LINES IN THE PAPER: MEDIA, CIVIL SOCIETY AND PUBLIC

OPINION OF THE MIRAMICHI'S WILD ATLANTIC SALMON

FISHERIES IN THE WAKE OF MARSHALL, SPARROW AND KEYNES

TYRONE BURKE

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Abstract

In the context of neoliberal cutbacks to Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the affirmation of rights for New Brunswick Natives by the R. v. Marshall and R. v. Sparrow Supreme Court decisions, well-organized recreational fishing NGOs based in New Brunswick have sought to safeguard the cherished pastime of Atlantic salmon fly fishing through the promotion of a philosophy of conservation which allows for substantial recreational fishing which is not hook-and-release. This research uses a re-scaled version of Herman and Chomsky's Propaganda Model to explore journalistic approaches to the interests of these organizations and to emerging Native rights to salmon in the Miramichi River. The research sample spans 1996-2008 and focuses principally on in the flagship newspaper of New Brunswick's Irving media monopoly: The Telegraph-Journal. The newspaper's journalistic and editorial approaches are considered for how they relate, and potentially allow the NGOs to better relate, to Fisheries and Oceans Canada's bureaucracy. V

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 1

Research Methodology 7

Literature Review 16

Theoretical Contexts 23

Native Rights 23

Neoliberalism 26

Conservation 32

2. Some elaboration on the particular context of New Brunswick 36

A Partial Overview of Salmon Conservationism 41

An Overview of Historical and Contemporary Native Rights 48

3. Manufacturing consent for conservation: the Atlantic Salmon Federation, the Miramichi Salmon Association and the Irving Group of Companies 58

The Third Filter 63

Angling for Sympathy: The Worthy and Unworthy Victims of Resource Decline 87

4. Pedagogy and/in Discourse, conservation conversations with youth in New Brunswick and beyond: an examination of discourse embedded in the Atlantic Salmon Federation's Fish Friends curriculum 105

Exploring the Curriculum 110

Conservation and Control 118 VI

Explicit Treatment of Native Rights in the Fish Friends curriculum 124

5. Conclusions 127

6. Bibliography 132 VII

For Julia, who put up with me as I wrote and re-wrote this thesis; then re-wrote it again. 1

Chapter 1

Introduction

The 1990s served as a turning point in the affirmation of Native rights to fisheries in New Brunswick. The decade began with the Supreme Court of Canada's affirmation of ceremonial and food fisheries as an inherent or Aboriginal right by the 1990 R v. Sparrow decision, and concluded with the 1999 R v. Marshall decision's affirmation of a treaty right to fish commercially for the province's Mi'kmaq' and Maliseet peoples.1 The highly regulated fishing industry which had long excluded Natives shifted dramatically in a single decade. In 1998, consultant and Mi'kmaq' Native rights activist Noah Augustine spoke to the euphoria of the recognition of Natives' rights to resources in New

Brunswick. He called it:

1 . This research frequently refers to two separate (but related) Marshall decisions. Both of these decisions involve Donald Marshall Jr.'s 1993 arrest for the commercial sale of eels. The first is the R v. Marshall (No. 1) decision which affirmed commercial fishing rights as a treaty right for Mi'kmaq' and Maliseet people on September 17, 1999. The second Marshall decision is the result of a request to rehear the first decision by the West Nova Fishermen's Coalition. This request was denied by the Supreme Court, but it chose at that time to issue the R v. Marshall (No. 2) decision. That decision clarified that the rights affirmed by the Marshall I decision were subject to limitation by conservation and public safety. 2

the greatest opportunity and most excitement I have ever seen in Native communities (...) This is the first real significant opportunity for Native people to earn a respectable living, provide for their families, and contribute to society and feel that independence. It's an amazing thing - — it's almost like a revolution in a way.

Rossiter and Wood have noted that "specific claims are not only rooted in history, but are often the product of generations of continuous struggle to find resolution." In considering the rights affirmed by the Sparrow and Marshall decisions for Natives in New

Brunswick however, it is not entirely clear that the apparent success that the specific claim achieved in the legal system has resulted in the full resolution of the claim. The

Supreme Court used the Badger test in 1990's Sparrow decision.4 It is a test which also applies to the Marshall decisions. This legal test sought to ensure the prioritization of the access afforded by Aboriginal and treaty rights above all other types of access. In theory, the affirmed rights should be subordinate only to public safety and conservation.

The order of prioritization that the Badger test enumerates is very clear, but whether this prioritization has been fully actualized in fisheries regulation is less so. There have been numerous confrontations between the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans

2. The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, "Natives exploit new law of the land," February 7, 1998. 3. David Rossiter and Patricia Wood, "Fantastic Topographies," The Canadian Geographer, 49(4), (2005): 356. 4. R. v. Marshall (No. 2), Paragraph 32, Supreme Court Recorder 533, November 17 1999 http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1999/1999rcs3-533/1999rcs3-533.html. 3

(DFO) and Natives exercising their rights to fish since the decisions were made. Some

of these conflicts have surrounded the exercise of the subsistence and ceremonial fishing

rights which the Sparrow decision affirmed. As these confrontations occurred, a sizeable

non-Native recreational fishery continued. It is not a hook and release fishery and the

DFO estimates that it takes tens of thousands of fish from the river annually.6 It has not in

any way been scaled back in order to accommodate the Native treaty rights affirmed by

the Marshall decision. This seems to contradict the Badger test's assertion that "the brunt

of conservation measures would be borne by the practices of sport fishing and commercial

fishing."7

The DFO is the main body responsible for the public policy application of these

decisions. In formulating adapted new policies it could conceivably fail to fully

incorporate affirmed Native rights. An unconstitutional policy could be challenged in

court, but that is not to say that it could not first be enacted. This could occur in part

because of different approaches to balancing interests in the realms of law and public

policy. To achieve this balance, the legal realm relies heavily on experts. For example,

5. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation online news, "Elsipogtog Man Charged in Spat with DFO Agents," www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2009/11/11/nb-elsipogtog- fishing-charges-542. html. 6. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, "Five-year (2008-2012) Integrated Management Plan for Gulf Region Atlantic Salmon Stocks," www.glf.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fam- gpa/plans/ifmp_saumon-salmon-e.pdf, 12. 7. R. v. Marshall (No. 2), Paragraph 32, Supreme Court Recorder 533, November 17 1999 http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1999/1999rcs3-533/1999rcs3-533.html. 4

the Marshall case used testimony from only three witnesses, all historians with expertise concerning 18 century Nova Scotia. The formulation of public policy is very different from the legal system in this respect. Public policy is presumed not to exist in a vacuum of expert knowledge isolated from a societal context. Instead, its makers consider contemporary public opinion in setting the strategies for policy implementation. For its purposes, the DFO hires polling firms such as Environics and Ipsos-Reid to conduct public opinion research into fisheries issues and produce reports about their findings.

This means that, to an unknown—and perhaps unknowable-degree, the ability to influence public opinion could impact how fisheries policy is made. Public opinion is largely the product of gathered knowledge, and two of the most important sources of this knowledge are schools and media. The influence of educational materials and media representations is likely to be particularly pronounced in cases which concern an environmental concept such as the salmon conservationism espoused by the Atlantic

Salmon Federation (ASF) and the Miramichi Salmon Association (MSA). In a highly urban country like Canada many people do not acquire knowledge of environmentalism

8. New Brunswick as an administrative entity did yet not exist in the early to mid-18th Century. Though little colonization of it had been done by either the British or the French, for the purposes of the British colonists it was considered part of Nova Scotia. It became an administrative entity in 1783, after the American Revolution produced Loyalist settlers who came to the province. This occurred a few decades after the relevant treaties were signed. 9. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, "Reports and Publications," www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/reports- rapports-eng. htm#n 7. 5

through direct experience, and instead rely on sources like the media to develop their knowledge and opinions.10 Any interest group that can gain control over the representation of the environment in media and education will have considerable ability to influence the common sense understandings which input into the public policy process, even if the precise influence that this has on final policy decisions is not easily discernible.

This case study examines the representations of Atlantic salmon in New

Brunswick print media and curricular materials used in the provincial public school system. Particular focus is given to the Miramichi river watershed because of its cultural and ecological importance. The watershed has historically had large salmon runs which have supported local anglers' fishing habits and attracted anglers from outside the province. Its prominent place in the culture of the province has made for it a prominent place in contemporary salmon discourse.

Specifically, this research explores the environmental discourse which two prominent NGOs have been able to create using the province's largest daily newspaper,

The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal (Telegraph-Journal) and through the use of a

NGO-designed curriculum in the province's elementary schools. One of these, the ASF is a New Brunswick-based conservation NGO with an international mandate. In 1998 it

10. Stuart N. Soroka, "Issue Attributes and Agenda-setting by Media, the Public and Policymakers in Canada," International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 14(3), (2002). 6

partnered with the New Brunswick-based and focused NGO the MSA in the fight to save the Atlantic salmon in the wild.11 While the Miramichi has long hosted a storied recreational fishery, there is no legal basis for its waters to be excluded from the rights affirmed by the Sparrow and Marshall decisions.

The recreational fishermen that the NGOs represent seek to maintain access to the same salmon resource which the Supreme Court affirmed Native access to. Achieving this goal effectively places their rights above the affirmed rights of Native people. This research highlights that recreational fishermen acting through the MSA and ASF have considerable ability to control the ways in which fisheries issues and conservation are represented in public discussions. This likely affects public opinion and could in turn affect Native rights. In this case the environmental issue is simultaneously a Native rights issue, and as Robert Harding writes:

In framing Aboriginal issues in ways that effectively deny or denigrate the inherent rights of Aboriginal people, the media exert a powerful and direct influence on public policy towards them and indirectly on their lives.12

For a given civil society organization or organizations to obtain the high level of influence in public discussion to dominate the media and broadly influence public opinion would in most cases be impossible. It is rare for an interest group (or even an alliance of

11. Derwin Gowan, "The Morning News," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, February 20, 1998. 12. Robert Harding, "The Media, Aboriginal People and Common Sense," The Canadian Journal of Native Studies, 25(1), (2005): 311-335. 7

interest groups) to so dominate these mechanisms as to be able create bias. In many news sources, for every point, there is a counter-point, even if it is often given less emphasis. If this balance is not being cultivated within a single news source, then it is usually offered in competing ones. I posit that this balance is not occurring in either of these ways in New

Brunswick's public discussion of the Miramichi's wild Atlantic salmon fisheries, largely because of a print media monopoly owned by one of the largest landowners in the

Miramichi watershed whose CEO also happens to be an avid salmon fisherman and conservationist.

I consider in this research an editorial vision taken by a print media source which is sympathetic to the aims of recreational fishing NGOs. Its approach to recreational salmon fishing might be understood as what prominent American media critic Ben

Bagdikian called a sacred cow. In The Media Monopoly, he writes:

almost all media have friends who are given preferential treatment, who are immune to criticism, who can keep out embarrassing information, or who are guaranteed a positive image (...) these friends are called "sacred cows." They frequently include the owner, the owner's friends, the owner's family and the owner's political causes (...) The sacred cows in American newsrooms leave residues common to all cows.13 (Emphasis mine)

I ask if recreational fishing NGOs have been able to effectively use preferential treatment in the Irving family-owned print media monopoly and the province's school system to disseminate their views without being subjected to a balancing critical perspective. And,

13. Ben Bagdikian, The Media Monopoly, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1987): 154. 8

having found that they have, I consider how their pro-recreational fishing bias might affect the common-sense understandings of the legality and morality of Native participation in salmon fisheries among New Brunswick's mostly non-Native public.

Research Methodology

I begin this research by analyzing articles in New Brunswick's major English language daily newspaper, the Irving-owned flagship Telegraph-Journal. Published out of

Saint John, New Brunswick's largest city, this newspaper is the only newspaper which seeks to comprehensively cover the province's news. Using Herman and Chomsky's

Propaganda Model as an analytical framework, I explore how this newspaper has used the

ASF and MSA understandings of conservation, sport fishing and appropriate fishing methods to promote a particular view of how the Miramichi's salmon fishery should be regulated. Exploring discourse produced about how the implementation of the Sparrow and Marshall decisions should fit with it. I bolster this analysis with textual analysis of the ASF-produced Fish Friends curriculum. Serving as something of a control group this emphasizes the similarities between the newspaper's coverage of fisheries issues and the recreational fishing NGOs own unedited voice, and highlights the lack of filtering being done by the Telegraph-Journal's journalists and editors. It also raises questions about the domination of public discussion by salmon conservationists and the implications that this could have. 9

Considering Yin, I treat the research as an object of interest in its own right which

I seek to elaborate upon.14 I view neoliberalism as a key element of the study's context and understand it to manifest an ongoing process of neoliberalization. An important aspect of this process is to reduce direct government oversight of the regulatory regime which controls access to resources such as salmon. In this case, the process of neoliberalization manifests in an increasing role for civil society organizations with considerable community capacity and a particular vision for the future of the salmon resource. This is a case study which examines the interaction of neoliberalism's extralocal metalogic with a particular context in line with McCarthy and Prudham's reasoning that "the best critical engagements with neoliberalism, environmental change and environmental politics are historico-geographically specific."1 At the same time, I seek to temper this by keeping in mind Peck and Tickell's warning that overly specific analyses of particular neoliberalizations might minimize neoliberalism as a global process and project.16

The media analysis begins in 1996, when the MSA and ASF began to publicly advocate for themselves a greater role in fisheries management and forged an agreement

14. Robert K. Yin, Case Study Research Methods, (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1994). 15. James McCarthy and Scott Prudham, "Neoliberal Nature and the Nature of Neoliberalism," Geoforum, 35(3), (2004): 280. 16. Jamie Peck and Adam Tickell, "Neoliberalizing Space," Antipode, , 34(3), (2002): 380-404. 10

to work together toward this end. However, the majority of articles which I analyze were printed after the R v. Peter Paul and Marshall decisions ignited debates about access to resources in the province which were both more intense and more broadly focused than the salmon-focused ones which the MSA and ASF had sought to initiate. My principal focus in this aspect of my research is the decade which followed 1997's Peter Paul decision. The end point of this examination is the unlawful seizure of nets from Maliseet fishers on the Little Southwest Miramichi in August 2007. The large number of articles which were returned in the original findings were considered for their content and many of those which were tangential to the research were eliminated from the research sample.

Forty eight articles emerged to form the core of this analysis. Each of these was considered for its relationship to the patterns in journalism which are identified in this research.

All of the articles analyzed are also considered with relation to the first filter of the

Propaganda Model, that of the "size, ownership, and profit orientation of mass media."18

Given the unusual discursive situation in the province, I consider this filter with the accompanying notion that "if the powerful are able to fix the premises of discourse, to

17. The Peter Paul Decision affirmed commercial logging rights for Natives in the Court of Queen's Bench in 1997. The decision was struck down as incorrect by the New Brunswick Court of Appeal. While it ultimately did not stand, for a period of a few months it appeared to have dramatically changed commercial access rights in New Brunswick. For this reason it spurred debate. 18. Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent, (New York: Pantheon, 2002): 3. 11

decide what the general populace is allowed to see, hear, and think about, and to

'manage' public opinion.. .the standard view of how the system works will be at serious odds with reality."19 This potentiality is particularly salient given the Irving media holdings' monopoly status. The monopolistic media situation is one aspect of what makes New Brunswick as a particular context especially important to the analyses undertaken here.

Accessing the newscan.com search engine through York University Libraries online, I have sought out articles relating to the Marshall decisions generally and their specific relationship to the Miramichi River's wild Atlantic salmon fishery. With the number of returns listed in parentheses following each search words, I have searched the

Telegraph-Journal for "Miramichi Salmon Association" (227), "Atlantic Salmon

Federation" (339), "Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs" (APCFNC) (12),

"sport fishing is conservation" (14), and "Miramichi Watershed Management Committee"

(3). These search keywords return articles which have considerable overlap. Many of the articles which reference "sport fishing is conservation," for example, also reference

"Atlantic Salmon Federation." Other articles mention both the MSA and APCFNC. For the purposes of my analyses, which are almost exclusively qualitative, this overlap is not a concern. All relevant articles have been treated as part of a unified body of journalism on inextricably interrelated subjects printed in a single source.

19. Herman and Chomsky, lix 12

I use the Propaganda Model theorized by Herman and Chomsky in Manufacturing

Consent to highlight the privileging of the NGOs epistemologies as authoritative on conservation. I argue that the way that NGOs are privileged in the Telegraph-Journal coheres with the third filter of the Propaganda Model, which deals with sourcing in mass media. Through this filter "purveyors of the preferred view [are given] a great deal of exposure, the media confer status and make them the obvious candidates for opinion and analysis."20 I contend that in this case the preferred view is embedded with a locally specific version of what Willems-Braun has termed to be buried epistemologies, those

'"bad epistemic habits' that have been naturalized as 'common sense' in everyday relations and in social, economic and political institutions." Yet the realities of New

Brunswick at this time mean that the epistemological understandings embedded in this common sense are not simply a particular view of reality like any other, but have potential to influence public opinion in substantial ways.

Through the domination of media and the use of these epistemologies in schools, this particular common sense can be reproduced to foster a post-colonial order which sustains the historical access arrangements which long enclosed the salmon resource from

Natives. This idea is crucial to the analyses I undertake. The NGO version of common

20. Herman and Chomsky, 24. 21. Bruce Willems-Braun, "Buried Epistemologies: The Politics of Nature in (Post)colonial British Columbia," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 87(1), (1997): 5. 13

sense for the Miramichi's salmon fisheries is one deeply imbued with particular ideas of what conservation is and what the fishery should be. In itself this is not surprising. It is even to be expected. It is not the buried epistemologies themselves which are of note; any understanding of anything has an epistemological basis. Rather it is the unusual ability of the NGOs to effectively disseminate them to a broader public and strengthen them as a hegemonic view that is noteworthy. Braun understood buried epistemologies as '"bad epistemic habits' that have been naturalized." I argue here that these NGOs have used preferred access to media and schools to naturalize them.22

In the articles analyzed, I have considered the ways in which issues have been framed and how authority has been given to the NGOs on matters of conservation through their use as a presumptively accurate source. That is, as a source which is treated as a bearer of truth. This treatment is what Herman and Chomsky term as the third filter of their Propaganda Model. This type of role is one which they posit will be given to government organizations and like bureaucracies, but that I argue has substantial similarities with how civil society has been treated in this case. I have further considered the newspaper's portrayal of recreational fishers and of Native fishers in the face of fisheries decline. In this case, I use Herman and Chomsky's conceptualization of worthy and unworthy victims to highlight the favourable treatment of recreational fishers

22. Willems-Braun, 5. 23. Herman and Chomsky, 19. 14

vis-a-vis Native fishers. This has included representing legitimate Native practices such as netting fish for subsistence as being immoral or bad for conservation while representing those of recreational fishers' as responsible and necessary. This, I argue, contributes to a discourse which holds the recreational fisher as a good and responsible figure, while representing the Native fisher as an existential threat to fisheries stability.

My primary way of considering these relationships has been qualitative but I have also done limited quantitative analysis of this coverage for illustrative purposes. In one case, I have counted key word search returns and, in a very general sense, noted the overall tone of each article returned (positive, negative or neutral), as well as what type of article it is (news article, editorial or op-ed piece). Tabulations of the results are then used to highlight the disproportionate amount and disproportionately positive coverage given to the MSA and ASF, whose opinions are treated as substantive news vis-a-vis the mostly negative or neutral tone given to their counterparts at the APCFNC, whose statements are treated as opinion and often relegated to self-submitted op-ed articles.

I follow this media analysis with a content analysis of three chapters of the

Atlantic Salmon Federation's Fish Friends curriculum. I consider three of the chapters of this text for bias similar to that evidenced in the Telegraph-Journal's reporting. Fish

Friends differs from the Telegraph-Journal's reporting in that it allows the ASF to directly communicate its view of the fishery through a curriculum which it designed itself. The unedited (or unfiltered) nature of it as a text means that parallels between it 15

and the news coverage of the Telegraph-Journal are noteworthy. The overarching similarities highlight that even though the Tele graph-Journal has an editorial staff overseeing reporting on fisheries issues, the salmon fishery is often represented and rationalized in the paper in ways which are similar or identical to the ways which the

NGOs have chosen to represent issues in one of their own materials.

One of the weaknesses of the methodological approaches taken to these materials is that the conclusions which are drawn are almost necessarily speculative. Using these research methods, it is possible to draw links in the way that salmon issues are being similarly produced in apparently discrete texts, but it is much harder to know exactly why they are being produced in these ways or what material effects that this discourse ultimately has, if any. In the case of the former, the methods could have been improved by undertaking interviews with the leadership of the recreational fishing NGOs and (if possible) with the Tele graph-Journal's reporters and editors. This could better establish the motivations or rationales behind specific statements or apparent processes. As far as the latter is concerned, the methods would be bolstered by filing a request for information from DFO through the Canadian government's Access to Information and Privacy Act.

Accessing internal DFO documents relating to the salmon fisheries and to Native rights would allow for more concrete and succinct conclusions about what relevance that the

24. Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada, "The Access to Information and Privacy Act," www. tbs-sct. gc. ca/atip-aiprp/index-eng. asp. 16

materials considered and processes identified in this research actually have for the regulation of the fishery, if any. It is a plausible conclusion that insofar as DFO policy making is concerned, that they have little or none. It is also plausible that they are indeed influential in some way.

A further limitation is that the extent to which public opinion is actually influenced or changed by these representations can not be discerned through textual or discourse analysis. This would be very useful information. No specific survey of the changes in attitudes towards recreational fisheries in New Brunswick has been published for this time period, but in my observation very many non-Native New Brunswickers have long held highly favourable opinions of recreational salmon fisheries. At the same time incidents such as the Burnt Church crisis illustrate that some non-Native New

Brunswickers harbour unjustified fears about Native fisheries. DFO's public opinion research shows that a majority of Atlantic Canadians do not think that "the federal government is properly managing its response to the Marshall decision in Atlantic

Canada."26 Because of the apparent fear of the implementation of affirmed Native rights,

25 . While I have not lived in the province for more than a decade, I was born and raised in Fredericton, New Brunswick. This is observation is an inexact one, but I believe it to be so. 26. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, "Canadian Attitudes toward DFO research - Environics Research Group," www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/por-rop/environics/deck-eng.htm; The same public opinion research showed that a majority of Atlantic Canadians do think that it is at least "somewhat important" that the federal government build Native capacity in fisheries by providing "boats, gear, training, etc..." 17

the Telegraph-Journal's pro-recreational fishing bias in its coverage and the teaching of

Fish Friends in New Brunswick's schools may only reinforce attitudes toward salmon fisheries and renewed Native participation in them which are already deeply entrenched and hegemonic.

Literature Review

As a methodology, the Propaganda Model has been applied to representations of everything from Mexican political parties in television news broadcasts to Appalachian mountaintop removal for coal extraction in West Virginian newspapers.27 The latter of these is one of only two previous applications of the Propaganda Model to an environmental issue. This methodology is not a typical approach to the study of

Political Ecology. In spite of this, the aims and essence of this research were inspired by and fit with Blaikie and Brookfield's founding definition of the discipline, which combines "concerns of ecology with a broadly defined political economy (...) [which]

27. Sallie Hughes and Chappell Lawson, "Propaganda and Crony Capitalism: Partisan Bias in Mexican Television News", Latin American Research Review, Forthcoming; Tonya Lynn Adkins, "Mountaintop Removal: An Assessment of the Propaganda Model of the News Media", Masters of Arts, Marshall University, 2003; A bibliography of applications of and debates about the Propaganda Model can be found online at www. sourcewatch. org/index.php ?title=Propaganda_Model. 28. W. Linder Edgar, "An evaluation of the Propaganda Model of the media from an environmental perspective", (Bachelor of Business Thesis, Griffith University, 1994). 18

encompasses the constantly shifting dialectic between society and land-based resources."29

Paul Robbins has noted that:

As critique, political ecology seeks to expose flaws in dominant approaches to the environment favored by corporate, state, and international authorities, working to demonstrate the undesirable impacts of policies and market conditions, especially from the point of view of local people, marginal groups and vulnerable populations.

Through media analysis, this research explores the discourse of the dominant approach and the impact it could have if it informs policy by influencing public opinion. It considers some implications that this could have for a marginal group in a First World country, albeit from an external point of view. This differs from the majority of research undertaken in the discipline which has had a focus on the Third World. In this respect, the research follows McCarthy's contention that there is no theoretical or empirical reason to exclude the First World from the subject matter of political ecology.31 He writes

"most of the field's standard questions, methods, and commitments are entirely relevant to research on human environment relations in industrialized countries."32

29. Piers Blaikie and Harold Brookfield, Land Degradation and Society, (New York: Methuen, 1987): 17. 30. Paul Robbins, Political Ecology (Maiden: Blackwell Publishing, 2004): 12. 31. James McCarthy, "First World political ecology: lessons from the Wise Use movement," Environment and Planning A, 34, (2002): 1281-1302. 32. James McCarthy, "Guest Editorial," Environment and Planning A, 37,( 2005): 952. 19

Political Ecology is the academic literature which speaks most directly to this research. It has provided me with much of the foundation with which I approach it. The literature which this research speaks most directly to is that on Native rights in New

Brunswick. While it analyses media bias towards the rights affirmed by the Sparrow and

Marshall decisions, it fits most neatly with the work which focuses specifically on the

Marshall decision and its aftermath. A flurry of academic work was produced in the years that immediately followed the decision, but as time passes the volume of academic work being done on the Marshall decision has diminished considerably. As the decision's implementation has been said by Natives and non-Natives alike to be imperfect, this is an unfortunate circumstance.33

By 2009, the Marshall decision is no longer really a current event but rather an occurrence of the recent past with relevance in the present and future. Because the decision's most salient feature has always been the change that it promised rather than anything that had yet been realized, scrutiny of its implementation and reception by society must be an ongoing process. With this exploration of representations of the conservationism of recreational fishing NGOs and Native rights, I seek to fill some small part of this emerging gap in research into how the Marshall decision is being actualized.

33. Georgianna Barlow, "The Marshall decision: Five-years Later," www.apcfnc.ca/documents/marshalldecision.pdf, Accessed April 22, 2009. 20

Much of the early academic work done on the decision sought to put the decision in its social and legal context. Scholars including Kiera Ladner, Thomas Isaac and

Margaret McCallum considered some legal and social implications of the decision.34

Others, such as David Bell and Andrew Nurse have considered the role which the testimony of historians played in the decision. William Wicken, one of the three historians who testified at the trial, has also reflected upon this.36 Ken Coates and Arthur

Ray have placed the decision in a broader context of scholarship on Native and indigenous issues in Canada, and in Ray's case in Australia and New Zealand.

Robert Adlam conducted research which speaks to Coates' observation in The

Marshall Decision and Native Rights that if there "fundamental bias in the debate surrounding the Marshall case, it is the predominance of non-Aboriginal perspectives (..

.) First Nations perspectives and insight are generally not well canvassed." Adlam

34. Kiera L. Ladner, "Up the Creek, Fishing for a New Constitutional Order," Canadian Journal of Political Science, 38(4), ( 2005): 923-952; Thomas F. Isaac, Treaty Rights in the Maritimes: The Marshall Decision and Beyond, (Saskatoon, Purich Publishing, 2001) Margaret E. McCallum, "Rights in the Courts, on the Water and in the Woods: The Aftermath of/?, v. Marshall in New Brunswick," Journal of Canadian Studies, 38(3), (2004): 204-217. 35. Andrew Nurse, "History, Law and the Mi'kmaq of Atlantic Canada," Acadiensis, 32(2), 2004. 36. William C. Wicken, "R. v. Donald Marshall Jr.: 1993-1996," Acadiensis, 28(1), 1998; William C. Wicken, Mi'kmaq Treaties on Trial: History, Land, and Donald Marshall Junior, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002). 37. Ken Coates, The Marshall Decision and Native Rights; Ken Coates, "Breathing New Life into Old Treaties," Agricultural History, 77(2), 2003; Arthur J. Ray, "Regina v Marshall: Native History, the Judiciary and the Public," Acadiensis, 29(2), 2000. 21

presents a number of Native perspectives in "Indigenous Rights, the Marshall Decision and Cultural Restoration." Adlam's work is the only research I am aware of which deals directly with Native fisheries on the Miramichi river. It does not limit itself to salmon, but also considers eel fishing. As an anthropological work, it focuses largely on the role of salmon in cultural continuity and in Native people's lives. This means the focus is largely upon Sparrow decision rights, but Adlam does not treat traditional culture as necessarily being discrete from commercial fisheries. The testimonials of Native people which he relays in this article were helpful in better understanding the value that river fisheries can and do have for the Native people of the Miramichi.

The secondary body of literature which this research contributes to is the study of media in Canada. In this respect, it contributes to both the body of work on New

Brunswick's media monopoly and to that considering the portrayal of Natives in

Canadian media, particularly with relation to the Marshall Decision. This research considers Irving-owned media with a consciousness of the unique context of media ownership which Irving has made for itself in New Brunswick. Beginning in the 1970s, a number of non-scholarly books were written which touch on Irving-owned media as part of a broader consideration of the Irving family's business holdings. Within the

38. Robert Adlam, "Indigenous Rights, the Marshall Decision and Cultural Restoration," Acadiensis, 32(1), 2003. 39. Harvey Sawler, 21st Century Irvings, (Halifax: Nimbus. 2007); Douglas How and Ralph Costello, K.C.: The Biography ofK.C. Irving, (Toronto: Key Porter Books, 1993); 22

academy, Erin Steuter has examined Irving-owned media most closely. She has published on Irving-owned media's coverage of the labour dispute at the Irving-owned refinery and on the ownership situation of their media and its implications more generally.40 With this research, I contribute to the body of work on Irving-owned media by examining bias in coverage of Native rights and conservation in Irving-owned media.

Neither of these biases have been explicitly considered previously.

The dramatic events which surrounded the Marshall decision invited considerable academic scrutiny of media representations of these events and the participants in them.

Henry and Tator considered media coverage of the events at Burnt Church in the conservative national daily newspaper The National Post as a case study in racial bias towards First Nations people in their Discourses of Domination?1 A somewhat more local focus was used in Paul Fitzgerald's analysis of articles in Moncton's Irving-owned

Times-Transcript and Halifax's Chronicle-Herald newspapers in "Fishing for Stories at

Burnt Church;" similarly Sean Fleming's 2002 thesis "The Marshall Decision as News"

Russell Hunt and Robert Campbell, K.C. Irving: The Art of the Industrialist, (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1973) 40. Erin Steuter, "He Who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune: Investigation of a Canadian Media Monopoly," Web Journal of Mass Communications Research, 7(4), 2006; Erin Steuter, "The Irvings Cover Themselves: Media Representations of the Irving Oil Refinery Strike, 1994-96," Canadian Journal of Communication, 24, 2001; Erin Steuter, "Beneath the fold: reading ideology in the Irving family newspapers media coverage of a strike at the Irving Oil Refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, from 1994 to 1996," Textual Studies in Canada, 15, (2002). 41. Frances Henry and Carol Tator, Discourses of Domination: Racial Bias in the Canadian English Language Press, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002). 23

analyses media coverage of the representations in nationally circulated Globe and Mail and The Miramichi Leader, which he considers as the community newspaper that it then was.42 Since the time of his research, Irving's media holdings in New Brunswick have consolidated further. While it has maintained a primarily local focus, The Miramichi

Leader has been brought into the Irving fold.

All of this previous media analysis looks at the Marshall decision in relation to the lobster fishery and the fallout which followed the decision at Esgenoopetitj (Burnt

Church). Given that those events were a major national news story, this is not particularly surprising. The analysis focuses to varying degrees on the national media. The national scope of this coverage is important, but I focus on the scale of the province because this holds the most value for the case of the Miramichi's Atlantic salmon. The river is fully within the province of New Brunswick, and much of the news coverage of it has happened in New Brunswick newspapers. I seek to gain from the insights of previous media analysis of lobster fisheries and look for similarities and differences in media coverage of the Miramichi's salmon fishery at the provincial level. New Brunswick's unique media context invites examination at this scale.

Theoretical Contexts for this Analysis

42. Paul Fitzgerald, "Fishing for Stories at Burnt Church: The media, the Marshall decision and aboriginal representation," Canadian Dimension, (36) 4, 2002; Sean Fleming, "The Marshall Decision as news: The Construction of a Stereotyped Noble Savage in Two Canadian Newspapers The Miramichi Leader and The Globe and Mail," Master's of Arts, University of New Brunswick, 2002. 24

Speaking shortly after the gavel dropped on the Marshall decisions, DFO spokesman Andre-Marc Lanteigne said that:

To truly define what Marshall is, it will take years. These [initial] agreements, they are a first step, they are interim and expire in March. When we go to renegotiate them, the new plans may look completely different.43

This official acknowledgement of the dynamism of the Marshall decisions' implementation highlights that the actual status of the rights which it affirmed deserves ongoing reconsideration. Like the rights affirmed by the Sparrow decision, these rights are theoretically guaranteed. In both cases however, this guarantee does not mean that these rights are necessarily 100% stable. The context of policy and resource regulation into which they are implemented is an ever evolving one of program review and five-year plans. In this research, I seek to provide some of the ongoing reconsideration that the implementation of these Native rights merits.

Given the decline of salmon in the Miramichi some limitations on Native fisheries, and particularly commercial fisheries, are surely legitimate. Other limitations may appear to be legitimate, but be based in understandings of fisheries with particular, situated understandings of key words such as conservation which the Badger test outlines as a legitimate limitation for Native fishing rights. These limitations might only be considered legitimate given certain assumptions about what (and who) can constitute

43. Coates, The Marshall Decision and Native Rights, 184. 25

appropriate conservation methods. Because of this, all limitations which are placed upon the rights which the Marshall and Sparrow decisions affirmed need to continue to be questioned for their implications, motivations and rationalizations. The poor record of upholding Native rights in Canada necessitates scepticism not only of actual limitations which may appear to be neutral, but also of the motivations which Canadian governments have for enacting them.44 In the Sparrow decision the Supreme Court noted:

Our history has shown, unfortunately all too well, that Canada's aboriginal peoples are justified in worrying about government objectives that may be superficially neutral but which constitute de facto threats to the existence of aboriginal rights and interests.45

This research considers representations of Natives and the Miramichi's salmon fishery with an eye cast towards how they could inform the policy which regulates the fishery in question. The relevance of this potential is highlighted by the recognition of the

44. Amnesty International, '"Time is Wasting': Respect for the land rights of the Lubicon Cree long overdue," www.amnesty.ca/canada/AMR200103.php, April 2003; Amnesty International, "Canada: Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review," Fourth Session of the UPR Working Group of the Human Rights Council, February 2009; United Nations Universal Periodic Review, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, Canada, http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/pdp-hrp/inter/wrk_grp-eng.pdf, Daniel N. Paul, We Were Not the Savages, (Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2006). 45. R. v. Sparrow, "Recognized and Affirmed," http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1990/1990rcsl-1075/1990rcsl-1075.html. 26

historical role of the regulatory regime in the dispossession of Canada's Native people(s) in the Government of Ontario's "Final Report of the Ipperwash Inquiry."46

The regulatory regime has played a role in dispossession because it is the multi-faceted mechanism that enforces state policies with respect to lands and resources. The regulatory regime was developed and is implemented without any understanding, inclusion, or accommodation of Aboriginal history, land-based values, or culture. The facts of history show that Aboriginal peoples have always asserted their rights to use, occupy, and access their traditional lands and exercise their traditional lifestyle. Yet, the regulatory regime, with all the attendant mechanisms of the state for enforcement, does not take any of this into account. Orders and discretionary decisions, combined with enforcement powers, make traditional land use, occupancy, and access unlawful and result in dispossession.47

The regulation of fisheries on Canada's east coast was surely jolted by the Sparrow and Marshall decisions, which effectively recognized the wrongful historical enclosure of fisheries resources from Native peoples in the region and sought to rectify this wrong. Yet this was not the only major change which shook up the regulatory regime in the 1990s and 2000s. As in other regions of the country and other areas of policy making, significant changes were wrought by an adherence to the metalogic of neoliberalism.

46. Jean Teillet, "Final Report of the Ipperwash Inquiry—March 31, 2006," www. attorney general.jus. gov.on. ca/inquiries/ipperwash/policy_part/research/pdf/Teillet. pdf. 41. Jean Teillet, "Final Report of the Ipperwash Inquiry—March 31, 2006," www. attorneygeneral.jus. gov.on. ca/inquiries/ipperwash/policy_part/research/pdf/Teillet. pdf. 27

Neoliberalism as a broader trend and the implications that this has in this case

Becky Mansfield has noted that "neoliberal approaches in fisheries cannot be treated simply as derivative of a larger neoliberal movement that became entrenched starting in the 1980s."48 Accordingly, I understand the events that are considered here to occur at a complex and at times contradictory crossroads of neoliberalism, classical liberalism, Natives' emerging rights and conflicting environmentalisms. '"Actually existing' neoliberalisms are always (in some way or another) hybrid or composite structures."49 The economic metalogic of neoliberalism which has been the Zeitgeist of policy making and implementation in Canada during the time period examined is present in many of the DFO's approaches to fisheries generally and to the regulation of salmon in

New Brunswick specifically. At the same time, the province's classically liberal system of riparian rights, the Supreme Court's affirmation of existing Native rights of access which had long been denied and the potential limitation of these rights by evolving conservation strategies are each partially constitutive of the policy context of New

Brunswick at the time of the case study.

British geographers Jamie Peck and Adam Tickell recognize "a stylized distinction between the destructive and creative moments of the process of neoliberalism- which are characterized in terms of 'roll-back' and 'roll-out' neoliberalism, respectively."

48. Becky Mansfield, "Neoliberalism in the oceans: "rationalization," property rights, and the commons question," Geoforum, 35(3), (2004): 315. 49. Peck and Tickell, "Neoliberalizing Space," 383. 28

These ideas of roll-back and roll-out neoliberalism are helpful to understanding the changes which were occurring in the regulatory context on the river in the time period in question. While roll-back neoliberalism is characterized by the "active destruction and discreditation of Keynesian-welfarist and social-collectivist institutions (broadly defined)," roll-out neoliberalism is marked by a shift from this preoccupation to a "focus on the purposeful construction and consolidation of neoliberalized state forms, modes of governance and regulatory relations." Both of these phases of neoliberalism are identifiable in the regulatory changes that took place on New Brunswick's rivers in the

1990s and 2000s.

In line with the pervasive neoliberal metalogic to "restrain public expenditure" at all costs, the Canadian federal government focused considerable effort on reducing the national debt and budget deficit under Jean Chretien's Liberal governments of the

1990s. The effects of this reduction in public spending were broad and deep. The DFO was not immune to these cuts in funding and experienced program review which led to decreased capacity to carry out some duties.51 Following this roll-back of budget and services, more cost effective roll-out re-regulation followed. This brought changes in the philosophical approach to fisheries management which allowed for the recreational

50. Jamie Peck, "Neoliberalizing states: thin policies/hard outcomes," Progress in Human Geography, 25(3), (2001): 445. 51. Philip Lee, "Poachers Reign on NB Rivers," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, August 21 1999. 29

fishing NGOs to potentially consult with the DFO in a co-management arrangement in which they ostensibly represent Natives, a subtle but significant form of the "reregulation

(...) of those marginalized or dispossessed by neoliberalization" by the:

stretching of the neoliberal policy repertoire to embrace a range of extramarket forms of governance and regulation. These included inter alia, the selective appropriation of "community" and nonmarket metrics, the establishment of social-capital discourses and techniques, partnership-based modes of policy development and program delivery.

Many of the interpretations of events and solutions to problems of the ASF and MSA seem to draw largely from a local salmon conservation tradition strongly rooted in classical liberal ideals such as riparian rights. Even so, these NGOs seem to have adapted to the process of neoliberalization with relative ease.

In line with roll-out neoliberalism, the 2004 "Atlantic Fisheries Policy Review" posits as a principle that top-down management is ineffective.53 Instead it advocates co- management as a way forward. For the DFO, the term co-management does not refer specifically to arrangements which it makes with Native people(s), but rather refers to the:

52. Peck and Tickell, "Neoliberalizing Space," 389. 53. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Atlantic Fisheries Policy Review, (Ottawa, Fisheries and Oceans Communications Branch, 2004): 3. 30

sharing of responsibility and accountability for results between Fisheries and Oceans Canada and resource users, and eventually [it] will also encompass the sharing of authority for fisheries management.54

From the general approach outlined in the "Atlantic Fisheries Policy Review" grew the "Five-year (2008-2012) integrated management plan for Gulf Region Atlantic

Salmon stocks." This plan outlines how this sharing of authority would take place.

DFO will encourage stakeholders to form a single salmon management group to represent the various interests in the local salmon and other diadromous species, or potentially affecting it. It is imperative that those parties fishing the resource (i.e., First Nations, the respective Aboriginal/Native council, the various angler groups) be members of the organization and participants in the management program for the salmon resource.55

Fortunately for the ASF and MSA, they had recently joined exactly this type of group. The Miramichi Watershed Management Committee (MWMC) is a stakeholder group which was formed in the mid-1990s. In accordance with DFO's mandate, it does include Native participants. However, William Dalton's research has shown that Native participation on the committee is virtually non-existent and he questions the very legitimacy of the MWMC.

54. The DFO refers to resource users as "holders of commercial licences, quota holders, Aboriginal groups with communal licences, processors who hold fishing licenses, recreational fishers and aquaculturists who use wild fish stocks." 54. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Atlantic Fisheries Policy Review, (Ottawa: Fisheries and Oceans Communications Branch, 2004): 3. 55. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, "Five-year (2008-2012) Integrated Management Plan for Gulf Region Atlantic Salmon Stocks," www.glf.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fam- gpa/plans/ifmp_saumon-salmon-e.pdf, 20. 31

The legitimacy of the group is compromised by a disconnect between the broad objectives that Atlantic salmon management may entail and the recreational fishing mandate of the MWMC (...)The idea that Atlantic salmon are important to a wide range of stakeholders for a variety of reasons (other than recreational fishing) is given little consideration by the MWMC. The legitimacy of the MWMC is also compromised due to a lack of broad participation.56

In spite of real concerns about the legitimacy of the organization, the governance arrangement put in place by roll-out neoliberal policies of the "Five-Year Plan" allows for it to input into the management process as a "single salmon management group" which ostensibly represents Natives. The lack of Native participation noted by Dalton is particularly problematic because, as Alan C. Cairns has noted,

participation in the policy-making arenas at all levels of the federal system is a necessity if Aboriginal voices are to be heard. (...) [Aboriginal peoples] need, therefore, to so position themselves that they can systematically and predictably make their voices heard in the standard political arenas of Canadian federalism.

The potential for NGOs to influence policy through this emerging governance structure is particularly salient if it is considered alongside the powerful discursive tools which the recreational fishing NGOs have at their disposal in the form of the media and a presence in the provincial public education system. If a co-operative management body

56. William G. Dalton Jr., "Stick holders and stakeholders: Engaging Community in Atlantic Salmon Management in the Miramichi Watershed," (Master's of Arts Thesis, University of New Brunswick, 2006): 85-86. 57. Alan C. Cairns, First Nations and the Canadian State, (Kingston: Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, School of Policy Studies, Queen's University, 2005): 57. 32

which effectively excludes Natives is consulted by the DFO as a representative co- management partner, and the members of this body are further able to significantly influence public opinion through domination of local media and the use of their curricular materials in public schools, then it seems probable that these members are exerting disproportionate influence on policy makers who are supposed to be responsive to all fisheries users.

The logic which initially sought to reduce the centralized power of DFO was part of a process of minimization or roll-back. These cuts contributed to changes in the way fisheries are regulated and to the creation of a stakeholder process. Yet they also had more concrete and immediate effects. One of the only things that the recreational fishing NGOs and Native leadership seem to agree on is that these cuts rendered the DFO unable to effectively patrol the

CO watershed and enforce its own regulations. The DFO's reduced ability to enforce conservation measures emphasizes the importance of having discussions about how the resource could best be protected in the existing context. After all, it appeared as though new pressures could be added to a fragile resource.

58. Philip Lee, "Poachers Reign on NB Rivers," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, August 21, 1999; Parliamentary Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, "Evidence: Thursday 25 November, 1999, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans," Section 1625, wwwl.parl. gc. ca/HousePublications/Publication. aspx ?DocId=1034563 & Language=E&Mode=l &Parl=36&Ses=2. 33

Those who are able to control the terms of these discussions would have an advantage in affecting public opinion and potentially the way that key aspects of the fishery's regulation are understood or defined. As David Livingstone has noted "to control definition is to wield.. .power."59 One of these key aspects to be defined is conservation. The Badger test assured the ongoing relevance of the concept by naming it as a balance for Native rights. The polyvalence of the term emphasizes the importance of real discussions inclusive of the multiple potential epistemological approaches to its meaning. Yet the public debate on what conservation is and what it should be is dominated by a highly specific non-

Native voice.

Exploring the inherent instability of conservation as a concept

Among the basic premises of this research is the notion that nature, and by extension the conservation of nature, is a malleable concept that can be shaped under certain conditions. It explores how a particular, dominant view of nature is promoted in newspapers and educational material, and considers some effects that this could have. Raymond Williams has noted that

The idea of nature, though often unnoticed, contains an extraordinary amount of human history. (...) both complicated and changing, as other ideas and experiences change (...) This is not only generally, or in

59. David Livingstone, The Geographical Tradition: Episodes in the history of a contested enterprise, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992): 312. 34

ultimate ways, but the idea of man in society, indeed the ideas of kinds of societies.6

In New Brunswick, historical ideas of nature and its conservation shape how it is represented by recreational fishing NGOs. This alone is not especially noteworthy. Their favourable treatment by the organs of a media monopoly that enables the wide dissemination of their particular view of conservation is much more unusual. It is a view that is often at apparent odds with the full actualization of Supreme Court-affirmed Native rights.

In the Sparrow decision, the Supreme Court asserted that, as a limitation upon

Native rights, "the justification of conservation and resource management is (...) uncontroversial."61 I posit that this is an ill-founded claim. Conservation is a much more unstable concept than has been recognized in that ruling. Without recognition of the concept's instability, Native rights may be limited by those with the ability to affect how conservation is understood and what practices or regulations fit with this understanding.

This is especially relevant in the evolving neoliberal context, where regulatory mechanisms have changed to incorporate greater input from stakeholder processes and public opinion contemporary to the affirmation and supposed implementation of Native rights.

60. Raymond Williams, Problems in materialism and culture, (London: Verso,1980): 67 61. R. v. Sparrow [1990], Supreme Court Recorder 1075, http://csc. lexum. umontreal. ca/en/1990/1990rcsl-1075/1990rcsl -1075.html 35

The potential for the appropriation and misuse of the term leads me to again turn to Bruce Willems-Braun's analysis of British Columbia's Clayoquot

Sound, in which he identifies remarkably different understandings of nature among Natives and non-Natives, the representation of conservation in New

Brunswick's media monopoly allows anglers' to reinforce the epistemologies buried within their view of nature, to solidify those as "representations which are shared by everyone in a society."62 It is rare that Natives are asked to comment on fisheries at all, but when Native voices are present, they are heard principally through the filter of these epistemologies. This creates a context in which Natives are forced to respond to non-Native epistemological understandings of fisheries, which reinforces the presumed authority of these understandings. Ultimately, this may further entrench these epistemologies, though quantifying exactly how or how much this actually occurs would be a difficult—and perhaps impossible- task. Nevertheless, by shaping conservation's meaning, its regulation could ultimately be affected. Potentially, the ability to define conservation could result in limiting Natives' hard won treaty or Aboriginal rights, which are subordinate to conservation.

62. Willems-Braun, 3-31; Warren Schmaus, Durkheim's Philosophy of Science and the Sociology of Knowledge, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994): 38. 36

If the result of influencing public opinion in favour of a view of conservation favourable to recreational fishing is the prioritization of recreational fishers' privileges over New Brunswick Natives' rights, then this seems to contradict the Sparrow decision's assertion that "to afford user groups such as sports fishermen (anglers) a priority to fish over the legitimate food needs of the appellants and their families is simply not be an appropriate action on the part of the Federal government."63 A close examination of the context indicates that conservation, as it is being understood and applied in the regulation of salmon fisheries on the Miramichi, may allow continued privileges for recreational fishers at the expense of the emergence of Supreme Court affirmed fishing rights for Natives.

63. R. v. Sparrow, "Section 35(1) and the regulation of the fishery," http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1990/1990rcsl-1075/1990rcsl-1075.html. 37

Chapter 2

Some Elaboration on the Particular Context of New Brunswick

The particularity of New Brunswick's contemporary society, politics and history form a backdrop which is best elaborated upon to more fully contextualize this case study.

These are inextricably intertwined and I explore them by considering some ways which they surface in the context of media, civil society-driven conservationism and Native rights. Media analysis forms the backbone of this research and media is the ideal subject upon which to focus in order to highlight New Brunswick's particularity. The media context in New Brunswick which facilitates the privileging of particular viewpoints is an unusual one. The federal government's 2006 Senate Committee Report on

Transportation and Communications boldly claimed that New Brunswick had a media monopoly which is unique in developed countries.1 The Irving group of companies' press

1. Senate Committee on Transporation and Communications, 2006 Senate Committee Report on Transportation and Communications, Volume 1, www.pari. gc. ca/39/l/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/tran-e/rep-e/repfinjun06voll -e. htm, 12; In the 20th Century, the Irving family business empire grew under the leadership of K.C. Irving. Upon his death in 1993, Irving's holdings were divided into three groups of companies. One group comprised of pulp and paper enterprises, one for energy holdings, and one for steel production and manufacturing. Each of these would be led by one of his three sons, Arthur, James and Jack. Brunswick News Corp. falls under the pulp and paper umbrella, known as J.D. Irving and Associates. The parent company is run by James (or J.K.) Irving,with the Telegraph-Journal being edited by his grandson Jamie. Harvey 38

holdings constitute a media empire which has been singled out in the 1970 Davey

Committee, 1981 Kent Commission and 2006 Senate Committee on Transportation and

Communications reports on media concentration as a case study in its potential perils.

According to Erin Steuter, "the Irving Group is the owner and de facto editor of every single English-language daily newspaper in the province and it uses this to its advantage."3 Their monopolistic power in the province's media affords the Irving Group of Companies the ability to give editorial voice to their own personal and political concerns and those of selected civil society groups with whom their interests are allied, like the ASF and MSA. In this sense, the Irving press coheres neatly to Bagdikian's claim that a media monopoly can be "a private ministry of information and culture" which can set political agendas.4 I show in chapter three that this can effectively deny a voice in traditional media for those who might undermine Irving interests.

The concentration of such discursive power within the hands of a single family affords innumerable potential uses of this power to them. The Irving

Sawler's 2007 book 21st Century Irvings deals at greater length with the way that the family tree intertwines with the family's business interests. 2. Joseph Jackson, "Newspaper Ownership in Canada: An overview of the Davey Committee and Kent Commission Studies," http://dsp-psd.tpsgc.gc.ca/Collection- R/LoPBdP/BP/prb9935-e.htm; Senate Committee on Transportation and Communications, 2006 Senate Committee Report on Transportation and Communications, Volume 1, www.parl.gc. ca/39/l/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/tran- e/rep-e/repfinjun06voll -e.htm, 12. 3. Steuter, "Beneath the fold," 20. 4. Bagdikian, xvi. 39

media monopoly has the ability to impact discourse in New Brunswick on a given issue by substantially controlling the terms of public debate which occurs concerning that issue. Like the rest of the family's privately held businesses, control of the Brunswick News Corp. has remained firmly within the family.

Jamie Irving recently took over the helm of a media empire whose publishers have a history of making their preferences for the content of their newspapers known.

Some, including Kim Kierans, the director of Halifax's University of King's

College School of Journalism, have expressed optimism that the Columbia

University Journalism School graduate's tenure at the Telegraph-Journal may produce good newspapers.5 To do so, he will need to improve upon a past pocked with allegations and anecdotes about editorial meddling.

Erin Steuter has noted that the family has acted as "de facto editors" of all of the province's major papers.6 There is considerable support for this assertion.

In a Tuesday July 28, 2009 article on CBC.ca online news, Saint John mayor Ivan

Court alleged coercion on the part of Jamie Irving in a June 2009 meeting with him and other members of the newspaper's senior editorial staff. Court, who had previously refused interviews to the paper due to what he viewed as "too negative" coverage of city hall, was told that in order to receive more favourable

5. Gordon Pitts, "An Empire Looks to the Future," The Globe and Mail, March 26, 2005, https://secure.globeadvisor.com/servlet/ArticleNews/story/GAM/20050326/RIRVING26. 6. Steuter, "Beneath the fold," 20. coverage in the Telegraph-Journal he would have to reduce city taxes and change the city manager.7

We were told that unless we did what they wanted, they would continue what you see daily in the paper. And we saw the result of Q

that: we no longer have a city manager.

Further anecdotal support for Irving family members dictating editorial positions is provided by award-winning journalist Neil Reynolds. Upon leaving his position as editor at the Tele graph-Journal in 1995, he noted the habit of

Brunswick News owner J.K. Irving of calling him daily to let him know what he liked and did not like about the day's paper.9 J.K. Irving remains the owner of

Brunswick News, and this anecdote about the pressure which he has in the past exerted upon those who produce his newspapers' content highlights the importance of Soderlund and Hildebrandt's observation that: Even if an owner does not take a hands-on position in running a newspaper, reporters tend to develop a keen sense of the newspaper owner's positions and expectations; they tend to self-

7. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Online News, "Saint John Mayor claims Irving demanded city hall changes," June 29, 2009, www.cbc.ca/canada/new- brunswick/story/2009/06/29/nb-court-irving-meeting-611 .html. 8. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Online News "Publisher, Editor out over wafer story," July 28, 2009, www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2009/07/28/nb- wafergate-apology-harper-1049.html. 9. Walter C. Soderlund and Kai Hildebrandt, "Chain Ownership: Review and Analysis Empirical Studies" in Canadian Newspaper Ownership in the Era of Convergence, (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2004): 36. 41

censor so as not to provoke the ire of those who control the trajectory of their career.

In the province of New Brunswick, Irving's discursive power is—in a very literal sense—unrivalled. In their coverage of salmon conservation and Native fisheries the epistemologies embedded in the reporting of the journalists and editors in Irving-owned newspapers is likely to be more subtle than in other

scenarios such as the coverage labour relations with their own employees which was considered by Steuter. n The implications of wielding this power in public discussions are nevertheless significant in their potential to sway public opinion.

The ability to present arguments without sufficient counterbalance could result in one sided discussions which conceal aspects of a debate which are potentially controversial.

A Partial Overview of Salmon Conservationism in New Brunswick

In addition to their domination of media, members of the Irving family are very active in salmon conservation. In 2004, J.D. Irving and Associates won a Gulf of Maine

Visionary Award for its commitment to marine conservation and has been recognized as doing more for salmon conservation work "than anybody in the province is doing in the

10. Soderlund and Hildebrandt, 36. 11. Steuter, "The Irvings Cover Themselves," 1-17. 42

private sector. This research explores some of the ways that two New Brunswick recreational fishing NGOs which share Irving's interest in conservation may have been able to limit apparent gains made by the Sparrow and Marshall decisions through the

Irving-owned press' use of their understandings of fisheries issues as the baseline for fisheries debates. Yet the legacy of salmon conservation in the province upon which these NGOs draw far predates Irving's domination of print media.

Historian Bill Parenteau writes of New Brunswick naturalist Moses Perley's

1840s report on fisheries in Ireland undertaken for the New Brunswick government that:

In "nearly exhausted" Irish rivers that were leased to sportsmen "the salmon have increased most wonderfully." It followed, Perley believed, "that by this arrangement, the fisheries of rivers flowing through un- granted wilderness lands, which are now being destroyed in the most wasteful and reckless manner, might be preserved and rendered profitable." Out of the relatively discrete experiments in Ireland, the idea of leasing exclusive river fishing rights to sportsmen in Canada was born; in the 1860s the leasing system took hold and eventually was

12. Gulf of Maine Council, "Gulf of Maine Announces Visionary and Longard Awards," www.gulfofinaine.org/mediaroom/documents/visionaryawards.doc', The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, "Salmon Group to Honour Irvings on Wednesday," A7, September 11, 2001; Irving-owned media includes or has included: CHS J and CKBW in radio, MITV and CHSJ-TV in television, Canadaeast.com in internet media. In print media they own all of the province's English language dailies and all of its English language dailies, save one. (L'Acadie Nouvelle) Irving owns all of the province's weekly newspapers including the free "alternative" urban weekly newspaper Here, distributed in Fredericton, Saint John and Moncton. 13. Derwin Gowan, "The Morning News," The New Brunswick Tele graph-Journal, February 20, 1998. 14. Ireland was under British rule throughout the 19th century. 43

introduced on virtually all of the productive salmon rivers in New Brunswick.15

From Perley's arguments grew a system of riparian rights which not only allowed, but actually required sportsmen to manage Atlantic salmon runs in the province and protect them from "poachers."16 The angling community was even then involved in defining appropriate access. "Salmon anglers and their organizations were intimately involved in both the formation of regulations and the on-going efforts to control salmon harvesting in the half century after Canadian confederation."

The story is a page torn from the past, but reads like a preview of a then unknown neoliberal future. This system not only provided the Lockian right of exclusion to the largely extralocal property owners who provided direct external investment in rural areas like the Miramichi watershed, but it also necessitated that these investors act in the capacity of the state by surveilling the watershed and enforcing its regulation. It was required that land owners monitor the rivers for poaching and other unsportsmanlike conduct such as net fishing. Riparian owners were required to hire private game wardens to patrol the river on their behalf and catch these "criminals." Parenteau links this back to

Hanoverian England and 19 Century colonized Ireland, but it also seems to link forward

15. Bill Parenteau, "a 'very determined opposition to the law': Conservation Angling Leases, and Social Conflict in the Canadian Atlantic Salmon Fishery, 1867-1914," Environmental History, 9(3), (2004): 443. 16. Parenteau, "a 'very determined opposition to the law,'" 437. 17. Parenteau, "a 'very determined opposition to the law,'" 437. 44

to the DFO's neoliberal reforms of the late 20 Century and the way that anglers have repositioned themselves within them.

In the 1990s and 2000s, the interests of the recreational fishers on the

Miramichi have been voiced largely through the ASF and the MSA. The MSA is a

Miramichi watershed property and riparian ownership group. Its membership is constituted by recreational fishers from New Brunswick and neighbouring New

England, whose citizens constitute a significant portion of the recreational fishery's users.18 The ASF is New Brunswick-based but their mission to save salmon in the wild extends beyond the province's borders. While the two organizations seem to operate on different scales, these scales intersect on the species so-called "last stand," the Miramichi watershed.19 Both NGOs have focused substantial conservation efforts on the river system and have been

18. As far as I am aware, no exact survey of the national origins or citizenship of inland fisheries users exists. "Salmon anglers share the blame," an editorial in the Telegraph- Journal printed on October 12, 2000 elaborated on resident and non-resident fishing license. In 1999 17,654 resident and 5,213 non-resident fishing licenses were issued. However, this is inevitably only a partial picture. Those who were born in New Brunswick and own property there qualify for resident licenses even if they do not reside in the province. Still, according to these numbers, at least V* of legal fishers were non­ resident. This means that Americans are overrepresented on the MSA board. The MSA's bylaws state that 25 of the 60 members on its board of directors will be American and that an additional 9 may be of any citizenship. This is a guaranteed representation of 40%, higher than would be warranted even in the unlikely event that all 5,203 non-resident fishing licenses were issued to Americans; Miramichi Salmon Association, "About Us: Miramichi Salmon Association," www.miramichisalmon.ca/contactus.html. 19. Adam Clymer, "The April Wind is not the Only Thing Biting," The New York Times, April 29 2006. 45

prominent drivers of public discussion of Native salmon fisheries and salmon conservation in New Brunswick.

In considering these organizations, it is important to make note of the power held by the ASF and MSA's membership. Their membership lists amount to a "who's who" of New Brunswick's business and political elite. The membership of these NGOs is drawn largely from the ranks of the powerful. That the MSA is a group composed of the watershed's property owners gives it a class dimension, but it is more than a simple matter of money or property. Among the two organizations' members are politician Shawn Graham, New Brunswick's

Premier from 2006 until the time of writing, his father Alan Graham, a long-time

Minister of Natural Resources under Frank McKenna's Liberal governments of the 1980s and 1990s and as of 2009 a board member of the ASF, and billionaires like J.K. Irving, owner of virtually every newspaper in New Brunswick. Further, the ASF's donors list consists largely of the Canadian elite, with Bronfmans,

9ft

Molsons and McCains all represented. This is only a very partial and somewhat random selection of elites who are involved in these organizations.

Nearly two centuries after Perley travelled to Ireland, the notion of the power of riparian privatization as a method of conservation which he then argued for is one that

20. Atlantic Salmon Federation, "ASF 2005Annual Report: ASF Donors," www.asf.ca/docs/annual/2005_ASF_Annual_Report.pdf, 27-34. 46

lingers in public discussions dominated by a few of the riparian owners of the MSA.

Private ownership and management were forcefully argued for by Philip Lee in a fall

1995 series of feature articles in the Tele graph-Journal entitled "Watershed Down," and have since that time been argued for by the newspaper on numerous occasions, some of which are considered in this research.21 This system is one that seems as though it would often be at odds with the actualization of affirmed Native rights, yet no change in the rationalizations for it have occurred even as Native rights have achieved greater legal recognition.

More than that, many of the rationalizations for increased NGO involvement in contemporary conservation strategies are distinctly similar to the arguments which Perley made in the mid-19th century. In this sense, the MSA and ASF seem to have parallels with past strategies, highlighting that "contemporary neoliberalism draws fundamentally

99 on classical liberalism." The level of involvement and influence which these conservation organizations seek to obtain is virtually congruent with the historical rights and responsibilities of the property owning sportsman argued for by Perley. Policy contexts which seek to incorporate public opinion may enable the revival of classical liberal ideas favourable to the interests of the property owning sportsman to be re-

21. In 1996, Philip Lee's "Watershed Down" series was collected and published in book form as Home Pool: The Fight to Save the Atlantic Salmon. 22. McCarthy and Prudham, 278. 47

articulated within the context of early 21st century civil society's relationship to centralized governance mechanisms.

Considering the R. v. Marshall II decision's confirmation that the treaty rights affirmed by the Marshall decision are subordinate to strategies of conservation, the ability to inform public opinion about what constitutes conservation could affect how policy makers enact it. Due to the fact that conservation's potential meanings are legion, it is a dangerously vague word to govern anything without making a specific intended meaning explicit. In the Marshall II decision the Supreme Court does not, and it could not really be expected to place a definitive meaning on so slippery a concept. The inherent dangers of not doing so are only exacerbated by the emergence of the roll-out phase of neoliberal governance which was occurring contemporary to the initial implementation of the

Sparrow and Marshall decisions.

The philosophy of conservation by which the recreational fishing NGOs propose to realize the salvation of the Atlantic salmon is one whose key points are the promotion of recreational fishing as a pastime and an industry which contributes greatly to the province's economy, the devolution of some responsibility (and the financial resources) for the management of the salmon resource to an organization led by themselves (the

MWMC) and the government enforcement of the complicated system of riparian rights which exists on the river, much of which are owned by the two groups' membership.

Given that J.K. Irving, the owner of the local print media monopoly is counted among 48

their ranks, it is not surprising that these organizations and their approach to conservation receive the favourable coverage in the local media upon which I train the focus of this research.

Beyond simply being able to represent themselves in generally favourable ways, the ASF and MSA have used their favourable treatment in Irving-owned media to seek the establishment of the "co-operative management" of the resource. Despite the co-operative management through the MWMC, the DFO process continues to demand Native input into how the fishery is regulated.

Still, this does not necessarily amount to the consultation which the Badger test mandates. At a July 28, 2005 DFO consultation, concern was raised by the

Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs (APCFNC) about the ongoing development of policy without Native participation. The APCFNC noted that in their view mere input does not amount to the required consultation.24 The mistrust surrounding the DFO's use of the information gathered in consultations with

Natives is highlighted by an earlier request from the APCFNC that Natives not participate in the consultation process of the "Atlantic Fisheries Policy Review"

23. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, "Canada, New Brunswick and the Miramichi Watershed Management Committee Sign Agreement on Recreational Fisheries," www.dfo- mpo.gc.ca/media/npress-communique/2003/hq-ac73-eng.htm. 24. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, "Opportunity for First Nations Input into the Development of The Wild Atlantic Salmon Conservation Policy," www.mar.dfo- mpo. gc. ca/science/diad/wasp/e/consult/apcfn-e. html. 49

because "there is serious concern that, as in past dealings with DFO, our input will be distorted in a way that fits their agenda."

An Overview of Historical and Contemporary Native Rights in New Brunswick

In Canada, some rights are shared by all Native peoples as inherent or Aboriginal rights. Others were negotiated by treaty and can be significantly different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and Nation to Nation. A large number of treaties negotiated in a wide variety of circumstances over several centuries created this variance. A legal context which has recently begun to recognize many of these treaty rights sustains it.

Mi'kmaq resource rights are relatively favourable to resource access for a number of reasons. The British had fur trading contacts with the Mi'kmaq dating to the

17th century.26 This business relationship would have given them some financial interest in ensuring Mi'kmaq access to resources. The agency of the Mi'kmaq and their allies was an additional factor. As Wicken writes, "because the New England colonies failed to win the 1722-25 war decisively, they had no choice but to deal with Wabanaki concerns."27

25. The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, "Chiefs Boycotting DFO Policy Review," March 12, 2001. 26. Wicken, Mi'kmaq Treaties on Trial, 14. 27. Wicken, Mi'kmaq Treaties on Trial, 74; Wicken, "R vs. Donald Marshall Junior, 1993-1996"; The Wabanaki confederacy was an alliance which consisted of the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, Passamaquody and Penobscot peoples. The lands where they lived covered all of present-day New Brunswick as well as all or part of present-day Maine, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula. 50

Unjustly however, the rights of access which were negotiated by the ancestors of

New Brunswick Natives proved to not be very durable ones. As attested by the arrest and trial of Donald Marshall Jr., numerous 20th Century conflicts over fish and the research of

Bill Parenteau into Native exclusion from fisheries in the 19th Century, the rights negotiated in these treaties have long been ignored by non-Native authorities. The 1982 patriation of the constitution with its section 35(1) recognition and affirmation of the existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada paved the way for renewal of these legal, historically negotiated resource rights, but after centuries of enclosure of the fishery's wealth from Natives this renewal was not uncontested.29

The conflicts which followed the Marshall decisions were some of the most compelling recent struggles for Native rights in Canada. The destructive rampage through the Esgenoopetitj (Burnt Church) First Nation by non-Native fishers in the year

2000, in which fishing gear was destroyed and buildings were torched is only the incident of non-Native contestation of affirmed Native rights whose visual spectacle played most dramatically for the TV news cameras. While the province's context is awash in its particularities, non-Native New Brunswickers are by no means unusual in their reluctance

28 . Parenteau, "a 'very determined opposition to the law,'" 443. 29. "Constitution Act, 1982," http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/const/annex_e.html. 51

to accept a power shift in an uneven power relationship. As Weber has observed, positions of power and authority are rarely relinquished easily or willingly.

This violence did not intimidate Native fishers. Natives exercised their rights and tensions mounted. Within a year of the Marshall I decision, New Brunswick found itself in an uncharacteristic position. Events in the province were receiving considerable national media attention.31 Highly publicized conflicts had occurred involving officers of the DFO, the RCMP, non-Native Fishers and members of the Esgenoopetitj First Nation

30. Max Weber, Legitimate Domination, From: Economy and Society, Ed. Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich. (New York: Bedminister Press, 1968): 234. 31. Amer Obeidi, Keith W. Hipel, and Marc D. Kilgour, "Turbulence in Miramichi Bay: The Burnt Church Conflict Over Native Fishing Rights," Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 42(6). (2006): 1629-1645; Margaret E. McCallum, "Rights in the Courts, on the Water and in the Woods," 204-217; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Online News, "Burnt Church braces for confrontation," Friday November 10 2000; www. cbc. ca/canada/story/2000/09/20/ lobstertalks_collapse000920. html; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Online News, "Burnt Church: comment, from: The National", September 4, 2000, www.cbc.ca/national/rex/rex20000904.html; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Online News, "Situation in Burnt Church Simmering," August 22, 2001, www.cbc.ca/news/story /2001/08/22/BurntChu010822.html; Chris Morris,"Miramichi Natives set to defy Fisheries," The Globe and Mail, August 20, 2001, http://proquest. umi. com. ezproxy. libra ry.yorku.ca/pqdweb?index=54&did=1052243601 &SrchMode-l &sid=2&Fmt=3&VInst =PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1247673869&clientId=5220; Alison Blackduck, "Native leaders set stage for disaster," The Toronto Star, February 6, 2001, http://proquest. umi. com. ezproxy. library.yorku. ca/pqdweb ?index=51 &did=4256347U&SrchMode=l&sid=3&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=3 09&VName=PQD&TS=1247674090&clientId=5220. 52

over out-of-season catches, or perhaps merely over increased Native participation in

struggling oceanic fisheries which non-Native fishers had long had privileged access to.32

The dramatic events overshadowed the fact that the vast majority of First Nations

in Atlantic Canada had swiftly and peacefully agreed to individualized, time-limited

federal government plans for their gradual integration into the resource-based industries re-opened to Natives by the Marshall decision in return for the provision of training and

capital intended to foster success as this participation was actualized. Despite initial non-

Native fear of over-fishing, what was seen by some Natives as "unwillingness to share" resources and substantial conflict over this reaffirmation in its early stages, some success

in sharing resources has been achieved. The approach taken to implementing the decision

"-which admittedly had to be jump-started by Aboriginal successes in the courtroom-

[was] more conciliatory, creative and community-based than it has been elsewhere in the country" or in "Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other countries" which have faced similar circumstances. New Brunswick Natives' rights to some stake in the province's commercial fisheries in ocean waters has come to be accepted by the

32. Kevin St. Martin, "The Difference that Class Makes: Neoliberalization and Non- Capitalism in the Fishing Industry of New England," Antipode, 39, (2007): 527-549; Kevin St. Martin, "The impact of "community" on fisheries management in the US Northeast," Geoforum, (37), (2006): 169-184. 33. Coates, "Breathing New Life into Treaties," 347; Coates, The Marshall Decision and Native Rights, 164. 53

province's non-Natives, a "growing, if begrudging, recognition that First Nations are not going to relinquish their rights."34

The salmon fisheries on the province's rivers are a different case to study.

A substantial recreational fishery continues to exist on many New Brunswick rivers. Notable for both its size and mystique is that of the Miramichi watershed.35

The growth of this fishery is allowed and encouraged, but a modest Native commercial fishery which would seem to have been awarded by the Marshall decisions is not permitted to develop. Even the aboriginal right to a food and spiritual purposes fishery is contested. A decade after the Marshall decision, this situation persists in spite of a recent claim by the staunch conservationist and

MSA chairman emeritus Bud Bird that the Miramichi is "a healthy river with an abundant supply of fish."36

34. Antonia Mills, "Three Years After Delgamuukw," Anthropology of Work Review, 21(2), (2000): 24. 35. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, "Five-year (2008-2012) Integrated Management Plan for Gulf Region Atlantic Salmon Stocks," www.glfdfo-mpo.gc.ca/fam- gpa/plans/ifmp_saumon-salmon-e.pdf 12; A number of New Brunswick's rivers, including all of those which drain into the Bay of Fundy on the province's southern coast, have been closed. 36. Adam Clymer, "The April Wind is not the Only Thing Biting," The New York Times, April 29, 2006; Benjamin Shingler, "Another big year expected in province for salmon anglers," July 14, 2009, telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/search/article/728025. 54

Current bag limits allow an unlimited number of fishers to keep up to 8 fish each per year.37 Consider the overall effect of recreational fishers' resource share as per the DFO:

Recreational catches of Atlantic salmon (both retained and released) in the Gulf Region generally total more than 30,000 grilse and large salmon annually. Correspondingly, the fishing effort usually totals more than 120,000 rod-days annually. The New Brunswick Rivers within the Region account for close to 90% of both the catch and fishing effort. The angling fishery on the Miramichi River is responsible for roughly 70% of the Region's catch and about three quarters of its effort.

By the DFO's count, the Miramichi's recreational catch is about 21,000 fish annually.39 MSA chairman Bud Bird was quoted in The New York Times trying to increase the number of recreational fishers on the river for the spring salmon runs, thereby enlarging this catch.

In contrast, Natives combined resource share amounted to a total allocation of only 11,980 fish.40 All of the allotted fish were for food and ceremonial

37. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, "Five-year (2008-2012) Integrated Management Plan for Gulf Region Atlantic Salmon Stocks," www.glf.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fam- gpa/plans/ifmp_saumon-salmon-e.pdf, 12. 38. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, "Five-year (2008-2012) Integrated Management Plan for Gulf Region Atlantic Salmon Stocks," 12. 39. This number was reached by multiplying 30,000 by 0.7. The result of this calculation is 21,000. 40. As per the tables on pages 41-42 of the DFO's "Five-Year (2008-2012) Integrated Management Plan for Gulf Region Atlantic Salmon Stocks" the Miramichi watershed salmon allocations for the three bands on the watershed totalled 11,980. Of this number, 900 mature salmon would be allowed. 2380 total fish (salmon and grilse) were allocated 55

purposes, amounting to nearly 10,000 fewer fish than anglers catch. With 1,005 members, Burnt Church's allocation is just 2,380 fish.41 This is slightly more than two per person, roughly a quarter of an angler's allowable catch. It is also worth noting Millie Augustine's testimony to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on

Fisheries and Oceans that often these quotas are not filled.

As shown in chapter three, for New Brunswick Natives, existing legal access to salmon is criticized by the sport fishing NGOs and the increased access which the Marshall decision seemed to have awarded is actively resisted. The recreational fishing NGOs are able to make these arguments to the public through a sympathetic media which passes their ideals and ideas through to the reading public without criticism. Purportedly in the name of conservation, only the

Sparrow decision rights to a food and spiritual purposes fishery have been allowed, and even these rights have been contested. For example, while MSA spokesman Mark Hambrook has sought to have gill netting banned because "we don't think large salmon should be killed," MSA chairman emeritus Bud Bird has to Burnt Church, 4500 were allocated to Metepenagiag, and 5100 were allocated to Eel Ground. 41. Statistics Canada, "Population Census Statistics: Burnt Church," http://pse5- esdS.ainc- inac. gc. ca/fnp/Main/Search/FNPopulation. aspx ?BAND_NUMBER=5 &lang=eng. 42. Parliamentary Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, "Evidence: November 26, 1999, Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans," www2.parl. gc. ca/HousePublications/Publication. aspx ?Dodd=1039852 &Language -E#T 1620. 56

gone so far as to call the Native food fisheries allocations "preposterous."

Freeman Ward, the fisheries co-ordinator for the Metepenagiag community, notes that his First Nation's allocation is used to "meet the needs of senior citizens and elders in the community."44

The Sparrow decision plainly stated that "any allocation of priorities after valid conservation measures have been implemented must give top priority to Indian food fishing."45 Yet as the numbers illustrates, this is not occurring. The decision states:

The significance of giving the aboriginal right to fish for food top priority can be described as follows. If, in a given year, conservation needs required a reduction in the number of fish to be caught such that the number equalled the number required for food by the Indians, then all the fish available after conservation would go to the Indians according to the constitutional nature of their fishing right. If, more realistically, there were still fish after the Indian food requirements were met, then the brunt of conservation measures would be borne by the practices of sport fishing and commercial fishing.46

The fact that recreational fishers take more fish from the river than do Natives while nutrition problems exist on reserves seems to disregard this. Unemployment on reserves is

43. Ryan Ross, "First Nations Fishing with Gill Nets," The Miramichi Leader, June 15 2009; Lisa Hrabluk, "Micmacs are quick to set traps," The New Brunswick Telegraph- Journal, September 22 1999; Mark Reid, "Gill net crackdown pushed: Opponents call practice 'vicious'," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, October 10 2001. 44. Ryan Ross, "First Nations Fishing with Gill Nets," The Miramichi Leader, June 15 2009. 45. R. v. Sparrow, http://csc.lexum. umontreal.ca/en/1990/1990rcsl-1075/1990rcsl- 1075.html. 46. R. v. Sparrow, "Section 35(1) and the regulation of the fishery," http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1990/1990rcsl-1075/1990rcsl-1075.html. 57

high, 40.6% in Esgenoopetitj. Incomes are low, with a median of just $9,504 on

Metepenagiag. Improved access to a high protein, low fat food like salmon could help narrow the Native/Non-Native health gap, providing an important part of the nutrition which the "Final Report of the Romanow Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada" recognizes as an important element of improving Aboriginal health.49 If food requirements are not being met on-reserve, but a resource share of 21,000 fish is being allotted by recreational fisherman, then the current set of circumstances would seem to defy the wording of the Sparrow decision.

Additionally, in spite of these disturbing figures, Natives are not allowed to sell any fish that they catch. The Marshall decision seemed to allow this. The recreational catch is taking priority not only over the rights the Sparrow decision's awarded for food fishing as an

Aboriginal right, but also over a modest commercial fishery which the Marshall decision

47. Statistics Canada, "Aboriginal Population Profile: Burnt Church 14," www 12. statcan. gc. ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/92- 594/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geol=CSD&Codel=1309044&Geo2=BAND&Code2=l 3630275&Data=Count&SearchText=burnt%20church&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR =01 &B1 =All&Custom=. 48. Statistics Canada, "All data: Metepenagiag Mi'kmaq Nation," www 12. statcan. gc. ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/92- 594/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geol=PR&Codel=35 &Geo2=BAND&Code2=l 363027 5&Data=Count&SearchText=Metepenagiag%20Mi'kmaq%20Nation&SearchType=Begi ns&SearchPR=01 &B1 =All&Custom=. 49. Roy Romanow (Commissioner), "A New Approach to Aboriginal Health" in Building on Values: The Final Report of the Commission of the Future of Health Care in Canada, (Ottawa: Government of Canada, 2002): 224. 58

awarded but which was never allowed to develop. Native rights to fish have been affirmed by the Supreme Court, but they do not seem to have yet been fully implemented. 59

Chapter 3

Manufacturing consent for conservation: the Atlantic Salmon Federation, the Miramichi Salmon Association and the Irving Group of Companies

The Irving-owned newspapers published by the Brunswick News Corporation have been observed to feature "generic news content in which contextualized and critical discussion of important social and economic issues that affect the lives and livelihoods of neighbours and families are addressed in a skewed and self-serving manner."1

Considering how this approach relates to the Aboriginal and treaty rights of New

Brunswick Natives, I explore whether the Irving-owned press' "skewed and self-serving" approach results in a bias in coverage of recreational fishing, Natives' rights and conservation in the province. With regard to labour relations at its companies, this self- serving character has been established by Steuter's analysis of the strike at the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John. Like local labour relations, local conservation is one of few subjects where Irving-owned newspapers' journalism is constituted mainly by original material produced by the newspapers' own reporters and editorial staff.

1. Steuter, "He Who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune;" Brunswick News Corp. is held by J.D. Irving and Associates, the forestry division of the Irving Group of companies. These holdings are run by James K. Irving, K.C.'s eldest son. 2. Steuter, "The Irvings Cover Themselves," 1-17. 60

I consider the newspaper's representations of events and ideas using Herman and

Chomsky's Propaganda Model. New Brunswick's lack of other media sources for

Irving's media holdings to contend with means that Irving-owned newspapers will have some characteristics which differentiate their journalistic approach in marked ways from the behaviour of the multiple outlets of mass media upon which Herman and Chomsky train their focus. With few checks or balances in place to hold the Irving media holdings' discursive power accountable, they are able to bypass some journalistic standards more easily than other media organizations could.

The difference between the major, national media in the United States which

Herman and Chomsky consider and Brunswick News' New Brunswick-based and focused media empire is particularly pronounced insofar as reporting on local issues is concerned. While— generally speaking— other localities will have multiple media sources covering events and multiple editorial opinions about these events, New

Brunswick's media discussions are almost exclusively limited to Irving-owned newspapers and a national public broadcaster tasked with neutrality, the Canadian

Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). This neutrality means that counter-editorialization is

3. As far as non-local news stories are concerned, the papers rely almost exclusively on national and international wire services like the Canadian Press or Associated Press. Some more local editorial opinion embellishes this coverage, particularly on major issues. Still, even a considerable proportion of the opinion pieces which are printed in the papers are the work of non-local syndicated columnists; for example the Newfoundland-born and London-based Gwynne Dyer's column on geopolitics. 61

virtually impossible. As a result many debates, and especially highly local ones like the ones considered in this case study, are often so one-sided that they hardly qualify as debates at all.

Given the global explosion of internet blogging during this time period, it was inevitable that the later years of the research sample saw the germination of a number of

New Brunswick focused blogs. Notable among these are two kept by Charles Leblanc, which have garnered significant attention in the province.4 Yet even with this sprouting of a somewhat more diverse context of journalism and knowledge production, relatively few sources of information alternative to the Irving media exist on many issues.5 Those that do exist have a much more limited circulation than the established Irving-owned newspapers and, like many blogs, lack the polish and investigative journalism capacity of dedicated professional media. Almost exclusively, they are simply comments on news article or stories which Irving-owned newspapers and the CBC have already published.

These sources are often critical of Irving media—sometimes as a matter of principle-but for the most part they are little more than an electronic collection of op-ed pieces and letters to the editor. Along with other independent online knowledge

4. Charles Leblanc, Charles Leblanc: Political ADHD Activist, http://oldmaison.blogspot.com; Charles Leblanc, Charles Leblanc's Other Blog, http://charlesotherpersona.lity. blogspot. com. 5. The Fredericton-based Queen Square Leisure Society's Politics weblog maintains links to a number of New Brunswick weblogs of varying political persuasions. These are listed at http://qslspolitics.blogspot.com/. As of March 6, 2009, eight explicitly anti-Irving weblogs are among those listed. 62

producers, blog credibility has been questioned for lacking "editorial oversight and not having the professional and social pressures to provide accurate and unbiased information."6 Further limiting their usefulness is the fact that for many, blogs are only a hobby. This means that quality investigative journalism is not something which they endeavour to produce.

In spite of a few critical differences in applicability inherent to New Brunswick as a context, the Propaganda Model offered in Manufacturing Consent remains a useful tool of analysis in considering Irving newspapers' treatment of recreational fishing, Native rights and conservation measures in the face of the decline of salmon in the province and the almost simultaneous affirmation of New Brunswick Natives' aboriginal and treaty rights. To be sure, the size of the media in New Brunswick is tiny by comparison to major American media with international reach like The New York Times which Herman and Chomsky considered in their research. The stories of salmon and those who fish them—or who do not— might not be as instantly compelling as the carpet bombing of

Laos or the Bulgarian plot to kill the Pope which Herman and Chomsky consider in their research. Still, this case study of rights and resources in New Brunswick has its own set of dramas.7 I argue here that many of the ways that media's representations are shaped by

6. Thomas J. Johnson and Barbara K. Kaye, "Wag the Blog: How Reliance on Traditional Media and the Internet Influence Credibility Perceptions of Weblogs Among Blog Users," Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, (81)3, (2004): 624. 7. The Halifax Daily News, "Williams Vows to End Life for Miramichi Salmon," October 3 1992. 63

its political economy remain fundamentally unchanged. Some differences in applicability are overridden by overarching similarities in process. Herman and Chomsky write that

"the Propaganda Model suggests that the 'societal purpose' of the media is to inculcate and defend the economic, social and political agenda of privileged groups that dominate the domestic society."8 Their observation fits neatly with this case study.

The Propaganda Model will "trace the routes by which money and power are able to filter out the news fit to print, marginalize dissent, and allow the government and dominant private interests to get their messages across to the public."9 In other words, it will show how this "societal purpose" is served. As they have theorized it, mass media operates through five filters which will shape the ways that events are ultimately represented. For the purposes of this research, two of these are most important, the first and the third. These relate to mass media's profit driven ownership and to the ways which journalists use sources in their coverage, respectively.

The Third Filter: Privileging Sources and Delegating Authority through Discourse

Perhaps counter intuitively, I will first consider the third filter. I do this because the third filter provides the best foundation from which to explore the role of NGOs in creating a particular discourse of conservation and Native rights in New Brunswick. As

8. Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent, (New York: Pantheon, 2002): 298. 9. Herman and Chomsky, 2. 64

per Herman and Chomsky, the media will rely on official sources. Sourcing in media is a key to attaining journalistic credibility as it reduces the perception of bias on the part of the reporter. It is a hallmark of objectivity in a "culture of contemporary journalism which claims that the modern news media can produce an objective, truthful and neutral account of events." Yet the possibility of objectivity has been criticized for being an overly positivist assumption. From the manufacture of news perspective, it has been widely argued that news is necessarily an ideological construct.12 As Steuter has noted:

"Objective journalism" not only makes false claims about what the product, vthe news,' amounts to, but is also a profoundly misleading description of what journalists actually do as they write the news. Due to the organizational features of journalism, the news inevitably de- contextualizes events and re-contextualizes them artificially in accordance with "the news perspective.' Internal factors that shape the news include the newsgathering net (the location of correspondents, camera crews, etc.), bureaucratic interactions within news 1 n organizations, and the rhythms of news work.

10. Herman and Chomsky, 19. 11. Steuter, "Beneath the fold," 17. 12. Todd Gitlin, Inside Prime Time, (New York: Pantheon, 1985); Stuart Hall, "Media Power: The Double Bind," Journal of Communications, 3, (1974): 19-40; Graham Knight, "Strike Talk: A Case Study of News," in Critical Studies of Canadian Mass Media, ed. Marc Grenier, (Toronto: Butterworths, 1992): 47-57; Graham Murdock, "Political Deviance: The Press Presentation of a Militant Demonstration," in The Manufacture of News, eds. Stanley Cohen and Jock Young (London: Constable, 1973); Robert Hackett and Yuezhi Zhao, Sustaining Democracy? Journalism and the Politics of Objectivity, (Toronto: Garamond Press, 1998); Martin Harrison, TV News: Whose Bias?, (Berks, U.K.: Policy Journals, 1985). 13. Steuter, "Beneath the fold," 17. 65

Consider the class-based interests which are embedded in the following editorial position of the Tele graph-Journal. In 1999 it recommended that:

Regulation and policing of New Brunswick's salmon rivers be taken from the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the provincial Department of Natural Resources and given to local user groups. And start with the Miramichi Watershed. (...) Anglers, outfitters and leaseholders have a vested interest in preserving river habitat and nurturing salmon stocks to recovery. The river is a part of their daily lives, a personal responsibility rather than an abstract resource.1

In spite of many influential members of the NGOs being based in New Brunswick's urban areas and disproportionate American control being an institutional policy of the

MSA, this editorial positions the NGOs membership as the rightful managers of the fishery.15 Terms like "vested interest" and "personal responsibility" connote the groups' property ownership, and carry with them certain presumptions about who can capably manage resources. The editorial continues that "it is time to admit that the future of our rivers rests in private hands," an argument to privatize nature very much in line with the historical legacy of salmon conservation in the province. The presumptions seem to imply that the incentive that property ownership gives them will help them effectively manage the resource.

14. The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, "Let's make our rivers our responsibility," February 10, 1999. 15. Prominent members like Bud Bird and Jack Fenety are based in Fredericton, while J.K. Irving is based in the Saint John area. The MSA constitution requires 49% of its board of directors to be American; Miramichi Salmon Association, "About Us," www. miramichisalmon. ca/contactus. html. 66

The federal and provincial governments seem to agree on some level. In 2003, the

Memorandum of Understanding to manage the recreational fishery which this editorial lobbied for was signed. The result was:

a mutual understanding for a process to engage the community in the cooperative management of the recreational fisheries resources, for the purposes of conservation and enhancement; and for economic development through the wise and sustainable use of those resources in the Miramichi Recreational Fishery Area.16

By this time however, the discursive redistribution of authority by Irving-owned newspapers was well under way. By 1999, the MSA and ASF were being consulted as authorities by the Telegraph-Journal's reporters. They were being treated as the management authority which the newspaper had taken the editorial position that they

17 should be.1' TheNGOs were being contacted for opinions which are treated as authoritative in lieu of using official government sources such as DFO reports or peer reviewed studies published in academic journals. By this process, the NGOs were assigned the highest level of authority on conservation issues. Consider the following examples.

16. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, "Memorandum of Understanding Governing Recreational Fisheries Management for the Miramichi Recreational Fishery Area," www.unb.ca/enviro/documents/W_Dalton.pdf, 107-116. 17. The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, "Let's make our rivers our responsibility," February 10,1999. 67

On May 8, 2007 the Tele graph-Journal printed an article on Metepenagiag's decision to use a community trap net instead of gill nets. The article ran prominently on page A2. Following a brief description of the benefits of trap nets which allow for the release of multi-year female salmon versus gill nets which kill female salmon along with the rest of the catch, the MSA is sourced, by way of a press release. Bud Bird is introduced by a string of credentials befitting a cover letter. Bird is called a prominent conservationist, the "chairman emeritus of the Miramichi Salmon Association and a director of the Atlantic Salmon Federation." Following this grand introduction, Bird, presumably speaking for both the MSA and ASF, is quoted as saying:

Using trap nets in the Native food fishery is a very responsible management measure, because it allows for the live harvest of every fish. Both salmon and grilse can be counted one by one within established quotas, and this approach provides the option for live release of large female spawners carrying the eggs for renewal and recovery of future stocks.19

Consider the length of this quote in light of the fact that this was a very short article.

In terms of column inches, Bird's words and the fanfare for them constitute more than a quarter of the reporting given to this event, and it is an event which primarily concerns

New Brunswick Natives. His opinion is further the only opinion on the matter that is given a voice in this coverage. No quote from any representative of the Metepenagiag

18. Derwin Gowan, "Mi'kmaq pull their gill nets," The New Brunswick Telegraph- Journal, May 8, 2007. 19. Derwin Gowan, "Mi'kmaq pull their gill nets," The New Brunswick Telegraph- Journal, May 8, 2007; Grilse are young salmon which have spent only one year at sea before returning to the river from which they were spawned. 68

First Nation, any other First Nation or any Native policy organization is provided to balance Bird's opinions or to provide rationalizations for the use of particular fishing methods.

Although no source for the information Bird provides is cited, I do not intend to insinuate here that his words are inaccurate with relation to fisheries science. More important to this case study is the manner in which his opinion is represented in such a way as to make it seem authoritative. In effect, the NGO spokesperson is put in the position of being a public consultant on a Native issue. It is not a federal DFO or provincial DNR spokesperson or an expert scientist who is consulted on the issue. A

NGO representative with the "vested interest" of property ownership which the

Telegraph-Journal has represented as being a key component of successful resource management is put into a position of authority by the representation of the events and the response which is given to them. In instances such as this however, the vested interest of this property ownership could prove to be at odds with the realization of legally affirmed

Native treaty rights.

This ascription of authority to the MSA is not particular to this article. Rather this is only one example of a journalistic context in which the re-contextualization of events happens in ways which are favourable to the recreational fishing NGOs' ideas and aims.

Similar circumstances can be observed in a number of articles which are included in this research sample. In all cases concerning Natives or conservation issues where there is no 69

inter- or intra-NGO disagreement, the NGO's authority is unquestioned. An example of this can be found in the article "Micmacs are quick to set traps," published immediately after the Marshall decision and dealing with shellfish fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence region. While the source of the salmon activist's expertise on oceanic shellfish fisheries is unclear, Bud Bird is again consulted as an authority. As the article's final word he encourages "the utmost respect for conservation" and claims that "it is impossible to comprehend how the resource can possibly sustain any new pressures.. .Native or otherwise."21 The relatively obvious question of whether some of the existing pressures on the resource may have to be scaled back in order to accommodate the affirmed Native right is left unconsidered. This is an unfortunate omission because that is exactly what is suggested by the Badger test's assertion that "the brunt of conservation measures would be

99 borne by the practices of sport fishing and commercial fishing."

What appears to be a somewhat more conciliatory tone is struck a year later in the title of a January 13, 2000 feature: "It's time to talk about sharing." Just months after the

20. In articles such as February 13, 1998's "Salmon groups at odds on saturating Miramichi" with hatchery fish, disagreements among anglers as to the value of hatched fish released into the river system are highlighted. In this case, the article again has a bias toward Bird and the MSA position of releasing maximal numbers of fish into the river system, a saturation approach. In this case however, Bruce Whipple of the Northumberland Salmon Association's call for more research and a more targeted approach is given some consideration. 21. Lisa Hrabluk, "Micmacs are quick to set traps," The New Brunswick Telegraph- Journal, September 22, 1999. 22. R. v. Marshall (No. 2), Paragraph 32, Supreme Court Recorder 533, November 17 1999 http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1999/1999rcs3-533/1999rcs3-533.html. 70

Marshall decision Philip Lee distills the decision's wide-ranging and complicated implications into a single unanswered question.

One crucial question for New Brunswick must be resolved this winter while our rivers remained shrouded in ice - does the Marshall decision allow native people in New Brunswick to commercially harvest Atlantic salmon?23

The answer to this question is again provided by Bud Bird, who seems to act as an authority on conservation and Native issues. Bird speaks about how debate with Natives should be undertaken (non-confrontationally), and how fisheries managers should manage fish. He argues:

Fisheries managers must recognize that the wild salmon has no commercial value as a food fish now that farmed fish have flooded the market. The wild salmon's commercial value lies in the multi-million dollar recreational fishery on the Miramichi, which is quickly becoming a no-kill catch and release sport.24

23. Philip Lee, "It's Time To Talk About Sharing," The New Brunswick Telegraph- Journal, January 13 2000. 24. Philip Lee, "It's Time To Talk About Sharing," The New Brunswick Telegraph- Journal, January 13 2000; The numbers considered on pages 7-8 of Chapter 1 contradict this assertion that the fishery was "quickly" becoming hook and release. Ten years later, recreational fishers' allowable catch remains identical. The DFO's numbers highlighted on pages 7-8 confirm this. There has been no move from the recreational fishing NGOs to make it into a Catch and Release Fishery. 71

He further recommends an increased role for the MWMC, which he (and the newspaper's editorialists) has lobbied for previously. In this case, Lee concurs.

This year, it is essential that governments set aside petty jurisdictional disputes and give these local managers, including natives, the authority they have been asking for.26

This quote from the author illustrates that this feature does not necessarily take an anti-

Native stance, but again no Natives are actually consulted for their view. Although it seems a clear question, no discussion of if, or how, Natives benefit from the multi-million dollar recreational fishing industry occurs. Would this fishery maintain its non-Native dominated status quo? Or does Bird have a more equitable arrangement in mind in which some of the benefits are accrued by or redistributed to Native communities?

"It's Time to Talk about Sharing" is subtitled "If New Brunswick Salmon are to survive natives and non-natives will have to work together." The way that these groups are consulted within the context of this article indicates that how a hierarchy in this working arrangement might be embedded within a non-Native-led approach to salmon management. While recreational fishing NGO representatives are consulted repeatedly and the point is made that the MWMC has Native members, actual Native voices are

25. The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, "Let's make our rivers our responsibility," February 10 1999; Philip Lee, Home Pool: The Fight to Save the Atlantic Salmon, (Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 1996). 26. Philip Lee, "It's Time To Talk About Sharing," The New Brunswick Telegraph- Journal, January 13 2000. 72

completely omitted. Ensuring actual benefits for Natives would require some change in the way that the recreational fishery's benefits are accrued and distributed. Despite all of the support for a continuing recreational fishery, such changes are not considered in any of the articles analyzed here.

As an article which deals with conservation and does not discuss Native rights, July

3 1999's feature article "Example for New Brunswick seen in Maine's Kennebec experience," presents a case for breaching dams, with particular focus on the Saint John

River watershed and the Mactaquac Dam. The practice is argued for by Philip Lee with

ASF president Bill Taylor being the only source familiar with New Brunswick who is consulted. Taylor is frequently quoted as an authority and his assertions are not subjected to scrutiny. The arguments of both men simply build the case for dam breaching, which they both seem to support unequivocally.

Lee uses Taylor's words and research to support his arguments for all of the positives which he associates with dam breaching. These range from the highly likely

(improved migration for anadromous fish), to the merely plausible (claims of increased access to the river for recreational boating), to the somewhat dubious (economic benefits

27. The only other person consulted in the story was the United States Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt. An Arizona Democrat, Babbitt is quoted in the article as saying that "no community should shy away from discussing the future of a river simply because of the size of a dam, or the enormous implications of removing it." 73

for the province). In terms of economic benefits, it is difficult to envision the breaching of the Mactaquac dam helping a New Brunswick economy which depends heavily on energy exports.29 The economic logic used here seems flawed. New Brunswick Power's

2009 profit targets were $69 million, and at 672 megawatts the Mactaquac dam is by far its largest source of power generation.30

Breaching a dam with a renewable flow of water which creates surplus energy to export in favour of importing non-renewable fossil fuels to burn seems likely to create a net loss. Given DFO's estimate of $32 million as the overall annual economic benefit of recreational fishing in the entire Gulf region, it seems highly unlikely that fishing tourism would make up for the economic loss dam breaching would create in this case, but perhaps an argument could be made that somehow it would.31 What is noteworthy about

28. The breaching of the Mactaquac Dam would not likely improve recreational boating, at least not power boating or sailing. The construction of the dam flooded a large area which is now used for, among other things, recreational boating. Breaching the dam would drain the flooded area, and restore the river to (something resembling) its previous flow. This would include sections of rapids which are detrimental to recreational boating. Breaching the dam would likely improve opportunities for kayaking or canoeing. 29. Export Development Canada, "New Brunswick Energy Exports see Strong Growth in 2006, says EDC," www.edc.ca/english/docs/news/2005/mediaroom_8027.htm. 30. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Online News, "NB Power CEO silent on controversial support letter," February 16, 2009, www.cbc.ca/canada/new- brunswick/story/2009/02/16/nb-hay-mum.html; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Online News,"Tobique protestors seize NB Power truck in dispute over free electricity," June 30, 2009, www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2009/06/30/nb-tobique-protest- nb-power-554. html. 31. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, "Five-year (2008-2012) Integrated Management Plan for Gulf Region Atlantic Salmon Stocks." 74

this article is that it is not. Recreational fishing NGOs are again allowed to simply state their points without any real journalistic effort at balance.

This is further highlighted in the article's approach to the environment. Lee accepts as unproblematic Taylor's assertion the public should not be "fooled into thinking that hydro power is clean power" as well as the Maine Council of the ASF's assertion that the

"arrival of natural gas generating stations is making hydroelectric power obsolete," using both questionable statements to build his case. The statement "hydro power is not clean power" is taken at face value, its low to zero emissions not mentioned. Obvious questions about natural gas, like whether the added carbon emissions will be harmful long-term, are not asked. Again the recreational fishing NGO spokesman's particular environmentalism is taken as authoritative, even though there are clear questions about his assertions.

The sourcing of these NGOs on Native and conservation issues privileges the conservation groups' united voice and perception of nature; reinforcing the epistemologies that are buried in their perspectives. It affords authority to a particular conceptualization of conservation which prioritizes recreational fishing as being of primary importance to the health of the river and the province's economy. If this influences popular perception of the importance of recreational fisheries and their relationship to conservation, then it could be doing so at the expense of emerging Native

32. Philip Lee, "Example for New Brunswick seen in Maine's Kennebec experience," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, July 3 1999. 75

fisheries. In such cases, NGOs are treated by the press as the arbiter of conservation or as bearers of truth, even in the face of clear questions about the veracity of their assertions.

Their spokespeople's voices are taken to be presumptively correct, and the epistemologies buried in the understandings of nature which they articulate are never acknowledged, much less subjected to the questioning which at times seems self-evident.

Issues such as the use of trap nets or the breaching of dams are represented as being positive conservation methods which have been or could be catalyzed by NGO activism. As per the Propaganda Model "giving these purveyors of the preferred view a great deal of exposure, the media confer status and make them the obvious candidates for opinion and analysis." The consistent privileging of the ASF and MSA philosophies affords the NGOs this status in public discussions occurring in New Brunswick media.

They seem to come from no perspective in particular to act as the baseline for ensuing discussion. Herman and Chomsky term the reception of this type of treatment from media as being treated as a presumptively accurate source.34

To uncritically present a source as authoritative in a particular context is to give that source's perspective authority within that context. In this case study, both the source and the context deserve scrutiny. The information which is being disseminated is becoming public through a media monopoly with considerable power in the political

33. Herman and Chomsky, 24. 34. Herman and Chomsky, 24. 76

jurisdiction where it is disseminated. In this context, the unusually strong political and discursive influence of the media monopoly and its ownership is notable. The filtering of information which takes a great number of news producers acting in similar ways to occur at the national or international scale can occur in New Brunswick through the will of a single news organization owned by a privately held corporation.

The Telegraph-Journal has repeatedly treated recreational fishing NGOs as the ultimate authority on matters of conservation. NGO leadership's opinion is quoted not only about the sport fishery as it relates to recreational fishers, but also about the relation of Native and treaty rights to conservation policy and enforcement in the province. At least in terms of credentials, those being cited in the paper are not experts in either fisheries science or Native studies. Nevertheless they are given space in the newspaper to publicize their opinions with little or no scrutiny. To add to this, their authority is further built by the ways which they are introduced when they give these opinions. This only supports the recreational fishing NGOs credibility as presumptively accurate sources.

An illustration of this can be observed in the considerable contrast evident between the introductions which Bud Bird received in the May 8, 2007 article considered earlier and those accorded to Native leaders in a October 4, 2007 Telegraph-Journal article titled "Natives challenge limitations of salmon fishing rights" by Chris Morris.

This article covered an incident of Maliseet fishers jigging for salmon on the Little South 77

West Miramichi. While jigging is not a legal salmon fishing method for non-Natives, it is legal for Natives. As such, the members of the St. Mary's Band seem to simply have been exercising their Sparrow decision rights and do not seem to have actually been challenging "the limitations of salmon fishing rights." This headline launches the coverage from a misleading platform which represents Natives as belligerently refusing legitimate limitations. Of course, these limitations did not exist in the first place.

The contrast in introductions is starkest when a Native leader is perceived to be defying the accepted vision of conservation. Consider the pomp and circumstance which was accorded to Bird vis-a-vis the relatively unceremonious introduction which St.

Mary's First Nation Chief Gina Brooks when she is perceived to be in disagreement with conservation and the slightly more respectful one which Noah Augustine receives when he takes a position which is more sympathetic to that of the NGO line. In contrast to the trumpeting of Bird's credentials, Chief Brooks is introduced only as "Gina Brooks of the

St. Mary's Reserve" and is not paid the due respect of being introduced with her title of

Chief. Her arguments lead the article, but a far greater amount of space is given refuting them. Mark Hambrook of the MSA, Bob Allain of the DFO, Chief Augustine of

Metepenagiag and an anonymous fisherman are all presented as being in opposition to the

35. Chris Morris, "Natives challenge limitations of salmon fishing rights," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, October 4 2007. 78

St. Mary's fishers before the article closes with a quote from New Brunswick Attorney

General T.J. Burke: "at this point in time we have decided not to prosecute."36

Metepenagiag First Nation Chief Noah Augustine is accorded the respect of being introduced by his title, but is introduced as being "disturbed" by these events, though he is not quoted as actually having used this word himself. The comments of his which are included in the article are presented as being in loose alliance with recreational fishers and in opposition to Brooks'. It may be telling that Chief Augustine's comments also included that "discussions are required" to "avoid unnecessary conflict."38 From the understanding of traditional resource relationships of New Brunswick Natives which

Barsh highlighted in "Netukulimk: Past and Present," it would seem that in Netukulimk there would be ample potential for these discussions to solve any disagreement between people in a peaceful way without the conflict that the article implies is imminent. As

Chief Augustine said, the conflict is "unnecessary." Traditionally, as far as distinct hunting/fishing territories, or netukulowomi, are concerned:

'Owners' may be said to possess jurisdiction, but not to the exclusive economic enjoyment of the harvesting site in question. Although they may impose conditions on others' use of resources, and even charge a

36. Chris Morris, "Natives challenge limitations of salmon fishing rights," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, October 4 2007. 37. Though it does not fit neatly into the line of analysis which I have taken here, a gender dynamic to the use of the title of Chief is also worth considering. 38. Chris Morris, "Natives challenge limitations of salmon fishing rights," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, October 4 2007. 79

kind of rent in the form of gifts or reciprocity, traditional stewards or custodians are expected to be generous to guests in proportion to their kinship relations.39

While the potential for conflict over this issue certainly could exist, the article's exclusive focus on the potential conflict between First Nations leaves other possibilities unexplored.

The idea that Native communities have effective traditional ways of relating to resources and each other which could peacefully solve the potential problems of such an incident is not given any consideration.

The perception of Native traditions as a static entity locked in a lost past is also evident in the article's emphasis of the fact that the jig hooks which were used in the incident in question are not a traditional fishing method. One fisherman, who "asked not to be identified," is quoted:

The salmon stocks are down, there's a huge problem globally with wild salmon and there's nothing traditional about the way these people are fishing with their SUVs and jig hooks.40

Of course, as is highlighted by the opposition to gill nets, traditional methods are also deemed inappropriate. As per 1996's R v. Gladstone, a methodological evolution away

39. Russel Lawrence Barsh, "Netukulimk Past and Present: Mikmaw ethics and the Atlantic Fishery," Journal of Canadian Studies, 37(1), (2002): 24. 40. Chris Morris, "Natives challenge limitations of salmon fishing rights," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, October 4 2007. 80

from a traditional fishing method is not relevant to the legality of a right's exercise.

There seems to be either little knowledge or little concern over the actual extent of Native fishing rights.

The anonymous angler's quote is further supported by a quote from the MSA which follows it immediately in the article. Says Mark Hambrook:

Not charging individuals who are allegedly caught fishing illegally sends the wrong message. When you have a group going out and violating rules that everyone else has to obey, people say, if they're not going to be charged, why should we obey those laws?42

Hambrook's words reveal the crux of the problem in the representations of

Natives in the Telegraph-Journal. He confirms Roger Hayter's observation that "there is no social consensus that aboriginal peoples should have exclusive entitlements and inherent rights, even if this is the legal and governmental view."43 The legal view is that even if everyone else has to obey those laws, Natives have a different set of rights. As

Wood writes:

The basis of Native rights is not the same as non-Natives. Both the Indian Act and individual treaties established their rights (and lack of rights) and other Canadian constitutional guarantees did not apply to

41. R. v. Gladstone, [1996] 2 Supreme Court Recorder 723. http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1996/1996rcs2-723/1996rcs2-723.html. 42. Chris Morris, "Natives challenge limitations of salmon fishing rights," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, October 4 2007. 43. Roger Hayter, '"The War in the Woods': Post-Fordist Restructuring, Globalization, and the Contested Remapping of British Columbia's Forest Economy," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 93(3), (2003): 722. 81

them. The distinct legal structure of their relationship with the state means that Aboriginal peoples, particular those under treaties (which is not all of them), possess different rights than other Canadian citizens.44

New Brunswick Natives do not have to obey fisheries laws in the same ways as

"everyone else" does. This is because of the aboriginal right affirmed in the Sparrow decision and the treaty rights affirmed in the Marshall decision. Given that he works on the river, Hambrook is surely aware of these court decisions, but here says that Natives do not have the rights affirmed by the Supreme Court. The quote, which is the final word before the Attorney General decision not to prosecute is highlighted, stands uncontested.

As in the previous articles considered, the conservation NGOs views are presented uncritically, even when they are clear questions about their reliability.

None of the Native fishers involved in this incident were charged, and it does not seem that they were doing anything illegal when their gear and catch were seized. The incident was much ado about nothing, with the only crime which may have occurred being the illegal seizure of fishing gear by overzealous authorities. To avoid the occurrence of similar circumstances in the future, Natives' rights need to be recognized more explicitly. As Brooks is quoted:

The reality is we have a right and they have to make adjustments for that right. We're the priority, after conservation, not sports fishermen.

44. Patricia Wood, "The 'Sarcee War': Fragmented Citizenship and the City," Space and Polity, 10(3), (2006): 240. 82

Nothing else. We are. We understand that. We are smart enough to know our rights.45

In terms of the fishery's regulation, whether the MSA and ASF agree with this or not should be immaterial. The rights which have been affirmed for New Brunswick

Natives make the questions of Natives' rights quite different from those of non-Natives.

Yet the Irving media's preferential sourcing of the ASF and MSA has afforded them the ability to have their understandings of issues disseminated through Irving's media monopoly. This means that whether or not recreational fishers approve might be very important to how the fishery is understood and regulated. They are able to frame the issues for public debate firmly within terms which they set themselves, and these terms deny affirmed rights.

I do not mean to suggest by this analysis that examples such as these are indicative of a malicious approach being taken to these issues by Irving-owned media, the MSA or

ASF. Considering still the third filter of the Propaganda Model, one of the effects of the

NGOs research and public relations campaigns is to provide readily available information which subsidizes the Irving newspaper business. It might be understood as being simply an economic decision to choose them as sources. The MSA and the ASF are producers of information of a pre-packaged type which is ready made for journalists, or perhaps more importantly, cost effective for their editors and the notoriously frugal Irvings.

45. Chris Morris, "Natives challenge limitations of salmon fishing rights," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, October 4 2007. 83

For a journalist reporting on fisheries issues, the NGOs may be easier to obtain information from. The frequently cited Bud Bird provides a clear example of what I mean by this. Elected at the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government, Bird has led an extensive and highly visible public life in which his office phone number is publicly available.46 His home phone number is even listed in the local directory.4 The internet posted and easily digestible press releases of these structured organizations are considerably more easily accessed and media friendly than is, say, traditional Native knowledge of conservation ethics which might only be available through conversations with a Native community leader or elder who is located several hundred kilometres from the Saint John-based newspaper. Further, that person may not be interested in investing their trust in journalists from a newspaper that is so closely linked to economic and political power.

It is worth noting though, that "increasingly Mi'kmaq bands have been taking steps to increase their own capacity to produce and disseminate knowledge about local

46. Municipally, Bud Bird served as the mayor of Fredericton from 1969-1974. He was a Member of Legislative Assembly and the provincial Minister of Natural Resources from 1978-1982 with the Progressive Conservative government of Richard Hatfield. He was a federal Member of Parliament from 1988-1992 with Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives. 47. According to Canada411.com, the home phone for J.W. Bird of Fredericton is 506- 455-9923. 84

fisheries." In the later years of the time period considered in this research many of New

Brunswick's Native communities had built websites upon which contact information has been posted. In this research sample, the journalists do not use these websites for obtaining a Native centered position on appropriate conservation practices. The websites themselves are not cited in any articles, which is only slightly less than Native people are cited at all.

To add to this omission, readily available online resources such as the APCFNC website are not sourced by the newspaper even though the information it delivers online is as straightforward as that on the MSA or ASF websites. Neither is the Union of New

Brunswick Indians or any other Native organization ever used as a source for what might constitute possible conservation policies. In this respect, New Brunswick Natives have remained largely subaltern in the public debates which have concerned their own rights and futures. Native voices are mostly left out of this debate on an issue which, at its core, is largely a Native issue.

On occasions where Natives are heard or addressed, the result has not always been favourable to their interests. Searching the newscan.com archive for the APCFNC in the

48. Gretchen Fox, "Mediating Resource Management in the Mi'kmaq Fisheries in Canada," Development, 49(3), (2006): 123. 85

Telegraph-Journal returns only 10 results which are fisheries-related. Emphasizing that

Native organizations are being left out of public debate on the Miramichi's salmon, only one of these deals specifically with salmon, and even then the link is weak. The article in question is a February 19, 2008 editorial titled "The New Salmon." It has no by-line. The text of the editorial lauds Metepenagiag Chief Noah Augustine for his embrace of entrepreneurship as a way forward for Native communities. His words are compared to those of respected former New Brunswick Premiers Louis J. Robichaud and Frank

McKenna.50 The editorial's text makes only one mention of salmon, calling higher education "the new salmon- a source of sustainable prosperity."

With a "new salmon" one might suppose that there might be less use for the "old salmon." The editorial itself has no content which is tangibly related to salmon. Given the journalistic context of the newspaper's ownership by a salmon conservationist, the choice of metaphor in this article is a curious one. As Chief Augustine is lauded for having done in this editorial, some Native leaders have embraced the potential of greater

Native participation in the provincial economy. Nowhere however, has it been suggested that this participation would be mutually exclusive to traditional fisheries.

49. As the APCFNC is an organization with broad interests, the subjects of the 52 returned articles varied widely, from school history textbooks to economic development to, of course, fisheries. 50. The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, "The New Salmon," February 19 2008. 86

Of the remaining ten fisheries-related articles which mention the APCFNC, four were op-ed pieces submitted by the organization itself. In these, some effort is put into responding to the arguments of the recreational fishing NGOs. For example, in a June 28,

2001 editorial titled "Natives committed to resources," APCFNC chairs Lawrence Paul and Peter Barlow respond to the discussions in the paper on the terms set in an earlier editorial arguing for increased recreational fishing NGO involvement in the fishery.51

Echoing the February 1999 unsigned editorial considered earlier, they argue that Natives too have a "vested interest in the fishery." In the newspaper, editorials like these are framed as being "Guest Commentaries," or as an outsider's opinion. In contrast with this,

CO an ASF op-ed piece is labelled simply as "Commentary."

In comparison to the minimal articles which the "Atlantic Policy Congress of First

Nations Chiefs" returns as a search word, the search word "Miramichi Salmon

Association" returns 227 results and "Atlantic Salmon Federation" 339. None of these articles have a decidedly negative tone. Only one editorial questioned the recreational fishing NGOs in a significant way, implying that fisheries decline should be shared by all parties who use the resource. Printed on October 12, 2000 "Salmon anglers share the blame" is without a by-line. Citing the unlimited number of salmon angling licenses

51. The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, "Let's make our rivers our responsibility," February 10 1999. 52. Bill Taylor, "Countries Fail Salmon Resource," The New Brunswick Telegraph- Journal, June 22 2009. 53. These were the numbers returned on March 5 2009. 87

which allowed fishers to keep up to eight grilse per year, the editorial asked "why the size of New Brunswick's recreational salmon fishery has not been reduced."54 Yet even in this lone case of gentle criticism, more space was ultimately given to refutations coming from the MSA and ASF than was given to the initial editorial. Bud Bird responded for the

MSA with a letter titled "Miramichi Association supports safe angling," and Bill Taylor responded for the ASF with a letter arguing that "Natives and Anglers must co-operate."

Both of these refutations were considerably longer than the original editorial piece.

Of course, for the purposes of this research, it is not so much the "how many?" as it is the simple "how?" The privileging of particular understandings of conservation is not something that is reducible to quantitative analysis. The repetition of ideas in news coverage is relevant, but it is far more poignant to consider how Natives, NGOs and fisheries are conceptualized within the context of individual articles. This reveals the processes by which the historic subjugations of colonialism are re-articulated in the post- colonial context. The privileging of non-Native epistemological approaches is embedded in the conservation and Native rights discourse in a way that statistical analysis does little to reveal. For example, citing the APCFNC would be of little value if it were done in the spirit of subtly discrediting their approaches by always representing their ideas as being

54. The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, "Salmon anglers share the blame," October 13 2000. 55. Bud Bird, "Miramichi Association supports safe angling," The New Brunswick Telegraph Journal, October 13 2000; Bill Taylor, "Natives and anglers must cooperate," The New Brunswick Tele graph-Journal, October 13 2000. 88

inherently inferior to non-Native strategies or in the aim of presenting New Brunswick

Natives as the cause of resource decline. It is only marginally better when this discrediting is subtly embedded into the way which the resource user groups interests and opinions are considered. In the section that follows I will argue that Natives have subtly been discredited in these ways in the Telegraph-Journal.

Angling for Sympathy: Worthy and Unworthy Victims of Resource Decline

The difference in the way that Native and NGO leadership and their opinions are treated does not end with the respect which is accorded to them in the Telegraph-

Journal's reporting. The two groups are further treated with different degrees of sympathy. To illustrate this, it is worth considering Herman and Chomsky's idea of

"worthy" and "unworthy victims." They use this terminology to differentiate between those who are abused in enemy states, the worthy victims, and those who are abused by a propaganda machine's own government or its clients, the unworthy victims. Worthy victims receive a large amount of press coverage and are humanized in it. Simply put, they are represented as deserving of sympathy.

Unworthy victims, though they may have suffered equally or even more, are not given such sympathy. In addition to being given considerably less coverage, the representations of them in the coverage that they do receive are not humanizing and do not evoke pathos. Herman and Chomsky developed these terms principally with political dissenters in mind, and the theoretical framework does not transfer seamlessly to the 89

Miramichi's salmon fisheries and their regulation. However, the essence of the discursive process remains distinctly similar to this case study in that:

The practical definitions of worth are political in the extreme and fit well the expectations of the Propaganda Model. While this differential treatment occurs on a large scale, the media, intellectuals and public are able to remain unconscious of the fact and maintain a high moral and self righteous tone. This is evidence of an extremely effective propaganda system.56

Having privileged access to the media monopoly in part through citation as a source of presumed accuracy and in part through the newspaper ownership's own interests in salmon conservation, anglers have been constructed as being the panacea to the ills of the Miramichi's salmon fishery. They have been represented as good stewards who have been victimized by resource decline and can help stocks recover, if only they are given the chance to participate meaningfully in conservation and resource management. They are represented as having good ideas and noble intentions, as being worthy victims of the resource's decline. As I show below, they are portrayed as pure victims of the circumstance and are absolved of any role in its creation. They are simultaneously represented as being victims of past mismanagement and as a hope for better management of the resource in the future. This manufactures consent for the increased role in governance which the NGOs have for more than a decade been lobbying

56. Herman and Chomsky, 37. 90

for and which the newspaper has supported through its editorials and its ascription of authority to civil society through its use as a presumptively accurate source.

For my purposes here, it is useful to begin an in-depth analysis of worthy and unworthy victims by considering some representations of anglers. Their privileged sourcing dictates that they act as a filter through which much news about the salmon fishery is derived and delivered. In the Telegraph-Journal anglers have been equated, and have equated themselves, with conservation as a cause. In this research sample, the

Telegraph-Journal's reporters have universally cast salmon conservation in a positive light. Because of this, salmon conservationists—and therefore anglers—are the champions of a cause that goes unquestioned and unproblematized at all times. Absolved of any blame for the wild salmon's circumstance, anglers are made into the worthy victims of resource decline.

Conservation and conservationists are represented as being noble. As represented, they have sought only to save the Atlantic salmon. Through the filters provided, the MSA and ASF's heavy involvement with conservation can easily be read as purely benevolent and any impact recreational fishing has is erased. This representation makes them

"worthy" of our sympathy. The epistemologies buried within the particular vision of conservation which they promote and which marginalizes the rights and perspectives of other fisheries users in the province are at best ignored and at worst actively erased. 91

The most obvious case of journalism evoking sympathy in this research sample came in the newspaper's sympathetic coverage of a plea for salmon from a dying Ted

Williams.

A baseball legend, renowned angler and fierce salmon conservationist, [Ted Williams] is 81 and suffering from the debilitating effects of two strokes. He fished for salmon on the Miramichi for more than five decades. Last fall I spoke to Mr. Williams by telephone at his Florida home. He said New Brunswickers must do everything they can to protect the salmon resource.

'I have fished all over the world, and I tell you there's nothing that compares to the salmon,' Mr. Williams said. 'He's number one for me. He's the champion, and if New Brunswick ever loses that fish, I don't know what you'll have left. The rivers will look good, but that's about all they'll be good for. It would be New Brunswick's greatest loss.'57

This passage concludes the "It's time to talk about sharing" feature article which was considered at length in the analysis of sourcing. It uses a lionized sports hero to drive home the nobility of the angler's cause. Few public figures of Williams' stature give much thought to New Brunswick's local issues. Fewer still make passionate dying pleas about them. It is not only because of his renown that Ted Williams' humanization is notable, but it makes it especially so. He is an angler who is humanized by his deathbed plea. The emotion of the plea (along with Williams' considerable status) makes the cause worthy of sympathy.

57. Philip Lee, "It's Time To Talk About Sharing," The New Brunswick Telegraph- Journal, January 13 2000. 92

Yet the humanization (and valourization) of the angler is not unique to archetypal sporting heroes like Williams. Consider the humanization in Philip Lee's August 21,

1999 "Poachers Reign on N.B. Rivers." In this feature article, a young angler named

Danny Porter was on his way to fish when he found what appeared to be an incident of salmon poaching using a weighted drift net in a pool on the Nashwaak, a tributary of the

Saint John which edges the Miramichi watershed. The feature was written in the context of neoliberal rollback, and the changes to the regulatory regime permeate the article's tone. Lee emphasizes that the DFO:

has experienced 'program review' which is bureaucratic doublespeak for budget cutting. The Fisheries and Oceans enforcement program in the Maritimes lost about 20 per cent of its budget and more than 30 wardens during program review.

This is supported with a quote from Bernard Duffy a "long-time river conservationist from Renous" who said that "the chances of getting caught poaching are about the same as winning the lottery."59 There is a sense of lament for the loss of these wardens and the federal government's resulting ineffective monitoring of the river. The DFO's suggested solution is in line with neoliberal metalogic which encourages the assumption of governmental responsibilities by volunteers or third parties in order to minimize public

58. Philip Lee, "Poachers Reign on NB Rivers," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, August 21 1999. 59. Philip Lee, "Poachers Reign on NB Rivers," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, August 21 1999. 93

expenditures. Witten et al. termed this to be "community responsibilization." The invitation to this "responsibilisation" can be observed in comments that DFO spokesman

Bob Allain made to the Tele graph-Journal. He stresses the potential for "volunteers" and privately employed wardens to fill the gap. He says that "community based watershed management groups must begin to play a larger role in protecting rivers with forces of volunteer wardens."61

The recreational fishing NGOs are not represented as being able to easily fill this role. They would need government money, and they seem relatively adept at obtaining this money. ASF president Bill Taylor seems to agree in principle with Allain, saying that "community volunteer groups must become more involved in protection," but believes that "there is nowhere near enough resources." In a variety of situations this type of funding has been requested. The South Esk hatchery was sold to the MWMC for the paltry sum of one dollar in 1997, after which it would receive federal and provincial funding to carry out its operations. For example, on January 13, 2005 it received $1.5 million grant from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

60 . K. Witten, R. Kearns, N. Lewis, and H. Coster," Educational restructuring from a community viewpoint: a case study of school closure from Invercagill, New Zealand," Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 21, (2003): 203-223. 61. Philip Lee, "Poachers Reign on NB Rivers," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, August 21 1999. 62. Derwin Gowan, "Miramichi Salmon Center Gets 1.5 Million," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, January 13 2005. 94

In a June 2004 article in the Telegraph-Journal, the ASF's Bill Taylor, "looking to the federal government, not just for support, but for action" advocated for $50 million of federal government money to save the salmon, arguing that the size of the recreational salmon fishery would make it a worthwhile investment. In this case, the headline was a far cry from the rosy picture painted by Bird when was seeking to attract fishers to the river.63 It screamed "Wild Atlantic Salmon 'headed for oblivion'." The $50 million was not forthcoming, but within a year a $30 million fund called the Atlantic Salmon

Endowment Fund was set up.64 In its first annual report its chair, Remi Bujold, thanks the

ASF for leadership in ensuring the fund became a reality.

It would not have been possible without the leadership of the Atlantic Salmon Federation and the tireless efforts of many local, grassroots, conservation organizations. The dedication of these groups in writing countless letters and in arranging dozens of meetings with MPs underscores the broad support and tremendous need for this program.65

Letter writing and lobbying no doubt go a long way, particularly with the high level connections which many in the ASF and MSA's prestigious membership list have.

A positive public image for recreational fishers only complements these efforts, and sympathetic treatment from a media monopoly can cultivate this image. Humanizing

63. Adam Clymer, "The April Wind is not the Only Thing Biting," The New York Times, April 29 2006. 64. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, "Funding Announcements- Atlantic Salmon Endowment Fund- February 24, 2005," www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/media/infocus- alaune/2005/20050223/funding_7-eng.htm. 65. Remi Bujold, "Message from the Chair," in 2007 Annual Report: The Atlantic Salmon Conservation Foundation, www.ascf- fcsa. ca/english_site/reports/ASCF_AR_2007_EN.pdf 2. 95

"worthy victims" as Porter is humanized in Lee's "Poachers Reign on NB Rivers" is one

part of making recreational fishers into sympathetic figures. In that article, Porter is

described by Lee as being "shaken and deeply concerned for the future of the river. These

are fish that aren't seeding a river that's in desperate shape. What do you do? You feel

helpless."

Both Porter's spoken words and Lee's written ones humanize the angler and

evoke pathos for his noble plight. Lee writes of Porter:

returned to his car and (...) called the Department of Fisheries and Oceans office in Fredericton. He waited in the parking lot at a nearby convenience store for a return call. About 25 minutes later, a warden called back, agreed that they had probably happened upon a couple of poachers, but said that it was dark and too late to do anything about it.66

The favourable portrayal of Porter further extends to his knowledge of the Nashwaak

River. He is said to know immediately that he was being misled about the existence of a

bridge in the brief conversation which he had with the suspected poacher as he passed on

an ATV. This is because he "has been fishing the Nashwaak since he was a child."67 In

this article he is a very sympathetic figure. Knowledgeable and noble, he seeks to co­

operate with an impotent regulatory regime which is unable to mobilize an effective

response to the good information which he has provided to them. Responsible fishermen

66. Philip Lee, "Poachers Reign on NB Rivers," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, August 21 1999. 67. Philip Lee, "Poachers Reign on NB Rivers," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, August 21 1999. 96

like Porter are represented as an existential contribution to conservation whose mere presence is a contribution to the species' salvation.

Anglers and their ideas have repeatedly been represented as a solution to decline.

Alternatively, given that anglers take thousands of fish from the river each year, angling could be considered as one part of an overexploitation problem.68 The fact that there have been a significant number of recreational fishers bringing in a catch makes this worth considering, but the continuation of a recreational fishery of a species which is acknowledged to be fragile and the resistance to placing a cap upon the number of fishing licenses issued drives the point home.

Still, in the Telegraph-Journal the case for angling has repeatedly been made by journalists and NGOs alike. In August 1999, Lee argued that "anglers are the best protection against poaching."69 MSA president Bud Bird has been among the most vocal to speak in praise of angling. Through the Telegraph-Journal he has been given the platform to assert, without criticism or a balancing of perspectives, that "the salmon angling community has demonstrated high levels of conservation concern that give promise and hope for keeping our rivers alive," that "responsible anglers can help provide almost complete coverage of the watershed if allowed and encouraged to do so,"

68. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, "Five-year (2008-2012) Integrated Management Plan for Gulf Region Atlantic Salmon Stocks," 12. 69. Philip Lee, "Day closure of salmon fishery endangers Miramichi stock: angler," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, August 2 1999. 97

that the vacuum left by government cuts "must be filled by the presence of angling conservationists," that "angling presence on a river is a very critical part of keeping a river well protected," that angling "is the first line of defense against poaching," that the

ASF "has long been the foundation of the international spirit of conservation for salmon," and that "if we can't save the Atlantic salmon, then we are liable to be damned in almost everything we do." 70

With an orator's flair for the dramatic, the former Progressive Conservative MLA and MP seems to be at least somewhat prone to hyperbole. Some of the headlines which lead these stories are also dramatic. "Day closure of salmon fishery endangers Miramichi

Stock" and "Restrictions Will Open River to Poachers" are both examples which

71 reinforce the notion that anglers are a positive force for conservation on the river. The former implies that to stop anglers from removing fish from the river will hurt those fish

70. Philip Lee, "Day closure of salmon fishery endangers Miramichi stock: angler," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, August 2 1999; Philip Lee, "Restrictions will open Miramichi to poachers: group," The New Brunswick Tele graph-Journal, August 3 2009; Don Richardson, "Anglers urged to show 'leadership by example' in saving salmon," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, February 10 1998; Alan White, "Miramichi Management Plan is proving elusive," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, February 9 1998; Alan White, "Miramichi Management Plan is proving elusive," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, February 9 1998; Glen Allen, "Salmon Federation names complex after first president," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, November 7 1998; Alan White, "Miramichi Management Plan is proving elusive," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, February 9 1998. 71. Philip Lee, "Day closure of salmon fishery endangers Miramichi stock: angler," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, August 2 1999; Philip Lee, "Restrictions will open Miramichi to poachers: group," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, August 3, 2009. 98

and the latter states yet more directly that restricting anglers "will open the river to poachers."72

The pattern continues with Don Richardson's 1998 article "Miramichi Anglers

Plan Voluntary Restrictions." Richardson opens the article by proclaiming that "salmon anglers on the Miramichi River are banding together to regulate themselves, rather than waiting for federal bureaucrats to do it for them." Again this ascribes a sort of nobility to anglers. Richardson goes on to note solidarity and unanimity among all resource users, which seems unlikely. Overall, the reporting seems generally supportive of the voluntary conservation measure. Bud Bird is quoted, again as the only source consulted:

We all believe that conservation has to be proactive, not reactive. You will see in our announcement [today] that we are taking steps to fulfill that mandate.(...) What you are going to see is a total approach to watershed management for the entire river. This is how we are going to save the salmon - we can't do it on a global level, so we will have to do it one river at a time.74

The positive representations of angling extend even beyond contributions to fisheries. In a July 25, 2008 story, Benjamin Shingler celebrates the economic contributions of angling to New Brunswick's economy. As would be expected, he lauds

72. Philip Lee, "Restrictions will open Miramichi to poachers: group," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, August 3 2009. 73. Don Richardson, "Miramichi Anglers Plan Voluntary Restrictions," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, April 2 1998. 74. Don Richardson, "Miramichi Anglers Plan Voluntary Restrictions," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, April 2 1998. 99

angling as "an important part of the province's tourism trade," even citing statistics that

10% of Canadian visitors and 7% of American visitors went fishing while in New

Brunswick.75 Yet this article, titled "A business deal runs through it" has less to do with

economic spin-off, and more to do with the high level business transactions that wealthy

anglers make while casting flies on the river. Shingler begins the article by using an

Irving business myth to show the importance of fishing to the dealings of the province's

elite.

A few days at a fishing lodge has long been recognized as a great way to broker a deal. K.C. Irving once said, or so the story goes, that he sold more pulp and paper on the Restigouche River in summer than at any other time in the year. While the forestry industry may not be booming like it once was, New Brunswick's fishing lodges continue to serve as a site for business associates to broker a deal.76

Like the other articles, headlines and quotations considered here, a key component

of this article's message is that angling is a good thing. It is represented as being good not only for anglers but as being good for all. This includes the general public and the province's economy, but also, somewhat counter-intuitively, salmon. It is a worthy

cause, and anglers are deserving of sympathy for their victimization in fisheries decline.

This is similar to the association of Irving companies with positive events during a strike

at their refinery which Steuter identifies:

75. Benjamin Shingler, "A Business Deal Runs Through it," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, July 25 2008. 76. Benjamin Shingler, "A Business Deal Runs Through it," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, July 25 2008. 100

One of the legitimation strategies used by the Irving-owned media in their coverage of the strike was the singular association of the company with "good news." Thus, what was good for the company was invariably connected to what was good for New Brunswickers.

As represented in the Telegraph-Journal, angling deserves your sympathy. It is the only possible solution, or at least the most obvious one, to the problem of resource decline.

The groups' message has taken various forms, but its essence is virtually always identical.

Angling has inevitably become caught up in the decline of the wild Atlantic salmon, but angling is something to be celebrated, not to be condemned. It is a solution, not a problem. It is, to borrow from Steuter, "good news."

The circumstances of anglers' victimization are considerably different than victims who suffer violence at the hands of an enemy state, as in Herman and Chomsky's conceptualization of the idea. As a result, they do not fit neatly into their idea of who the worthy victim will be, but in a media monopoly this is not necessary. Without an antithetical voice to contradict their representation as victims, or to highlight more equitable conservation strategies, the role of victim for the angler can be cultivated by a process similar to how victims of repression at the hands of an enemy state are lionized.

That is, to humanize their plight and create sympathy for it.

As opposed to anglers, who fit only into the role of worthy victims with a few qualifiers, the plight of New Brunswick Natives fits much more directly into Herman and

77. Steuter, "Beneath the fold," 21. 101

Chomsky's conceptualization of the unworthy victim. Natives have been the frequent victims of the Canadian state and have received little sympathy, and even frequent contempt, for their plight. New Brunswick Natives have been oppressed by a state which

New Brunswick partially constitutes and actively participates in. New Brunswick Natives thus fit far more directly into the unworthy victim role as Herman and Chomsky conceptualized it, as being a dissenter who creates difficulty for a government which is considered legitimate. Of course, in this case study, all Native actions have been legal and could hardly even be termed as civil disobedience. Yet since Natives have been represented as being not only dissenting but law-breaking and disruptive, the construction of the unworthy victim seems appropriate.

In the conservation and Native rights discourse examined in this research, New

Brunswick Natives have often been associated with causing the decline of salmon when they have been a minor factor in the decline of a species whose far-reaching life cycle gives it a chance of being disrupted in a variety of places. This is incongruent with the fact that fewer fish were allocated through Native quotas than recreational fishers take.

Salmon further risk being caught as by-catch, being intentionally caught in Greenland's commercial salmon fishery (which existed for more about half of the time period examined here, until 2002) and being disrupted by rising sea temperatures or increased 102

freshwater acidity. From the international waters trawled by factory ships in the

Atlantic to isolated salmon pools in the sparsely populated forests of New Brunswick

Appalachia, salmon pass through broad swaths of water where many fates can befall them.

Very different representations of those who suffer as a result of the salmon resource's decline can be observed in the Telegraph-Journal's coverage. On the one hand, anglers are represented as "worthy victims," responsible people caught up in circumstances beyond their control. On the other hand Natives are represented as being unworthy victims of decline. Insofar as Natives are discussed in the Telegraph-Journal it was usually related to the perception of over-fishing or the practice of fishing methods disapproved of by anglers. In this coverage, some loaded words are used. The always quotable Bud Bird provides a jumping off point for exploring the Native place in this discourse of victimization. Bird frames Native food fisheries allocations as "preposterous and unrealistic."79 Again, the MSA official is treated as an authority on Native issues. In this case, his word choice implies irresponsibility. Bird's rationale for this is not clear, but it is worth noting that he had two years earlier lauded the Miramichi's abundance of

78. Atlantic Salmon Federation, "A Chronology of Atlantic Salmon Management in Canada Since 1966," www.asf.ca/docs/uploads/buyouts2.pdf. 79. Philip Lee, "It's Time To Talk About Sharing," The New Brunswick Telegraph- Journal, January 13 2000. 103

fish. According to the DFO's counts, salmon returns on the Miramichi were not down substantially in the intervening years.81 Some counting stations even had increased fish count numbers. By Bird's logic, there are enough fish for unlimited numbers of anglers, but smaller Native fisheries allocations for impoverished communities are unacceptable and are presented in language that implies their responsibility for the fishery's decline.

This language is relatively mild in comparison to that used in other coverage of

Native fishers. For example, Native gill nets are labelled as "vicious, indiscriminate killers." This seems to associate a malicious intent with a traditional Mi'kmaq fishing method. This particular insinuation even uses words which recall the language used in previous eras when Natives were routinely portrayed as "savages." While gill nets do lack some advantages of the trap nets, language like "indiscriminate killer" associates

Native fisheries with a desire to destroy the resource.

Further, the exercise of rights by Natives is subtly and ambiguously associated with poaching. In at least one case where Natives were acting within their rights, the

2007 incident involving St. Mary's Maliseet considered earlier, it was implied that the exercise of these rights is illegal. Another example of this is a July 2, 2004 article which

80. Adam Clymer, "The April Wind is not the Only Thing Biting," The New York Times, April 29 2006. 81. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, "Cumulative Counts: As of July 15, 2009," www.glf.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/os/asir-risa/count-compte-e.php?periodE=0715&groupE=l. 82. Mark Reid, "Gill net crackdown pushed: Opponents call practice 'vicious'," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, October 10 2001. 104

encourages anglers (and others) to be vigilant about reporting poaching. It labels Red

Bank and Sunny Corner as being two sites where poaching is occurring. The name

"Red Bank" refers not only to a location on the river; it is also the English language name for the Metepenagiag Mi'kmaq' community. Sunny Corner is the location immediately opposite Metepenagiag. This is one of only two First Nations whose contemporary lands are located immediately on the Miramichi river system.

Natives are nowhere mentioned in the article, but it seems to imply that Natives are poaching. The MSA is quoted as saying that "Red Bank/Sunny Corner area is being heavily poached and buyers of this stolen fish could find themselves in hot water" and "as

Atlantic salmon numbers improve on the Miramichi River there is an increase in the number of illegal nets being set."85 The question of who the stolen fish had belonged to in the first place is an enigmatic one that is beyond the arc of this argument, but an increase in nets is certainly possible. Still, it seems odd to incite vigilance about illegal nets at one of the places where legal Native nets are most likely to be found. It is possible that this type of incitement to vigilance about poaching in the area of a Native community could

83. The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, "Don't purchase illegal salmon, group urges," July 4 2004. 84. Eel Ground is the other. Still other Mi'kmaq' have been forced onto reserves such as the coastal Burnt Church reserve which is located away from the river system. More recently the St. Mary's Maliseet Band has fished the Miramichi's waters, which are outside of their traditional lands on the Saint John River. The Saint John River today has four dams along its course which have all but destroyed salmon's niche in the river. 85. The New Brunswick Tele graph-Journal, "Don't purchase illegal salmon, group urges," July 4 2004. 105

lead anglers to believe that Metepenagiag's exercise of fishing rights using gill nets is not legal, when in fact it is.

The linking of Natives with irresponsible fishing practices in this conservation and

Native rights discourse is stronger in some cases than in others, but reporting on Native fishers universally lacks the sympathy which characterizes coverage of anglers. Far from being publicly lauded, Native fisheries are represented as a threat or as illegal. Further, it is important to note that Natives are never humanized in the newspaper's reporting. No human interest stories about Natives have been included in this analysis because there were none in the research sample.86 Only one Native person who is not acting as an official capacity is mentioned in any of the Telegraph-Journal articles which I reviewed:

Merle Martin of Eel Ground First Nation. Martin is mentioned only very briefly in an article about the MSA's hatchery program titled "Fishermen are giving back to the river."

The article openly celebrates anglers' contributions to conservation and Martin is quoted as a subordinate working for anglers in their attempts to re-stock the Miramichi using the

South Esk Hatchery.87

86. This is not to say that human interest stories on Natives are never printed in the Telegraph-Journal, or that the newspaper takes a broadly anti-Native position. Coverage of other issues which are more sympathetic to Native stances on those issues would only serve to strengthen the arguments made here. This would emphasize the special place that salmon holds in the newspaper's reporting and editorialization. 87. Philip Lee, "Fishermen are giving back to river," The New Brunswick Telegraph- Journal, November 9 1999. 106

Among the articles considered, there are no Native "Danny Porters" who nobly defend salmon, no compelling stories of youth embracing traditional conservation ethics that might equally well be the guiding light to the salvation of a species. This is not likely to be because such people do not exist. It is much more likely because they simply have

OQ not been covered in local media. In spite of centuries of Native marginalization in New

Brunswick which is being post-colonially reconstituted on this and other contemporary issues, Natives are not portrayed as having worthiness as victims. Worse, Natives are represented as being unworthy victims. Similar to the angler being represented as an existential saviour, the Native is represented as an existential threat. Natives have been associated with poaching and with irresponsible fishing practices. Consider the bias evidenced in the headlines of the articles considered here: "Natives challenge limitations of salmon fishing rights" and "Micmacs are quick to set traps," which portray Natives as alternately belligerent or imprudently hasty.89

This is in spite of having been at least equally victimized by the recent decline of the salmon resource upon which they depend for a part of their nutrition, and historically excluded from commercial fisheries and most other lucrative aspects of the province's

88. The segregation of the reserve system may be a contributing factor to this oversight. Native communities are largely out of sight and out of mind in New Brunswick, though perhaps less so than in some other parts of Canada. St. Mary's Maliseet First Nation in the heart of the city of Fredericton is one notable example of visibility. 89. Chris Morris, "Natives challenge limitations of salmon fishing rights," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, October 4 2007; Lisa Hrabluk, "Micmacs are quick to set traps," The New Brunswick Tele graph-Journal, September 22 1999. 107

economy. In this discourse of victimization, New Brunswick Natives' legally affirmed right to fish the river is linked with poaching. Descriptions of traditional fishing methods being "vicious killers" recall the racist language of imperialism used to represent Natives as "savages" in centuries past.90 As per the Propaganda Model, New Brunswick Natives have been made into the unworthy victims of resource decline.

Giving voice to the stories of New Brunswick Natives in more constructive ways could make for compelling newspaper copy. It could rouse sympathy, or could at least humanize Natives. In a province where fishing in its various guises is such an important part of Native and non-Native cultures alike, fisheries would be as good a topic as any to begin the humanization of the subaltern. In an era of budding reconciliation between

Canada's Natives and non-Natives, historical recognition could be a timely catalyst to an improvement in complex relationships between these groups, however minor an improvement this recognition would bring.

It is not in the interests of the conservation vision promoted by the MSA, ASF and of the Irving family members who form a part of their membership and own the press to give voice to victims of historical and contemporary oppression who may seek justice or restitution. Humanizing New Brunswick Natives and their all too inhumane treatment by non-Native society would take what is being represented as a simple matter of

90. Mark Reid, "Gill net crackdown pushed: Opponents call practice 'vicious'," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, October 10 2001. 108

conservation and complicate it by illuminating the historical race relationships which are being reconstituted in contemporary relationships to the regulatory regime which exercises power over New Brunswick's society and resources. Thus, it remains in the interests of Irving media and of anglers to humanize their own stories and disseminate their own interpretations of events in the media. This ensures that their particular epistemological understandings of events will remain uncritically buried within the media's representations of them. The stories that undermine these aims need not be refuted if they are simply left untold, and a media monopoly retains the ability to leave them as such.

Favourable treatment in Irving-owned media has privileged the conservation epistemologies of sport fishers over Native epistemologies in discourses of conservation and victimization in New Brunswick's principle print media source. This has allowed the

MSA and ASF to disseminate their views more effectively and to portray these views in a positive light while negatively portraying or entirely omitting those of New Brunswick

Natives. As a result the recreational fishing NGOs notion of conservation, and of who should enact it, may become hegemonic through its favourable treatment by media in the province. 109

Chapter 4

Pedagogy and/in Discourse, conservation conversations with youth in New Brunswick and beyond: an examination of discourse embedded in the Atlantic Salmon Federation's Fish Friends curriculum

Even in a province where a media monopoly wields discursive power which is

without parallel in the developed world, the limitations of the media's ability to influence

public opinion will be limited by various factors.1 One limitation is public schools'

education curricula. If students are taught to be critical of environmentalisms then it will

be more difficult to shape public opinion. So, when it comes to influencing the public

perception of fisheries, the interests of promoting recreational fishing as a method of

conservation are best served by instilling the values of recreational fishing at a young age.

To broadly instil the recreational fishing NGOs' vision of conservation, there is a

need for the general public to know and support this vision. There is no better place to

gain this support than with youth. Accordingly, the MSA and ASF have developed a

number of educational programs designed for use in local schools. Officially, it is the

1. Senate Committee on Transportation and Communications, "2006 Senate Committee Report on Transportation and Communications, Volume 1," www.parl.gc.ca/39/1 /parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/tran-e/rep-e/repfinjun06voll -e.htm, 12. 110

ASF which runs the Fish Friends educational programs, but the MSA also lists it in its online listing of its own programs. Fish Friends is included in the grade 6 Health

Curriculum for New Brunswick students.3 I will be highlighting that many of the philosophies which the NGOs have been able to articulate uncontested through their use as a presumptively accurate source by the Telegraph-Journal also form a part of this public school curriculum's contents.

The curricular materials are freely available for anyone to download on the ASF website as a PDF document. The materials to raise fry, including an aquarium and fish eggs, have a cost of $1500, but it is not necessary to invest in these materials to teach most units in the curriculum. The program is targeted at schools within the Atlantic salmon's historic wild range within North America, from Connecticut in the South to

Labrador in the North.4 For the purposes of this research, it is most relevant how the epistemologies embedded in these materials relate to New Brunswick.

Speaking to Halifax's The Chronicle-Herald in June 2000, ASF President Bill

Taylor claimed that the Atlantic salmon lacked the cute factor of other "cuddly"

2. Miramichi Salmon Association, "Programs: Miramichi Salmon Association," www. miramichisalmon. ca/programs. html. 3. New Brunswick Department of Education, "Health Education Curriculum: Grade 6," www. gnb. ca/0000/publications/curric/hcgr6.pdf, 23. 4. The actual historic range is slightly larger than the one which they target, extending to New York's Hudson River in the South. Perhaps this is because there would be little chance of salmon being re-established in the heavily polluted Hudson River today. Ill

endangered species which Canadians spend money to save, such as pandas or tigers.

Taylor went on to say:

If we can't save the Atlantic salmon, what chance do we have to save the cod, the flounder, the crab or other less romantic and mystical species? If any fish can capture the hearts and imaginations of Eastern Canadians, it has got to be the salmon. And if we can't save the salmon, that's a sign that everything else is going to go down the tubes.

It seems to be accurate that even in the Atlantic salmon's historic range many do not feel an instant connection that they might to these more "cuddly" species. This problem is not unique to salmon. Steve Hinchliffe has noted a propensity for the "ecological prioritization of megafauna and charismatic and exotic creatures" in conservation programs over "broader assemblages or ecologies."6

In spite of salmon's importance to such broader assemblages or ecologies and

(potentially) to humans, the fish do not seem to evoke the pathos that seems so effortless for species like the harp seal. Gathering popular support for a conservation vision based on salmon's charisma alone is likely to be a difficult task. One way of potentially overcoming this obstacle is by creating a connection between people and fish, through education focused on the "broader assemblages and ecologies" of which salmon are a part. The ASF has taken steps to forge these connections in part through the

5. Chris Morris, "Salmon lack cute factor, activists say," The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, June 9 2000. 6. Steve Hinchliffe, "Reconstituting Nature Conservation: Toward a Careful Political Ecology," Geoforum, (39), (2008): 89. 112

dissemination of curricular materials that seek to educate on river ecologies, the salmon's complex life cycle, its local economic value and through classroom pisciculture with the aim of releasing salmonid fry into the wild.

The elementary school version of the ASF's educational programme is known as

Fish Friends. Its first edition was developed by the ASF between 1992 and 1995 with consultation with teachers in the four Atlantic Provinces, and co-operation from the DFO and the United States National Marine Fisheries Service. It is also administered by the

ASF.8 The program targets Grades 4-6. It is an interdisciplinary curriculum which incorporates "social studies, language arts, math and science."9 It seeks to "persuade tomorrow's adults to care enough never to poach, pollute waters or destroy habitat."10 The curricular materials have been intended for use in the classrooms of both Atlantic Canada and New England, but they have been designed specifically around existing Atlantic

Canadian educational mandates.11

7. Atlantic Salmon Federation, "Fish Friends: Brochure," www. asf. ca/docs/uploads/jHshfriendsbrochure.pdf. 8. Atlantic Salmon Federation, "Fish Friends: Roles and Responsibilities," www. asf. ca/docs/uploads/jHshfriends_resp.pdf. 9. Atlantic Salmon Federation, "About Fish Friends," www.asf.ca/docs/uploads/asf-ff- curriculum.pdf, v. 10. Atlantic Salmon Federation, "Fish Friends Foreword," www.asf.ca/docs/uploads/asf- jf-curriculum.pdf iii.

11. Atlantic Salmon Federation, "About Fish Friends," www.asf.ca/docs/uploads/asf-ff- curriculum.pdf, 6. 113

The Fish Friends curriculum has been used in over 700 schools throughout the

Connecticut to Labrador historic range. The copy of the materials that I have reviewed for this thesis is the second edition. This revision was issued four years after the Marshall decision. It should be noted that subsequent to publication, the curriculum functioned as something of a working document, and was updated for four years. Its current form was reached in 2007. However, personal communication with the ASF has indicated that in spite of this evolution, it has remained fundamentally unchanged since its inception and that changes to it were cosmetic.14

Fish Friends encourages children to consider the implications that their own lives and choices have on the ecosystems which surround and pass through their towns and villages. I view these aspects of the curriculum positively. What I criticize are the curriculum's representations of the role in conservation which is (or should be) played by recreational fisheries. I posit that, similar to its treatment in the Telegraph-Journal, the role of sport fishing in this ASF vision of the region's ecologies and economies is represented in overly positive and sympathetic ways. At the same time, Native fisheries,-

12. Atlantic Salmon Federation, Fish Friends Brochure, www. asf. ca/docs/pages/JHshfriendsbrochure.pdf. 13.1 had planned to contrast the older curriculum with the newer version, but have not been able to locate a copy of the older version. Personal communication with the organization has indicated that the two versions identical in all substantial ways. 14. This communication came in the form of an email which was sent by Tom Moffatt, the ASF's Education and Communications Specialist in response to an email query which was made through the "Contact Us" feature on their official website. 114

-while not completely erased—are treated as being of tangential importance and are not given due consideration in discussing the future of conservation policy which will affect not only New Brunswick's salmon, but also its people, Native and non-Native alike.

Exploring the Curriculum

Some chapters of the Fish Friends curriculum are dedicated to understanding the geography of the Atlantic salmon's complex life cycle. While some buried epistemologies could likely be teased out of the approaches used, there is relatively little scope for this in comparison to chapters which focus explicitly on social studies. I focus on the "Sustainability", "Stewardship" and "Our Changing Role" chapters. These are where embedded discourses have the most evident parallels to those used by the

Telegraph-Journal. Further, it is in these chapters the rationalizations behind the discourse are most clearly articulated.

The Fish Friends curriculum's "Lesson 9: Sustainability" chapter is the section in which the economic aspects of recreational fisheries are most explicitly considered. The economic benefits of recreational fishing are discussed within the theoretical framework of the three legged stool model of sustainable development. It is a framework in which economy is understood to be a purely monetary entity. Semiotically, this model represents all economic benefits by a "$" symbol, as pure cash. A broader concept of the management of a household, one that could incorporate a more involved relationship with 115

the land and water of New Brunswick, is not considered. The possibility of alternative economies is not paid even lip service. Yet as Gibson-Graham has noted, alternatives to

i c capitalist economies are not some abstract impossibility, but are everywhere around us.

For this case study Gibson-Graham's idea is noteworthy. As the Miramichi's salmon fisheries exist now, the Native salmon fisheries on the Miramichi are food and spiritual purposes fisheries in accordance with the Sparrow decision. This coheres (at least somewhat) with the ideas of managing a household or alternative economies. Still, within the three legged stool framework, the economic benefits of the recreational fishery are represented in ways that closely parallel the representation of these issues in New

Brunswick's print media. They are seen only for how they can contribute to formal economies in the province through tourism. Overlooked are the roles that the salmon fisheries can and do play in sustaining Native people, culture and communities.

The curriculum's intended audience means that the economic rationalizations for sport fishing must differ in presentation, if not in essence. The ideas must be repackaged to appeal to young minds, or at least to make them easily understood by those minds.

Even so, the crux of what is being promoted remains basically unchanged. Consider this mathematical word problem and the ideas that are embedded in it:

15. JK Gibson-Graham, A Postcapitalist politics, (Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2006). Sportfishing helps the economy of the four Atlantic provinces. It creates jobs and brings money to the area. How much money? How many jobs? Here's some information to help you answer these questions. It's difficult to know exactly how many anglers there are and how much money they spend. These figures are estimates. The number of anglers in the Atlantic Provinces: New Brunswick 80,000 Nova Scotia 68,000 Newfoundland 140,000 Prince Edward Island 12,000 Total... 16 This data set prepares students to answer the following questions which accompany it: In the Atlantic region, each angler spends an average of $850 per year. What is the total amount of money spent by anglers?17 And For every 1000 anglers, about 23 jobs are created. How many jobs are created by sportfishing?18

Students are here asked to calculate not only the amount of money spent by anglers in the Atlantic Provinces, but also what economic multiplier effect that angling will have in terms of job creation. No mention is made that many of the jobs which will be created in the industry are only seasonal jobs such as guide work. If answered

16. Atlantic Salmon Federation, "Sustainability" in Fish Friends, www. asf. ca/docs/uploads/asf-ff-curriculum.pdf, 69. 17. Atlantic Salmon Federation, "Sustainability" in Fish Friends, www. asf. ca/docs/uploads/asf-jf-curriculum.pdf, 69. 18. Atlantic Salmon Federation, "Sustainability" in Fish Friends, www. asf. ca/docs/uploads/asf-ff-curriculum.pdf, 69. 117

correctly, the numbers which the students will find will be $255 million and 6900 people.

At face value, such large numbers invite the student to conclude an inflated importance of the recreational fishery. None of them after all, are likely to have had experience in handling hundreds of millions of dollars. An understanding that a large portion of that

$850 spent by anglers on average will be distributed along the global supply chain of the purchased items would be too much to ask of the average (or even exceptional) student at the grade 4-6 level.

Asking a student of Fish Friends to take this problem set one step further could guide the student toward an entirely different set of conclusions. Below, I calculate the percentage of the Atlantic Provinces gross GDP which the $255 million accounts for, using 2006 numbers.19

$255 000 000 / $86 416 000 000 = 0.0029 .0029 x 100 = 0.29% At less than three tenths of one percent of the regional GDP, the stated economic value of recreational fisheries would by this particular framing seem to be minimal. Using instead the DFO's number of a $32 million contribution to the regional economy would make the

19. Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, "Ontario: A dynamic economy," www.2ontario.com/welcome/bcei_201.asp. . I use this 2006 data as the 2007 publication date of the final version of this curriculum would be most likely to use those numbers if it was up to date when published. 118

number just .0037%. Taking the problem in either of these different directions might guide students away from concluding that recreational fisheries are crucial to the regional

91 economy overall, as the curriculum explicitly states at "Lesson 9's" conclusion. The framing of the question as it appears in the curriculum seems designed to lead students to conclude that recreational fisheries have a value to the regional economy that is much greater than they actually do. Through this failure to provide context to students, they are encouraged to think of the recreational fishery as being more important to the economic present and future of the region than it actually is. This is a comparable approach to that which was taken in the Telegraph-Journal. In the newspaper, Benjamin Shingler's "A business deal runs through it" emphasized the value of the fishery to completing high 99 level business contract negotiations which are intangible to most adults.

The way that this problem has been designed seems intended to guide students toward an over-valuation of the recreational fishery. No further problems are designed for students to assign financial value with any other access arrangements in fisheries.

Without the provision of context this representation plays out as a zero sum game, $255 million or no $255 million, 6900 jobs or no jobs at all. The fact that the majority of

20. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, "Five-year (2008-2012) Integrated Management Plan for Gulf Region Atlantic Salmon Stocks," www.glf.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fam- gpa/plans/ifmp _saumon-salmon-e.pdf. 21. Atlantic Salmon Federation, "Fish Friends, Lesson 9: Sustainability," www.asf.ca/docs/uploads/asf-ff-curriculum.pdf, 68. 22. Benjamin Shingler, "A Business Deal Runs Through it," The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, July 25 2008. 119

anglers are local residents who would likely spend much of this money locally in any scenario deserves some consideration. Neither are any other possibilities for access arrangements to the fisheries considered.

This problem was designed to reinforce the hegemonic position of one particular access arrangement in which the commerce involved in operating a recreational fishery is represented as being too important to the economy to be lost. The commercialization of

Native fisheries is not treated as being an option, presumably in the interests of conservation. Of course, there would be some economic value to closing the recreational fishery entirely and allowing limited Native commercial fisheries with a catch roughly equivalent to the recreational fishery's total allowable catch. With so few wild salmon remaining, the demand for the fish would likely be high, especially with the high-priced restaurants of Boston and New York being near enough to easily receive the fish while still fresh. This could bring Natives a source of much needed income and a measure of the independence which Noah Augustine hoped increased access to resources would bring to Natives. If the quota were low enough, a small but potentially lucrative commercial

Native fishery could be developed which put as little strain on salmon as the recreational fishery does. Of course, such an option is not considered.

23. The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, "Salmon anglers share the blame," October 13 2000. 24. The New Brunswick Telegraph Journal "Natives exploit new law of the land," February 7 1998. 120

Peck and Tickell provide a spatial way to understand why this is so. In "Local

Modes of Social Regulation?" Peck and Tickell write that factory closures in the North­ west of England are considered to be a price worth paying to control runaway inflation in the South-East. One disempowered area with economic problems is sacrificed for the sake of another, wealthier area which is better connected to power. Likewise in the case of New Brunswick, preserving the benefits of access for non-Natives off-reserve is given primary importance over achieving benefits for New Brunswick Natives on-reserve. The primary economic benefits of a limited commercial access arrangement for New

Brunswick Natives would be accrued almost exclusively by Natives on reserves, and at the same time non-Native businesses located off-reserve would suffer some financial loss as a result.

Both situations are created by and foster a "complementarity between processes of economic development on the one hand and mechanisms of social regulation on the other."26 In the case of New Brunswick, the incremental development of the economies of the province's First Nations is not seen as something worth sacrificing economic development elsewhere for, and thus such a potentiality is not discussed. As long as the terms of debate are dictated by non-Native media and knowledge production sources with vested interests in particular access arrangements, this is likely to be the case. To make

25. Jamie A. Peck and Adam Tickell, "Local Modes of Social Regulation? Regulation Theory, Thatcherism and Uneven Development," Geoforum, 23(2), (1992): 348. 26. Peck and Tickell, "Local Modes of Social Regulation?," 348. 121

such a sacrifice would disrupt the "set of cultural forms and practices that works to reinforce and naturalize the dominant social relations of production and reproduction."27

Subsequent to the original math problem there are further rationalizations as to why the recreational fishery is important. The economic benefits of the recreational fishery are further lauded and emphasized. The fishery is praised for "creating] employment and economic activity (...) Anglers spend money on many items including special clothing and footwear, food, accommodations, travel and fishing equipment. Jobs are created in providing all of these goods and services. Some people are also employed as guides for the anglers. Overall, the recreational fishery is an important source of economic activity in the Atlantic region." The curriculum is unequivocal in its support of recreational fishing, and extols its contributions to both economy and ecology.

The type of positive framing that the economics is approached with is not unique and not coincidental. The introduction to the sustainability chapter clearly indicates that the exercises which follow will not be critical of recreational fishing. As per the introduction, recreational fishing is a "healthy, outdoor pastime that lasts a lifetime. It develops and promotes awareness of freshwater habitat." This is followed by the recreational fisher being said to be "a source of critical information which is analyzed by fisheries scientists. The recreational fishery is also a source of social interaction among

27. Cindi Katz, "Vagabond Capitalism and the Necessity of Social Reproduction," Antipode, 33(4), 2001. 122

anglers and a sharing of great stories!" Here, as in Telegraph-Journal articles analyzed in the previous chapter, the role of the recreational fishery in conservation is emphasized.

Conservation and Control

Key to my research are the representations of conservation in these materials. The highlighting of the recreational fishery's economic benefits only provides a rationalization for what the actual articulation of fisheries management should be. Here, as in the Telegraph-Journal, recreational fisheries are favoured as solutions to the problems which are faced by salmon. The particular vision of conservation which Fish

Friends seeks to instil in youth invites scrutiny. At times, this prioritization encourages the conservation of salmon not only at the expense of Native fisheries but at the apparent expense of the environment more broadly.

In "Lesson 8: Our Changing Role" Students are offered up a case study called

"West River Dam." The fact scenario of the story somewhat mirrors the building of the

Mactaquac dam on the Saint John River. The Saint John is the most western major river system which is in New Brunswick's sole jurisdiction to dam. The treatment of the hypothetical dam in this lesson is nearly identical to that given to the Mactaquac dam in 123

Philip Lee's article on the benefits of dam breaching considered in the media analysis section of this research.

In the curriculum, the "West River Dam" case study is presented alongside a story called "White Buffalo Calf Woman" with a series of questions about the similarities and differences between the stories. Taken together, the moral seems to be that ecosystems are complex, interconnected systems. Recognizing this interconnectedness allowed the

Plains Natives in the "White Buffalo Calf Woman" story to have abundant food sources.

The failure to recognize it in the "West River Dam" story wrought the destruction of forests, farmland and fish. The stories seem to invite the conclusion that dams are bad, and should be breached. The ASF has advocated breaching and has participated in the

Kennebec restoration project after the breaching of the Edwards dam in Maine. On its website it highlights ASF research which criticizes the Mactaquac dam's disruption of

9Q salmon life cycles. Of the structure ASF president Bill Taylor has said:

We'd love to see Mactaquac out, there's no hope for restoring the river to former abundance with Mactaquac there.

Allowing the free flow of a river is represented here to be in the best interest of salmon and of the river as an ecological system. It is not my inclination to dispute this,

28. Philip Lee, "Example for New Brunswick seen in Maine's Kennebec experience," The New Brunswick Telegraph- Journal, July 3 1999. 29. Atlantic Salmon Federation, "Issues: Dams and Free Passage," www. asf. ca/issues.php ?id=9. 30. Philip Lee, "Example for New Brunswick seen in Maine's Kennebec experience," The New Brunswick Telegraph- Journal, July 3 1999. 124

and considerable research backs up this assertion. To breach or remove a dam however is not a decision without other environmental consequences which can extend beyond the immediate ecosystem, and these other consequences are substantially glossed over in Fish

Friends. The potential benefits of dams are not discussed. Hydroelectricity is a very low emissions source of energy. Hydroelectric stations which are already built and functioning are especially low emitting, as much of their carbon footprint has already been made.

Alternative sources of energy such as oil, natural gas and fossil fuels which would likely be used to replace the energy the dam produces are not discussed in the curriculum's case study. The benefits and detriments of dam breaching are not weighed against one another. Only the benefits are considered. The solution that is best for salmon is presented in an entirely positive light without representation of the complexities of dam

31. Patrick M. Kocobsky, Robert M. Ross and David S. Dropkin, " Prioritizing removal of dams for passage of diadromous fishes on a major river system," River Research and Applications, 25(2), (February 2009); JL Robbins and Lynne Y. Lewis, "Demolish it and They Will Come: Estimating the Economic Impacts of Restoring a Recreational Fishery," Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 44(6), (December 2008): 1488- 1499; Kelly O. Maloney, Hope R. Dodd, Steven E. Butler and David H. Wahl, "Changes in macroinvertebrate and fish assemblages in a medium-sized river following a breach of a low-head dam," Freshwater Biology, 53(5), (May 2008): 1055-1068; Steve Tuckerman and Bill Zawiski, "Case Studies of dam removal and TMDLs: Process and results," Journal of Great Lakes Research, 33, (2007): 103-116. 125

debates. This is of particular concern in the case of salmon, as even high ranking government officials have acknowledged that the effects of global climate change on the world's oceans have played some role in the decline of salmon stocks. These include former Liberal cabinet minister David Anderson, who has been responsible for both the

Environment and the DFO.32

Given the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change, the increased carbon footprint that accompanies the choice to increase emissions should be considered as a potential ecological impact of dam breaching. The pedagogy of Fish Friends is intended for youthful classrooms where students are, generally speaking, not yet intellectually mature enough to fully grasp the finer points of such a discussion. Still, some nuance would enrich the material. If it really were so consequence free to breach dams, it would be done far more frequently.

Moreover, in terms of the local economy it seems that breaching dams could have a negative impact. In this case study, as with the Mactaquac dam it seems to mirror, a substantial portion of the energy is exported to the Northeastern United States. Exported energy like the hypothetical electricity in question contributes to the local economy.

According to Export Development Canada, in 2006 energy exports accounted for more

32. The Vancouver Sun, "Obama's Climate Change Initiative Best Hope for Salmon," February 4 2009 126

than half of New Brunswick's total exports. This dwarfs the optimistic estimate of a

0.29% contribution of regional GDP which the curriculum's math problems calculated.

Volatility in natural gas prices is another potential implication. Given the price fluctuations which have seen significant spikes in delivery costs, conversion to natural gas would give the poor a greater burden in coping with elevated prices if the conversion was undertaken at a house by house level, as it was with the Maritimes-Northeast pipeline which already passes through New Brunswick. In a number of sections Fish Friends explicitly recognizes, and seeks to be sensitive to, inequities in wealth. It would be useful here to recognize the potential for an uneven distribution of consequences for the actions which are advocated.

If the generation of electricity was to be carried out by burning natural gas at newly constructed plants, this could elevate the cost of electricity production by increasing infrastructure expenditures and subjecting NB Power subscribers to market fluctuations. If market prices became were to become too high, a debate about increasing the burning of the low quality coal found in the province might be sparked. This scenario would be good for no one, except perhaps fish and anglers. Even in those cases, benefits of burning coal might only be temporary. This is not an apolitical approach to the subject

33. Export Development Canada, "New Brunswick Energy Exports see Strong Growth in 2006, says EDC," www.edc.ca/english/docs/news/2005/mediaroom_8027.htm; A substantial proportion of this export figure is petroleum from the Saint John refinery. In a more direct comparison, New Brunswick Energy exports account for 6.1% of the regional GDP. This is still a contribution dozens of times larger than recreational fishing. 127

of dams. Rather, the epistemologies buried within the materials quite clearly carry political approaches of the organizations which created them.

In giving an introduction to the curriculum, ASF president Bill Taylor elaborates on its aims:

I invite teachers to introduce Fish Friends to their students, and thereby involve youth in a lifelong commitment to the conservation of fish and to a sustainable environment.34

Here, Taylor articulates the intention to instil a commitment to conservation in youth, presumably to have some effect on society, to better it and to evolve it towards an incarnation which has a greater ecological consciousness than what currently exists. Yet, as I have illustrated, it is not just any conservation philosophy which is promoted in the curriculum. It is one which is not neutral, but rather incorporates particular values and promotes particular solutions to fisheries dilemmas.

As is so often the case, the word conservation is not just a word. Its meaning must be unpacked to more fully consider the implications of representing it as having a specific meaning in a specific context. In this case, consideration of the legal relevance of the word conservation to the current context of resource regulation and Native rights in New

Brunswick is necessary. Conservation is a polyvalent word which, since the Marshall II decision clarified the limitation of the rights affirmed by the Marshall I decision by

34. Atlantic Salmon Federation, "Foreword," in Fish Friends, www. asf. ca/docs/uploads/asf-ff-curriculum.pdf. 128

conservation measures, is one key to understanding what the future of Native fisheries in

New Brunswick will look like.

Explicit treatment of Native rights in the Fish Friends Curriculum

The Fish Friends curriculum devotes only one page to Natives' aboriginal and treaty rights and recent Supreme Court decisions. On this page, the curriculum acknowledges Native treaty rights as follows.

Aboriginal harvesters are aware of the growing pressures on our natural resources and they respect the need for conservation and management. They share the responsibility with non-Aboriginal harvesters to use methods and equipment that will not result in overfishing, and that are not harmful to the environment. Unfortunately, there are many misunderstandings about the fishing rights of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. This has resulted in anger, frustration and at times confrontation. Education efforts will help to resolve this dilemma.

This passage is notable for a number of reasons. The wording of the passage is ambiguous and it is possible to glean a number of different readings from it. Some of these readings are favourable to Natives and Native rights, others are not. One example of this can be observed in its opening words. "Aboriginal harvesters" are said to be aware of pressures on the resource. Read one way, this represents Natives as knowledgeable stewards. The sentence goes on to note that "they respect the need for conservation and management." This could be read as implying an acceptance by Natives of Canadian

35. Atlantic Salmon Federation, "Our Changing Role" in Fish Friends, www. asf. ca/docs/uploads/asf-ff-curriculum.pdf, 64. 129

government management. Such an acceptance is by no means a universal phenomenon.

Indeed, it was a rejection of the right of the federal government to manage Native fisheries that was at the core of the lobster conflicts of Esgenoopetitj (Burnt Church).

Similarly ambiguous passages with vastly different potential readings abound.

Near its end, the passage seems to acknowledge that Native rights have been misunderstood by non-Natives and that this causes "anger, frustration and at times confrontation." Read in this way, this appears to be a recognition not only of Native rights, but of some of the barriers to fully realizing them. That said, the indefinite wording of this passage opens it to a precisely opposite interpretation. It could be understood to imply that Natives don't fully understand their own fishing rights. Due to the contestation of Natives right to use gill nets, this possibility is noteworthy. Numerous times it was implied that gill net fishing was not a Native right, when it is.

This discourse is also identifiable earlier in this passage. There, the curriculum

states that Natives "share the responsibility with non-Aboriginal harvesters to use methods and equipment that will not result in over fishing, and that are not harmful to the environment." As in the Telegraph-Journal the expectation that Natives' will use the same fishing equipment as non-Natives can be identified. As per the Gladstone decision, this is not a requirement and the issue should be a moot point. Legally, no such responsibility exists. First Nations in New Brunswick have community quotas for salmon and the methods used to catch that quota is of little relevance. Of course, the term used in the curriculum is "responsibility." This does not imply that any legal wrong is necessarily being committed by Natives using fishing methods which recreational fishers disapprove of, but rather holds Native fishers to a particular moral code which is not their own.

36. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, "Five-year (2008-2012) Integrated Management Plan for Gulf Region Atlantic Salmon Stocks," 40-41; R. v. Gladstone, [1996] 2 Supreme Court Recorder 723. http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1996/1996rcs2-723/1996rcs2- 723.html. 131

Chapter 5

Conclusions

Through the widespread dissemination of their own educational materials in schools and the preferential treatment which they receive in the Telegraph-Journal, the

ASF and MSA recreational fishing NGOs are able to substantially saturate public discussions about salmon fisheries with their perspectives about issues ranging from appropriate fishing methods to fisheries economics to river ecologies. Favourable treatment in the Telegraph-Journal allows both organizations to get their views to press largely without criticism. In itself, this can be considered problematic, but the problem is greatly exacerbated by the media context of New Brunswick. The province has a print media monopoly, and because of this the balance lacking in the Telegraph-Journal's coverage of the Miramichi's salmon fishery is not provided by another newspaper with an opposing perspective. The existence of the CBC tempers this somewhat, but the domination of print media by Irving owned-sources means that debate can be largely one­ sided. 132

This is significant for a number of reasons. Stuart Soroka has written that environmental issues are topics which people have a tendency to rely heavily upon media to help them form their opinions.1 He argues that this reliance on media likely stems from the fact that environmental issues are typically not experienced in tangible ways. This observation has relevance to this case study. In spite of the high cultural value ascribed to salmon fishing in New Brunswick by the NGOs, the vast majority of people in New

Brunswick do not experience the recreational fishery in direct ways. Using 1999 numbers, less than 17,654 total licenses were issued to local residents from a population of approximately 700,000. This represents just 2.5% of the population. Even those who are obtaining these licenses may only be fishing for a few days out of each year on a small stretch of the river or one of its tributaries. Given such factors as some annual variation in peak migration times, this does not give the recreational fisherman a comprehensive idea of the overall state of the fishery. Thus, the vast majority of New

Brunswickers in the time period of the case study will have relied largely on received information like that conveyed through the Telegraph-Journal and Fish Friends curricular materials to form their opinions on salmon conservation.

In the research sample considered in this case study, the Tele graph-Journal and the Fish Friends curriculum recount only part of the reality and potentialities for the

1. Soroka, 279. 2. The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, "Salmon anglers share the blame," October 13 2000; Statistics Canada, "Population by religion, by province and territory (Census 2001)," www40. statcan. ca/l01/cst01/demo30a-eng. htm. Miramichi's salmon fishery. At times even the significance which Supreme Court decisions could or should have to this salmon fishery is conveniently omitted. The attention given by non-local media sources to New Brunswick's salmon is sporadic and somewhat sparse. This highlights the pre-eminent role that Irving-owned media, and particularly the Telegraph-Journal, has in framing environmental issues in New

Brunswick and influencing public opinion about them. While not quantified, the potential effects that this predomination of public discussion may have on public opinion are exacerbated by the ASF and MSA's propagation of very similar ideas in school curriculum materials used in the province.

People who have been taught the Fish Friends curriculum in school and rely on the Telegraph-Journal for information about Miramichi salmon fisheries will have read and heard very similar arguments about what is best for these fisheries repeatedly.

Without substantial debate occurring, they are less likely to be familiar with criticisms beyond those which they make themselves. Some will no doubt have ample criticisms, others likely will not.

Because of this, the saturation of the debate on this topic could contribute to creating a common sense notion of what the fishery is and should be. If, after considerable repetition of the NGOs ideas and the rationalizations for them, the ideas are widely accepted, then the NGOs may succeed in broadly burying their epistemological understanding of the fishery as a common sense notion of what it is and what it should be. 134

For those already largely in agreement with their viewpoint, they succeed in reinforcing and elaborating on the rationales behind it. The methods used in this research do not definitively show if and how this is occurring, but the findings highlight a capacity to disseminate information that could in turn influence public opinion.

The implications of the widespread acceptance of this view should be considered.

In 21st Century Canada, policy is not supposed to be made in a vacuum. Public opinion is supposed to be considered and influence policy's formulation. The DFO actively seeks public opinion in formulating fisheries policy.3 Influencing public opinion then, could impact how policy is actually made regarding the Miramichi's salmon fishery. In a worst case scenario, this could partially enclose the salmon resource from Natives and preclude their affirmed rights.

Alternatively, if the DFO is fulfilling its obligation to be responsive to Native rights, an adversarial public opinion could contribute to creating barriers to these rights actualization. A non-Native public which holds a pro-recreational fishing common-sense opinion of what is right for fisheries will likely be less co-operative than one which recognizes Native inherent and/or treaty rights.

The domination of discussion in these ways also forces Native participation in these discussions to take place on the terms set by the recreational fishing NGOs. Natives are asked to respond to questions within a frame of reference which the NGOs have

3. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, "Reports and Publications," www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/reports- rapports-eng. htm#n7. created from their epistemological understanding of fisheries. It is a frame of reference which serves the purposes of their vision for the Miramichi's salmon fisheries.

Responding to this vision can serve to legitimize it, particularly if the responses are conciliatory, as often they have been. In Peace, Power, Righteousness Taiaiake Alfred has noted that in such a situation:

The Native leader can only react to situations and issues that are determined by others. So it becomes a fact of life that leaders respond in sometimes predictable ways. (...) People [are] turned into the tools of their own oppression.4

In order to avoid these types of responses, a first step could be to create a context where

Native voices are better heard by the general public. While somewhat unlikely in New

Brunswick, this is necessary. This diversification does not necessarily have an explicitly

Native focus. A context of knowledge production which is not dominated to such a great extent by a very few voices would likely help considerably.

4. Taiaiake Alfred, Peace, Power Righteousness: An Indigenous Manifesto,(Don Mills: Oxford University Press, 2009): 101. Bibliography

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