 992-2957
(604) 970-0937 (Cell)