DFO Minister’s Actions Contradict Government Commitments, Undermining Economic Development and Damaging Trust of Canadians
Ottawa, ON, May 29, 2023 – Today, in an open letter to the Prime Minister, the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA) calls out the uncertainty, confusion, and lack of due process caused by Minister of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Canada, the Honourable Joyce Murray, through her active disregard of her departmental science advisory process as it relates to the future of the BC salmon farming sector. If continued, these actions have the serious potential to further undermine economic activity of all resource sectors in Canada and damage the trust of Canadians in government science.
In the letter CAIA asks how any resource-based business can operate in Canada with the uncertainty and lack of due process being established by Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Honourable Joyce Murray, through her active disregard of her departmental science advisory process.
“The Minister is circumventing the government’s own principles of evidence-based policy and undermining this Liberal government’s promises of Indigenous reconciliation and clean economic growth,” states CAIA President and CEO Timothy Kennedy. “The Prime Minister trusts Agriculture Canada and Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) scientists daily to ensure that Canada’s food is safe. He trusts Environment Canada scientists on climate change. The DFO science process for aquaculture was just reviewed several years ago by an eminent international advisory group with the Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister and found to be fundamentally sound. Why is the DFO Minister choosing science linked to activists with a pre-set agenda?”
Federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray is very soon expected to present options for the B.C. salmon farm transition framework to the federal cabinet. Government decisions have already shut down 40 per cent of salmon farms in B.C. since 2020, making groceries more expensive for Canadian families, increasing carbon emissions, and wiping out jobs that are the lifeblood of rural, coastal and Indigenous communities.
The letter poses several pointed questions to Prime Minister Trudeau including:
Canadians are being asked to trust government science. Why is Minister Murray being allowed to ignore evidence-based and peer-reviewed DFO science advice on salmon aquaculture?
What science advice is Minister Murray basing her decisions on and why is this advice deemed more reliable than government-reviewed science advice?
Closing farms has devastating impacts on coastal and Indigenous communities, food prices and food availability for Canadians, and increased carbon emissions. Have studies been undertaken to understand the scope of negative social and economic impacts and is there any serious peer-reviewed evidence that shows that shutting down farms will bring back wild salmon?
The letter ends with a commitment to a collaborative, evidence-based pathway in partnership with B.C. First Nations involved in salmon farming that enhances modern, sustainable in-ocean salmon farming, resulting in economic, social and environmental benefits for all Canadians.
About Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance
Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA) is the national association that speaks for Canada’s seafood farmers, representing their interests in Ottawa and internationally to regulators, policy makers and political leaders. CAIA members generate over $5 billion in economic activity, $2 billion in GDP, and employ over 20,000 Canadians delivering a healthy and sustainable seafood farming sector in Canada. For more information, please visit www.aquaculture.ca.
Contact: Sheri Beaulieu, Communications and Marketing Manager: sheri.beaulieu@aquaculture.ca
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