Damien Gillis, who has produced documentaries about environmental issues in B.C., said the limited number of British Columbians on fisheries committees explains what he sees as a lack of action on threats to salmon and the closure of West Coast coast guard stations and lighthouses.
"We're seeing at this very moment, in real time, the reflection of this neglect of B.C. citizens and conservation objectives," Gillis said.
Of the 22 members on the fisheries and oceans standing Senate and standing parliamentary committees in Ottawa, three are from B.C.
Committees help draft policy by hearing testimony from expert witnesses and conducting studies, the results of which are forwarded to government. Members of the Senate committee are chosen by a committee at the beginning of each new Parliament session. Parliamentary committees are chosen by the standing committee on procedure and house affairs.
With 4.6 million people and 25,000 kilometres of coastline, B.C. has a lone senator on the 12-member Senate fisheries committee, compared to five from the Maritimes. The Maritimes collectively have 17,000 kilometres of coastline and 1.8 million people.
As of last week, the House of Commons committee had two B.C. members on its 10-person committee to represent a province where seafood sales bring in more than $800 million each year, while the Maritimes' industry is worth about $760 million annually.
There has not been a British Columbian fisheries minister since 1999, with all six ministers in the interim hailing from the Atlantic provinces, one appointed to the post twice. British Columbians held the position three times during the 1990s.
But Christine Maydossian of the Office of Minister of State and Chief Government Whip John Duncan, which oversees the fisheries committees for the Conservatives, said there is nothing wrong with the current representation.
"It is factually incorrect that there is a lack of B.C. representatives on fisheries committees," Maydossian said in an email. "We have strong representation on parliamentary committees studying fisheries and oceans."
NDP deputy fisheries critic Fin Donnelly said that more B.C. representation on fisheries committees would likely not make a difference, but only because the current government doesn't listen to anyone who doesn't agree with them.
"This is a government unwilling to listen to fisheries issues, especially when they conflict with their oil agenda," Donnelly said. "It's a government driven by that agenda that is not listening to some of the concerns from the West Coast, whether you're in opposition or not."
He said the controversial closing of the Kitsilano coast guard station in 2013 is an example of the government ignoring B.C. concerns.
He said if Parliament and government were to consider dissenting opinions, as it is supposed to do, the lopsided representation would be more worrisome.
'Guardians of the coast' unheard: Gillis
Gillis said that underrepresentation of B.C. on fisheries committees is reflected in the recent multi-year permitting of fish farms on the coast. One online petition two years ago garnered more than 100,000 signatures against the expansion of such farms, and the industry remains controversial in B.C.
Nancy Greene Raine, the lone B.C. representative on the Senate committee, has said in the past that she thinks fish farms should be expanded. Gillis believes that more B.C. voices on the committees would provide a better chance for the concerns of many in the province to reach policymakers.
Many recommendations from the Cohen Commission on the province's salmon stocks have still not been officially implemented. Gillis said that could be due to a lack of representation on fisheries committees, which could recommend that Parliament implement the measures.
The commission, which some experts say cost up to $37 million, was formed in 2009 after the Fraser River sockeye salmon fishery closed for three consecutive years. It heard from nearly 180 witnesses over 139 days, and in the end made 75 recommendations to help conserve B.C.'s salmon population.
Meanwhile, Gillis said he thinks the lack of B.C. representation is intentional and to the detriment of B.C.'s interests, citing another example in a recent plan to close three coast guard communications centres. The centres in Vancouver, Comox and Tofino will be closed by 2016.
The closures are part of 10 across Canada, and will see the centres -- responsible for helping vessel traffic in distress, among other duties -- concentrated in Victoria and Prince Rupert.
Gillis believes that an increased B.C. presence on fisheries committees would "to some extent conflict with big provincial and federal policies around converting the coast for fossil fuel transport (and) for large-scale industrial fish farms."
Added Gillis: "It would be a reasonable hypothesis for people to draw that getting rid of these local guardians of the coasts is beneficial to exercising those policies."
Original Article
Source: thetyee.ca/
Author: Jeremy J. Nuttall
No comments:
Post a Comment