Canada given one year to sort out B.C. First Nations commercial fishery: court

VANCOUVER — A group of West Coast First Nations has won the right to harvest and sell fish commercially after a 12-year court battle.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mary Humphries has ruled Fisheries and Oceans Canada has one year to establish a commercial fishery for the five First Nations collectivelly known as Nuu-chah-nulth.  

However, Nuu-chah-nulth president Judith Sayers says that if the government is serious about implementing their rights, it should let the bands begin fishing immediately.

In the 400-page judgment, Humphries sets out the parameters for the Indigenous fisheries involving species including a variety of salmon, groundfish, crab, prawn and shellfish.

Fisheres Minister Dominic LeBlanc says in a statement that he has directed his ministry to take immediate steps and review the Pacific salmon allocation policy, while collaborating with First Nations groups and stakeholders on new policy. 

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Gord Johns, a Vancouver Island member of Parliament, says he’ll be in Ottawa next week to remind the government of its obligation.

The Canadian Press