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 A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE FOR MASTERS OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN GEOGRAPHY YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO DECEMBER 2009 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre r6f6rence ISBN: 978-0-494-64992-3 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-64992-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduce, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent §tre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. •+• Canada IV 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.