Fishing Rights

Sometime Op/Ed can provide well-considered pieces also. Next to the Corcoran article is a piece by Hamar Foster, a law professor at the University of Victoria, on the legal history of Native fishing rights. It is a well laid out rebuttal to the charge of the fishing rights being racist: fishing rights are treaty rights giving in exchange for land and other rights. The people who are against native fishing rights live on land procured with these fishing rights. It is race based only in so far as the treaty was made between to groups of people primarily of two races. The argument against native fishing right is therefore like if I buy a television from Futureshop for $1000 and later found that it is inconvenient to have $1000 less in my pocket and want my money back from Futureshop while keeping the television. A pretty nice scheme. Of course this scheme had been used many a time. I would like to think that we, our country and our province, are more educated, more just and more honest to run such schemes again. Obviously this wishfully thinking is not very accurate. I am glad that the government had made new treaties recognizing these rights. Hey, this is two days in a roll I defended the Harper government! Well, when they are right, they are right.