Question Period Note: Collaborative Fisheries Arrangements with Indigenous Fish Harvesters

• My department collaborates with Indigenous fish harvesters and communities through a range of programs and collaborative management processes.
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s collaborative and capacity-building programs, such as the Atlantic, Pacific, and Northern Commercial Fisheries Initiatives, the Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy, and the Aboriginal Aquatic Resource and Oceans Management Program support Indigenous participation in the fishery as well as in the management of aquatic resources, providing $90 million dollars annually.
• My department also works in partnership with Indigenous communities to implement their rights through agreements, such as Rights Reconciliation Agreements and Moderate Livelihood Fishing Plans understandings.
• I am committed to these collaborative arrangements with Indigenous peoples to ensure we deliver on reconciliation, economic outcomes and the sustainable use of resources.

BACKGROUND

• The Minister’s mandate letter includes the commitment to “advance consistent, sustainable and collaborative fisheries arrangements with Indigenous and non-Indigenous fish harvesters.”
• To implement that mandate commitment, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) employs, among others, programs and policies that support defined economic and sustainability outcomes, fosters continuous engagement and consultation to support fisheries decision-making, and pursues collaborative governance and decision-making arrangements where appropriate.
• Several longstanding DFO programs are well-suited to fostering collaboration with Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities through the co-development, co-design and co-delivery of initiatives through programs such as the Atlantic, Quebec and British Columbia (B.C.) Fisheries Funds, the Atlantic, Pacific and Northern Commercial Fisheries Initiatives (AICFI, PICFI, NICFI), and the Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy (AFS) and Aboriginal Aquatic Resource and Oceans Management (AAROM) programs.
• DFO also seeks negotiation mandates for both Treaty and Rights Recognition tables to further collaborate with many Indigenous communities, specifically with respect to fisheries. Tools such as Fisheries Resources Reconciliation Agreements, Rights Reconciliation Agreements, and Moderate Livelihood Fishing Plans (MLFP) are uniquely focused on collaboration in the exercise of Aboriginal and treaty fisheries rights.
• The Rights Reconciliation Agreements (RRA) mandate expired in April 2023 and DFO reached seven RRAs with 15 Treaty Nations in Atlantic Canada and Quebec. Since 2021, DFO has also reached 20 interim MLFP understandings with 15 Treaty Nations (representing 42 per cent of the Treaty Nations’ population).
• Amendments to the Fisheries Act in 2012 and 2019 (section 4.1) enable the Minister to enter into agreements with other levels of governments and Indigenous governing bodies to facilitate cooperation or joint actions related to the purposes of the Act, and may supplement existing programs or tools in place that are geared to collaboration in fisheries.
• Recently, DFO has begun the process to update the 1999 Salmon Allocation policy, which sets out a series of principles for allocation salmon in British Columbia, and requires a high degree of collaboration with First Nations, the recreational and commercial fishing sectors, and the Province of B.C.
• Additionally, DFO is working to collaboratively develop new Nunavut Fishery Regulations through an external working group with Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, the Government of Nunavut, Makivik Corporation and others, which would further implement the Nunavut Agreement.
• In 2021, the Fisheries Resources Reconciliation Agreement was signed with First Nations of the central and north coasts of B. C. and Haida Gwaii, which is an example of a collaborative governance and fisheries management agreement.
• Further work is being done internally to provide clarity and ensure coherence and consistency across the Department in our work regarding collaboration in the Indigenous fisheries realm, which will facilitate the Department’s overall mandate.
 

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