Read the full transcript here.

Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands)
2022-05-30 23:51

Mr. Chair, just by way of opening, I will say that I am basing a lot of these questions on testimony that we heard at the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. It is an excellent committee with a lot of non-partisan co-operation between members around the table, but I will not cite every witness in every specific question.
I am following up on an earlier question on the climate impacts of extreme weather events and the impacts on fish habitat. We know we have impacts on and threats to Pacific salmon from flooding, wildfires and the destruction of the riparian zones that used to shield the waters to keep them from getting too hot from increased water temperatures. However, I want to focus on what we are going to do to rebuild infrastructure after the November floods in B.C. We could do it wrong and worsen salmon habitat through building dikes and drudging or we could do it right. Some of the expert witnesses suggested that Washington state is where we ought to look for excellence in its flood plains by design program, which works to reduce flood risks while enhancing and restoring salmon habitat.

Can the minister update us on whether DFO is actively pursuing a flood plains by design program?

Hon. Joyce Murray (Vancouver Quadra)
2022-05-30 23:53

Mr. Chair, I absolutely share the concern that it is not just the effects of the flooding, slides and fires, but how we rebuild from them. I mentioned earlier that I am part of the emergency committee of provincial and federal ministers, and each of my and DFO’s interventions has been to make sure the other ministers understand the importance of having fish-friendly rebuilding. We are going to continue to press that point.

Our government provided $5 billion to the province to help rebuild from the flooding in November. That rebuilding has to be done in a way that is fish friendly, so I am going to be asking for a report on what we are doing to ensure that.

I thank the member for her concern.

Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands)
2022-05-30 23:54

Mr. Chair, I will move to the problem of what people call aquaculture but my constituents insist I call toxic fish factories, and how we are going to get them out of the water, as the minister’s government promised. Some of the witnesses who testified recently on the science issue questioned why the department, not the minister personally, obviously, has in certain sections suppressed science on viruses and sea lice. The conclusion was that it had to do with the fact that the Fisheries Act structurally has a conflict of interest in both promoting the aquaculture industry and regulating it.

Would the minister be open to looking at the new aquaculture act to eliminate that conflict of interest, have a different department promote aquaculture and have DFO protect wild fish stocks?

Hon. Joyce Murray (Vancouver Quadra)
2022-05-30 23:55

Mr. Chair, we do have a process, the CSAS process, which provides the opportunity for peer review of science. I understand what the member is saying when she says that there has been some recent research that has come out since the CSAS report that determined minimal risk. At a certain point, when there is a body of work that has not been reviewed, I will be requesting that another peer review process take place through CSAS so that we can update our analysis of the risk to wild salmon.
Consideration in a Committee of the WholeDepartment of Fisheries and OceansMain estimates 2022-2023

Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands)
2022-05-30 23:56

Mr. Chair, moving on, I was really pleased to hear the minister say that she recognizes that polystyrene is a real problem of plastic pollution in our coastal areas, but I was disappointed to hear that it sounded like DFO is not interested in getting it out of the ocean.
Is DFO working with Environment and Climate Change Canada to improve the regulations currently under review for ocean plastics to put polystyrene’s use in the marine and coastal areas on a list so that we avoid getting it into the ocean in the first place?

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The federal green parliamentary caucus is shocked by the sudden and ill-considered decision to prevent spot prawn fishers from flash freezing their catch in small containers at sea.

The sudden departure from the decades long interpretation of regulation around our local BC spot prawn fishery is not only shocking for its lack of consultation, it is also illogical and unscientific.

It is not difficult to inspect a small box of prawns that is easily thawed.

We completely support the statement from James McIsaac of the BC Commercial Fishing Caucus:

“The commercial sector does want prawn size enforced but it does not want the market killed by the enforcement actions. Banning the sale of prawn in tubs frozen at sea does nothing for the sustainability of the industry, it only forces harvesters to package for export or go to processors to enter local markets.”

We must support our local small fishers and their ability to get their product to local consumers. We want to prevent an illogical regulation with the likely consequence of benefiting larger producers for no ecological benefit.

We have written the Hon Bernadette Jordan and requested she immediately reverse this decision.

Click here to read the letter to Minister Jordan.

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Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands)
2020-11-24 22:40 [p.2401]

Mr. Chair, I thank my hon. colleague for splitting his time with me. I also want to make note and thank a previous speaker, the member for Sydney—Victoria. Wela’lin. For people staying up late to watch the main estimates on fisheries, it was an important historical, personal and very relevant step toward reconciliation to understand who Donald Marshall Jr. really was.

I will ask the hon. member a number of questions. They are in the context of my extreme level of panic that Pacific wild salmon are in collapse and that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans does not seem to understand the level of urgency around a multifaceted and multi-layered crisis.
I will focus with my bit of time on some very specific questions.

Based on advice that the fisheries and oceans committee heard before prorogation, the only thing to do with the Big Bar slide to help the salmon in the Fraser River is to get a fish ladder in place. Has the Department of Fisheries and Oceans commissioned and contracted for the engineering and construction of a fish ladder as a permanent solution on the Big Bar slide?

Hon. Bernadette Jordan (South Shore—St. Margarets)
2020-11-24 22:41 [p.2401]

Mr. Chair, with regard to the Big Bar landslide, we have made significant progress but know that more has to be done. We are currently in the process of building a natural fish passageway. That is one of the things that has to be done to make sure we address the concerns in the Fraser River with regard to the slide.

We have been taking a multi-level government approach to this. We have the province behind us, we have worked with indigenous communities in the area and we are going to continue to do everything we possibly can to address this concern.

Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands)
2020-11-24 22:42 [p.2401]

Mr. Chair, I take it the answer, then, is no. I would urge the minister to look at the testimony we had before the fisheries and oceans committee specifically from first nations leadership that the only solution, and it is going to be expensive, is a permanent solution with engineering and building a fish ladder. It must done.

I want to move to the issue of recommendation 19 of the Cohen Commission and the Discovery Islands. The minister and I exchanged concerns about this issue during question period some months ago. I am desperately concerned that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans constructed its review of the threat to wild salmon from the fish farms specifically excluding the parasitic effect of the sea lice that escape and affect wild salmon. It did not take those into consideration. Within the minister’s own department, Dr. Kristi Miller has done important work on this, which appears to have been excluded from consideration.

Why is it that we have not taken action, as the Cohen Commission recommended, to protect our wild salmon?

Hon. Bernadette Jordan (South Shore—St. Margarets)
2020-11-24 22:44 [p.2401]

Mr. Chair, first of all, I would like to clarify for my hon. colleague that we actually have contracted for the Big Bar ladder. That is the natural fish passageway. I want to clarify that it has been contracted. We are working on that. We know it is an important part of making sure the salmon are able to traverse the river.

With regard to the Discovery Islands, protecting the wild Pacific salmon is a priority for us, and we recognize the first nations’ historic cultural connection to wild salmon. Our government manages risk from sea lice using a science-based adaptive management approach. This spring, in consultation with our partners, my department revised the licences of marine aquaculture finfish operators in British Columbia to increase the enforceability of licence conditions pertaining to the management of sea lice. That is a step we are taking to address the concerns around sea lice.

With regard to the Discovery Islands specifically and the Cohen Commission, one of the things we heard loud and clear from the first nations in those areas was that we could not make a unilateral decision on the fish farms. They are in their territorial waters, and they wanted to have a say. They knew it was important we make the decision, but they wanted to make sure they were—

Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands)
2020-11-24 22:44 [p.2401]

With respect, Mr. Chair, the department had plenty of time to consult between the Cohen Commission report and when we did not take those recommendations.
To the southern resident killer whales, I have had other discussions with the department about the sanctuary areas on Pender Island and Saturna Island. Not a single fine has been levied. No one who has violated the sanctuary for the whales has faced any punishment.

Can the minister commit to a much better and more robust protection of our southern resident killer whales?

Hon. Bernadette Jordan (South Shore—St. Margarets)
2020-11-24 22:44 [p.2402]

Mr. Chair, absolutely, we are committed to making sure we protect this iconic species. We are taking a number of measures to address the concerns that we hear with regard to the southern resident killer whales. We are going to continue to work with stakeholders and environmental organizations to make sure that we are addressing concerns.

This is an iconic species that nobody wants to become extinct. We are going to do everything we can to make sure that we protect it.

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Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands)
2020-09-28 20:45 [p.218]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise in this place in Adjournment Proceedings to pursue a question I asked just last week of the Minister of Fisheries.

The response from the minister was far from adequate, but I did not expect to feel the rage I now feel in taking the question up again. The question last week was about whether the minister was prepared to act on the Cohen Commission’s recommendation 19 to remove the toxic fish factories near Discovery Islands.

I feel as though I am experiencing déjà vu all over again. I am one of those people in the country who remembers the collapse of our cod stocks. I am a Maritimer. I remember the moment when it was really the large offshore dragger companies that declared the moratorium, because the cod stocks were gone.

In 1998, Michael Harris wrote the horrible narrative, the deep details of the corrupted science within the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, in his book, Lament for an Ocean. I read it and gave him a blurb for the back of the book, which was that after reading this book, I would not trust DFO with my aquarium.

I did not know that it was possible to be this angry again. I thought the Department of Fisheries and Oceans had begun to understand the notion of sustainability. However, the Cohen Commission, at a cost of $25 million, commissioned by the previous government under Stephen Harper, looked at the collapse of salmon returns when in 2009 only one and a half million salmon returned up the Fraser River, instead of the five million that were expected. This year is the all-time low, a return of 270,000 salmon.

First nations up and down the Fraser, up and down the coast are declaring the collapse of Pacific salmon. It is a disaster. The committee on fisheries and oceans was studying this very matter until prorogation pulled the plug on it.
When I asked the minister if she was prepared to act by September 30, which is the deadline, she said that several steps were under way. I did not know those steps would be fiction from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Once again, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is cooking its science. How? It issued it today, to say that the risk to salmon from those open pen toxic fish factories was a minimal risk, that there was no need to close them down at the Discovery Islands. The minister has launched a consultation with some of the first nations involved, but not all of course.

How is it possible that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans could say such a thing? In March of this year, DFO gave those salmon farms virtual permission for out-of-control sea lice. As a result, three different academic studies found that 99% of the 2020 juvenile sockeye migration through the Discovery Islands were infected at levels we know will reduce their survival.

How could it be that DFO now says it is low risk? As marine biologist, Alexandra Morton, said, DFO did not assess the impact of sea lice, the most visible threat. If we are going to do a study to see whether an activity is dangerous to salmon, let us exclude the number one cause of disease and danger to the wild salmon populations, the burgeoning sea lice. There is a reason for these companies in our waters, Norwegian-owned fish farms, but in Norway they are moving to closed containment.

The Liberal government promised in its platform to end open pen fish farms. When will it happen?

Terry Beech (Burnaby North—Seymour)
2020-09-28 20:53 [p.219]

Madam Speaker, when I was first appointed as the parliamentary secretary in 2017, I read the Cohen commission report from front to back. As a person who came to the House to improve the lives and opportunities of future generations, the issue of wild salmon immediately spoke to me as an opportunity to contribute to something that mattered to many British Columbians. I spent time with stream keepers, first nations, fishermen and non-profits to better understand the potential impact of fish farms on wild salmon.

I was happy to serve as the parliamentary secretary who worked on passing all five major environmental bills through the House from the previous Parliament. This included changes to the Fishery Act, which restored protections for fish and fish habitat and created new modern safeguards. I acted to defend the salmon enhancement program and advocated to get more funding into ecosystem restoration through programs such as the oceans protection plan and more recently through the $142-million B.C. salmon fund.

After a brief period in Transport, I returned to my current position during a time when our salmon are facing their most historic crisis. My earliest days on the file were spent on first nation’s territory and on the site of the Big Bar landslide. This devastating slide is putting salmon further at risk and our government has made all possible investments to mitigate the effects of this natural disaster on wild salmon. I say this because I want the member and every member in this House, as well as British Columbians watching this at home, to know that wild Pacific salmon are a top priority of our government.

In the last election campaign, we promised to transition away from open-net pen finfish aquaculture on the B.C. coast, and the minister is committed to delivering on that promise. The minister took some steps in that direction by announcing today that we are committed to an area-based management approach to aquaculture, starting in the Discovery Islands.

I know that the member and others in British Columbia were hopeful that the announcement today was going to be an announcement to immediately withdraw the net pens in the Discovery Islands. While this is well within the minister’s control and power, there are a number of important factors that were not immediately considered when the recommendation was first drafted by Justice Cohen, the primary of which is our government’s commitment to first nations reconciliation and to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

First nation communities have rightfully acknowledged the urgency of the response to the Cohen recommendations, but have also been very clear that they cannot accept unilateral decisions on what happens in their territory. This is an opportunity for us to work together with all affected first nations and stakeholders to build a better future for everyone, and that is exactly what our government is doing.

In terms of determining the risk level posed by farms in the recommendation, DFO created a formal scientific assessment framework and conducted nine scientifically peer-reviewed risk assessments on pathogens that are known to cause disease. I want to be very specific here. We are a government that takes science seriously, and it is important for anyone listening to or reading this speech to understand the entirety of what I am about to say. For each of the nine risk assessments, DFO found that each individual pathogen provided a minimal risk to the abundance and diversity of wild Fraser River sockeye salmon. Their assessment does not include further analysis of the cumulative risk of all nine pathogens taken together, either independently or in conjunction with other cumulative risks on wild salmon, including sea lice, climate change or overharvesting.

We continue to build on our body of science and on our understanding of the marine environment. This includes how we manage aquaculture. While there still remains no direct smoking gun that I can point to today, I can say our government is committed to a precautionary approach and moving forward with a responsible transition from open-net pen finfish aquaculture on the west coast of British Columbia.

Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands)
2020-09-28 20:55 [p.219]

Madam Speaker, if there was a way to add insult to injury, I suppose it would be to invoke the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to block the very thing that first nations throughout British Columbia are urging the minister to do, which is to act.

Chief Judy Wilson of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said, “When a department fails so miserably as DFO, it’s time the federal government says we need a reform here, it’s not working.”

To be very clear, the nine pathogens studied by DFO in deciding there was minimum risk did not include sea lice. I am sorry that the parliamentary secretary is willing to say that this is a top priority for his government. It makes me wonder what could be worse. I guess we need to dig more graves for Canadians, because COVID is our top priority. If Pacific salmon is a top priority and the Liberals continue to allow sea lice to contaminate the wild salmon population, then they do not know what a priority looks like.

Terry Beech (Burnaby North—Seymour)
2020-09-28 20:55 [p.220]

Madam Chair, the protection and restoration of wild Pacific salmon is a top priority of our government. It is why we have taken such strong and immediate action on passing environmental legislation, including the Fisheries Act, and why we have moved to protect 25% of our marine habitat by 2025. It is also why our government has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into habitat restoration and innovative programs like the $142-million B.C. salmon restoration and innovation fund. Our government is also committed to transitioning away from open-net pen finfish aquaculture in B.C. and is moving forward on this file in a responsible way.

Our approach must include meaningful consultations with local first nations and communities, and preferably with an approach that is aligned with the Government of British Columbia as well. The future of finfish aquaculture in British Columbia must be clean and sustainable, and prioritize the health and abundance of wild Pacific salmon and the biodiversity of our marine ecosystem.

I look forward to working with British Columbians, including first nations, local communities, the province, the member and all members of the House to find that responsible path forward. Our kids—

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