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[Old Black Dog]

JOHN CUMMINS, M.P.
Delta Richmond East


NEWS RELEASE

August 30, 2005


THEY LOVE ME, THEY LOVE ME NOT


DELTA-"DFO spent yesterday picking petals off daisies," said John
Cummins, M.P., Delta - Richmond East. "In the end they chose continued
black market sales over fish for commercial and sport fishermen."

DFO went into yesterday's meeting with industry officials with fish on
the table for a commercial opening.

Efforts to negotiate fishing opportunities were fruitless. Hours into
the meeting, when an agreement couldn't be reached, Cultus Lake sockeye
that had been available for harvest at the beginning of the meeting were
no longer available and DFO suddenly remembered that native food
fishermen needed an additional 200,000 sockeye.

"The ethics of Liberal fisheries management could keep Justice Gomery
busy for years," concluded Cummins.

[pepsitrev]

  an additional 200,000 fish for the natives i say thats bs boy are we getting a stick up the _ss .i think we better get organized as sportsfisherman and make a stand or do something about this issue after all this is a free country or it used to be

[Steelhawk]

We need more MPs like John Cummins who dare to challenge DFO & expose their corrupted schemes of fish management. 

[sliverbullet]

thats a bunch of sh*t if you ask me the natives already kill enough socks why give them more to drift net for

[Nikko]

As sent to Don Bell, MP for North Vancouver:

*************************************************

Mr. Bell

From the DFO web site dated Aug 29th, 2005:

"There have been no commercial fisheries targeting Fraser River sockeye to date.
 Based on the information presented, and given the proportions of late run
sockeye in all areas, the Department has recommended that commercial and
recreational opportunities will continue not be pursued at this time. This
recommendation is supported by Canadian members of the Fraser River Panel."

While this decision is controversial to begin with, it's also indicative of the
need to place the fisheries management under serious review. People will be in
financial ruin this year as a result of this choice. However the salmon must be
protected; no one will deny that and people will be willing to make sacrifice to
see this happens.

It is now rumoured that following this decision by the panel, First Nations will
be allowed to harvest an additional 200,000 sockeye from these same closed areas
(source: John Cummins, M.P. Aug 30 press release) . This is in addition to a
huge allotment already granted and does not take into account the fish taken by
FN peoples through the ongoing illegal fisheries (as documented by the local
news and reports to DFO).

I am Canadian. I was born in Canada, I was raised in Canada and I'm raising my
children in Canada. No man is more Canadian and no citizen is less Canadian than
I. And yet, there are race-based decisions being made on precisely this premise;
that one person is more Canadian than another. If I were to make this claim
against my ethnically different neighbour, I would be considered in breach of
the law and my behaviour would be deemed unacceptable by society, and by those
in government that represent society.  And I would be expected to pay a penalty
for my error; a penalty described by this same law. Yet this same government
mathematically defines this segregation and goes further to assign different
rules for common resources. This is wrong and proves only to divide a nation;
our nation. Our collective nation. A nation that prides itself building national
strength on equality among minorities. Our very actions are proving to defy the
premise on which this nation, and our subsequent greatness was achieved. And for
what? Who wins? What is the hopeful outcome? How does this end and how can there
be a better nation derived from forced and sanctioned segregation?

This simply cannot continue. There must be equality introduced else lawlessness
will run rampant and the fish stocks will be further decimated. If the rivers
are closed to one group for fishing, they need to be closed for all. We are all
equal. Recognition of race is segregating society...no good can come of this
method of resource management. It must stop.

Please take my message to those who can do something about it. Please also let
me know you have received this note.

*****************************************************

Nikko

[Fish Assassin]

Excellent letter Nikko

[Randog]

Excellent read Nikko

[the_pict]

great letter nikko. this is the kind of letter that we all should send to our local mps, with copies to that sheep shagger campbell and that wanker marten .

[Steelhawk]

nice letter, Nikko. Well done.

[Nikko]

Thanks all. Let's see if I get a response now....

Nikko

[dennisK]

n

[Nikko]

Well, I expected a repsonse and chatter from my note, but I certianly did not expect to be called ignorant. And I don't believe I need correcting.

First nations may have "rights" granted to them by being the first peoples here (which in itself is debatable), however as a group they are defined as a race and the laws that define them and box them are geared towards the group as defined by a race.

DFO have three groups they refer to on a regular basis; Commercial, Recreational and First Nations fishers. I have no interest in debating the validity of these groupings or terms. I'm simply choosing to use common and accepted convention when categorizing peoples as all rules pertaining to my complaint have laid precedent for.

I didn't define the box, I'm just using it. If you want it re-defined, talk to those in governement who have the ability to do that. When that occurs, I'll use their next interperetation and classification of term. It matters not to me.

The purpose to my note was to point out the inequality bewtween Canadians and Canadians when it comes to the management of a common resource. This inequality still stands, regardless of how the various categories of people came to be.

Wrong....is stil wrong. I'm a Canadian, this is my native country, and no person is more Canadian than I. To define someone otherwise, is the very definition of racism.

Nikko

[dennisK]

..

[Nikko]

dennisK:

My bad. You did indeed call my argument ignorant, not me. I simply drew the lines. 

It's obvious you're looking for a fight and using this discussion to try and instigate one. I have a hunch you've been laying in wait for a newbie and it's fish on. OK, I'll shake my head one more time but after that, it'll be time for you to cast again. Today's not a good day to be netted

The premise of my argument is simple. I'm Canadian, pure Canadian, deeply Canadian and I'm not allowed to do something that another group of Canadians are allowed to do and the other group is defined (by others) as a race. It's simple. My STAUS...is Canadian. I don't want special recognition; I just want equal recognition. And my own country, by definitions described by my own governement, fails to do that.

No, I've not read the Magna Carta, and I have no intention of doing so.  700 year old "common law"? It's fluffy bunk that allows wimpy politicians to hide behind it, feign importance and shout indignance while vote trolling.

Years ago Canada was a nation that could not and did not succesfully defend itself nor call on allies to help defend itself against a hostile force and slow invasion. It was taken over, and we...the citizens, are the result. Right or wrong, that's what happened. I'm not appologiizing for it, I'm simply acknowledging it. It's the eptome of how the world's borders are/were/will be formed.

Entitlement. That very word defines the very root of the problem. No one earns anything anymore and why should they? Because if I'm entitled to something...I'll just sit on my my friend and wait for it to land in my lap. I'm getting pretty sick and tired for repenting and expecting to continually repent for a natural series of events that occured long before my time and trying to reach a compromise that cen never be defined, as the boundaries, rules and expectations are constantly changing. As I said in my original letter to Mr. Bell, "who wins? What is the hopeful outcome?".

DennisK, you attempt to justify this STATUS based division as something that has a right to pervade our society. I obviously disagree and semantics and vocaublary aside, the basis for this disagreement is the same basis for the slow degredation of our nation through the attempted recognition of "distinct societies" thought the creation and association of multiple sets of rules. How can we ever be one nation if our neighbours and I have different rules? No nation has ever been built like this. But nations certianly have failed because of this. Unfortunately, unless this changes, Canada is likely to fail as well. What we're seeing on the west coast is the ever broadening crack in the unity that's defined under the maple leaf. Arguments like yours only serve to push the wedge in a little deeper. Quit trying to justify segregation or the acepted norms that define segregation and put your obvious intellignece towards unification and fairness.

What a place this could be if only we all did that.

Nikko

[Gooey]

Dennis, the thought that the DFO doesnt manage the fishery based on race is REDICULOUS.  Look at the pilot sales program 2 years ago that allowed FN to sell fish...DFO tryed a race base fishery there and the supreme court of canada defeated it as it was against our constitution.

No one debates FN right to fish for FOOD/COMMUNITY/CERIMONY.  What we debate is that what they do actually fits in to the perameters of such a program.

Did you read my post on the Allocation Transfer Program.  DFO has $4 mil a year to buy COMMERCIAL liscences and TRANFER that quota to FN...doenst it sound like they are trying to give FN a priority on the resource?

Bottom line is that with poaching and blankmarket sales of fish being rampant, any reasonable (opposed to ignorant) person can question this thing DFO calls a FOOD fishery. 

And if this is a FOOD fishery why are pinks not targeted and when caught as a by product, they are discarded...that sickens me to read reports like the one that came out ourt of the harrison this weekend and sockeye rotting in a ditch, etc.

DFO through the Sparrow Descision has a very weak position in prosicuting FN for over fishing/poaching/etc. 

With what I have seen this year on the fraser and with programs like the ATP, one is only left to assume they want to do away with our comercial fleet so that they can give the comercail fleets allocation to FN and hopefully garner better relations and gain a little bit more control.