Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans FOPO Ï NUMBER 119 Ï 1st SESSION Ï 42nd PARLIAMENT EVIDENCE Thursday, November 8, 2018 Chair Mr. Ken McDonald 1 Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans Thursday, November 8, 2018 The NunatuKavut Community Council is the representative government of approximately 6,000 southern Inuit who belong to (1105) Ï this territory. Do you see this lady here? People ask, “Why do you [English] put her there?” Women are strong in our culture. They're the culture The Chair (Mr. Ken McDonald (Avalon, Lib.)): Good morning, carriers. This is a woman who was obviously the head of her everyone. household. In our tradition, she would be fishing and she would probably do a little bit of hunting at the same time, providing for her Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we are doing a study of the family, and in some regards, for her community. That's what we want current state of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans' small craft to do as a government—provide for our community. harbours. I'd like to welcome our guests this morning. By video conference, We have a vision to be self-governing. We will provide and care we have Mr. Alex Patterson from the community services and for one another, our families and communities, while nurturing our tourism division of the Municipality of Wawa. Here in person, from relationship with our land, ice and waters. We try to keep that vision the NunatuKavut Community Council, we have the president, Todd firmly in front of us as we do our work on behalf of our people. Russell, who, of course, is no stranger to the Hill as a former MP for Labrador. As well, we have Mr. Robert Coombs, a consultant. Welcome, gentlemen. The NunatuKavut Inuit are a rights-bearing people, and we have a responsibility to ensure that the land, sea and ice, and our water We will start off with NunatuKavut for seven minutes, whether rights and titles are recognized and respected, as our ancestors taught you're splitting your time or one person's doing all the talking. We're us. good to go when you are. Mr. Todd Russell (President, NunatuKavut Community July 12, 2018, was a historic day. The Government of Canada Council): Good morning, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the invitation announced a renewed relationship with us that will recognize the to appear at the committee. indigenous rights and self-determination of the southern Inuit. That Good morning to all of the members. was a day to celebrate, and one that we engaged in with the Government of Canada. Talks are moving quite well with the I represent the NunatuKavut Community Council. I have with me Government of Canada. For as long as we have existed, the people Rob Coombs, who joined our team a few months ago as an adviser of NunatuKavut have also been dependent upon the resource and as a consultant. We're proud to be here to present to you a little industry and the resource partnerships that contribute to community bit of context for what the NunatuKavut Community Council is, and sustainability. also to speak more specifically about small craft harbours and how they fit into that particular context. In this context, I now want to move towards small craft harbours. I'm going to take you through a fairly quick and, we feel, concise Here's a map. We have a vast coastline. We want to talk about the presentation. Of course, then we'll be available for questions. marine infrastructure, but in order to talk about that, I think it's In terms of the NunatuKavut Community Council, “NunatuKa- important for the committee and for members to also know the vut” means “our ancient land”. It's an Inuktitut word. It is the importance of the marine resources off our shores and how important territory of the Inuit of NunatuKavut, the southern Inuit who reside, they were to us for subsistence, travel, economy, recreation and our primarily, in central and southern Labrador. culture, of course. We're all linked to the sea. Our traditional territory covers the entirety of south central Labrador and the adjacent marine areas, and also extends westward There's another Inuktitut word—sikumiut. It means “people of the to the Labrador-Quebec border. As you can see, it's a vast area, and sea”. We are a people related to the sea, to the marine environment. like most indigenous territories, it is the land that our people are in All NunatuKavut communities touch salt water, either figuratively or relationship with. It is the territory our people—traditionally and literally. Port facilities and small craft harbours are certainly currently—use and occupy. culturally significant as well. 2 FOPO-119 November 8, 2018 The Labrador Sea is also critical for the ecological, economic and Mr. Alex Patterson (Director, Community Services and societal health of the North American and European ecosystems. The Tourism, Municipality of Wawa): Thank you very much for Hamilton Bank, which is right off NunatuKavut, is one of the most having us. We certainly appreciate the opportunity to be consulted. productive areas in the northwest Atlantic. The fishery, we can say with some confidence, has been such a vital part of our past, is still a part of our current way of being and is certainly part of our future. It For those of you who don't know where Wawa is, we're the small is the lifeblood of our people. town with the big goose on Highway 17 in northern Ontario. In terms of core fishing harbours—and this is quite telling—there are so many resources off our coast, but just look at where the port We have some history in our community with the Department of infrastructure is. There is very little port infrastructure within Fisheries and Oceans, and specifically small craft harbours. NunatuKavut or within Labrador generally, and it is crucial and Originally, the marina, which is what we're really concerned about important. today, was built as a partnership between private organizations and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. It was originally intended There have been some investments this past summer of $18.5 for the commercial fisheries of Lake Superior. After that was million to seven small craft harbours. I have to tell you, this is more devastated from various reasons, mostly with sea lamprey but also catch-up than it is the forerunner. There is much need. They're long overfishing, the marina transferred from a commercial fisheries' overdue investments. While we appreciate them, there's much more marina to a recreational marina. to do. What we have heard when we reached out to our small craft That's where I think a lot of priorities were dropped because a lot harbour organizations was that further investments are required. A of these commercial facilities come first and our recreational funding model is needed that looks through the lens of indigenous facilities come second. This marina was leased to the municipality and northern communities and fisheries development. Basic several years ago as one of two options: either lease it to the operational and administrative funding should be made available municipality to continue to run it, or stop running it completely. for northern and indigenous small craft harbours, and issues of governance and capacity development need to be addressed in order for small craft harbours to work more efficiently and to bring more We've had several issues going forward with the marina value to the fishing industry and to our communities. specifically related to how this asset is maintained. As it's not a municipal asset, we've had a lot of difficulty in having the resources We also want to talk about safe harbours. It might be a different to maintain this asset, and we also have different contractual concept. We have 4,000 miles of coastline in Labrador. The fishery, obligations with this asset that prevents us from maintaining it. For of course, is adjacent to all of that territory, but where are the safe us, it's a very critical piece of infrastructure in our community, not harbours? There are vast distances. With global warming, storm only for recreation but also for tourism. surges, more severity when it comes to storms and the changes in the ecosystem, people are feeling that there's a great need, for small craft harbours, to look at the infrastructure that they may not be utilizing If you look at a map of Lake Superior, you see there's one key leg as much in the current situation, and ask if they can keep the missing in going all around the lake to get fuel and safe berths, and infrastructure up and designate them as safe harbours. It is very that is Wawa. The whole north shore, except for Wawa, is essentially important. It is something that has certainly been an issue raised by covered. There is a great deal of boat traffic and potential tourism our fishers and by those in the fishing industry. It's a concept we also traffic that we're missing out on. Part of that is because we're lacking want to bring to the committee. the support or the resources to really get our facility running again, Ï (1110) but we're not lacking the willingness to do so. By way of conclusion, we want to again thank you. We want to say how important the commercial and subsistence fisheries are to We've undertaken some investment, approximately $150,000 over our culture, our way of life.