The B.C. government is poised to give an effective veto to First Nations over fish farm tenures in their territories, a historic concession that reaches beyond the traditional court-ordered requirement that Indigenous groups be consulted and accommodated on resource decisions on their lands.
The NDP government will announce on Wednesday B.C.’s aquaculture industry will have four years to adapt before any tenures are cancelled, sources told The Globe and Mail. The veto power most assuredly means that some companies will be evicted because the farms are adamantly opposed by some – but not all – Indigenous groups.
Agriculture Minister Lana Popham, along with the premier’s deputy minister Don Wright, outlined their new policy this week in private briefings with stakeholders. The announcement Wednesday is timed to coincide with the expiry of 20 B.C.-issued seabed tenures in the province’s most hotly contested region for aquaculture – the Broughton Archipelago.
Justine Hunter – Globe and Mail – June 19, 2018.
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