"Not to make a fish joke, but the jig is, er, up. In cross-examination last week at the Cohen Commission examining the decline of the Fraser River sockeye salmon, an official with Fisheries and Oceans Canada admitted he believes nonnative Canadians don't have a right to fish recreationally, but rather a privilege, and that he takes that attitude into negotiating rooms where he works with First Nations leaders.

"The public of Canada have rights?" Keith Lowes, lawyer for the B.C. Wildlife Federation and the B.C. Federation of Drift Fishers, asked Barry Huber.

Huber is an aboriginal adviser in the DFO in British Columbia who is now on special assignment to develop "co-management" arrangements with natives for the fragile fishery.

"Yes," Huber replied. "Including the right to fish recreationally?" Lowes said, adding that he believed Huber is a recreational fisherman.

"I have a privilege," Huber said carefully.

Clearly taken aback, Lowes said, "You say public fishing is a privilege, not a right?""

Get the Story:
Christie Blatchford: Only natives have the 'right' to fish (The Victoria Times-Colonist 7/3)