Question Period Note: Foreign and Beneficial Ownership

Foreign and Beneficial Ownership

My department is aware of the concerns expressed by Parliamentarians and some stakeholders about the degree of foreign ownership of Canadian fishing enterprises and concentration of fisheries access.

My department has launched an information-gathering exercise which will identify who is benefitting from commercial fishing licences and quota. This information will be used to develop a baseline understanding of the extent of foreign control and concentration of access in Canada’s commercial fisheries.

Careful consideration of the potential impacts on existing licence holders across all commercial fisheries, as well as Canada’s international trade obligations, are required before any policy changes can be considered or introduced.

If pressed on Foreign Ownership restrictions in Atlantic Canada
On the East coast, DFO has long-standing policy that requires all Atlantic midshore and offshore licence holders be at least 51 per cent Canadian-owned.

In early 2021, my department enhanced the application of this policy to ensure that prospective licence holders meet the 51 per cent requirement at all levels of their corporate structure.

If pressed on the West Coast Licensing Review
Our government is committed to supporting the economic viability and sustainability of Pacific fisheries and is committed to continued improvements in managing fisheries on the West Coast.

My department continues to engage with First Nations and key stakeholders in British Columbia to identify priority fisheries management and licensing concerns to further inform options to address the issue raised by the Standing Committee’s report and beyond.

• The issue of foreign ownership of Canadian enterprises, and Canadian fishing corporations specifically, was highlighted as part of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans’ (FOPO) report “West Coast Fisheries: Sharing Risks and Benefits.” The report included 20 recommendations that called for significant changes to the current fisheries management and licensing regime, including a recommendation that “no future sales of fishing quota and/or licences be to non Canadian beneficial owners.” The Government Response did not directly respond to this recommendation, but was supportive of the report’s overall goal of economically viable and sustainable fisheries, and of considering social and cultural factors in their management. The Response also committed DFO to further assess the recommendations, engage a broad range of stakeholders to support ongoing policy improvement efforts, and to undertake a comparative analysis of fisheries policies and regulations in effect on Canada’s East and West Coasts.
• In the spring of 2020, DFO launched an analysis of its existing foreign ownership policies and the impacts of any potential changes. During the preliminary stages of this analysis, the Department concluded that it lacks recent and comprehensive information required to validate or invalidate the concerns put forth by the Standing Committee and some stakeholders. In February 2021, the Department contracted the Forensic Accounting Management Group (FAMG), under Public Services and Procurement Canada, to develop a survey (the Beneficial Ownership Survey) that would identify who is benefitting from commercial fishing licences and quota, and validate the concerns identified by Parliamentarians.
• Since the summer of 2021, the Department has been engaging key stakeholders from all regions to introduce them to the Beneficial Ownership Survey’s intent, objectives, and timelines. Widespread notification of the Survey’s expectations is underway. Feedback from key industry stakeholders has been supportive of the Department’s desire to better understand its licence holders and industry participants.
• The Beneficial Ownership Survey will launch on January 31, 2022. Its completion will be mandatory for the majority of commercial licence holders in Pacific region, as well as all midshore, offshore, and exempted fleet licence holders in Atlantic, Quebec, and Arctic regions. Most Atlantic inshore and communal commercial licence holders are exempted from the Survey.
• In February 2021, DFO strengthened the current application of its foreign ownership restrictions in Atlantic Canada. Under the “Enhanced Application of Foreign Ownership Restrictions”, the 49 per cent foreign ownership limit is applied to the full corporate structure of prospective licence holders for all future licence re-issuances in the mid-shore, offshore, and exempted fleet fisheries in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, where this policy applies.

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