May 13, 2008

May 12, 2008

Please check the News Archive section for recent a letter to MP's and a press release regarding Bil C34 and the Tswawwassen Treaty.

May 1, 2008

To All, 

Please see a copy of the letter, I sent on this date, to Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn regarding Bill C32.  

March 28, 2008

March 10, 2008

February 7, 2008

To all - Please click here to read a copy of a letter sent to Prime Minister Harper on Jan 23rd. I have been on the road pretty well steadily since then and have not had a chance to get a copy out to our members and supporters.

You should be interested to know that Prime Minister Harpers' office responded with the message that as this action comes under the purview of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans they have forwarded the letter on to him for response.

It seems Mr. Harper no longer appoints or removes Ministers, wonder how the caucus decides who should get what post. Given the PM's response, it would seem they should be looking in that direction first.

Bill Otway, President
Sportfishing Defence Alliance.

To all - Click here to read a letter from MP Penny Priddy re Bill C-32 with the NDP policy on Fisheries Act Bill C -32

 Bill Otway

For details regarding Tax Implications of the Tsawwassen Treaty please click here.

December 8, 2007

Please click here for a copy of  Bill Otway's Presidents Report from the SDA Annual Meeting on December 3rd, 2007.

November 30, 2007

To all - 

The latest from John Cummins on the impacts of the Tsawwassen Treaty.
Click here for the full, 44 page document and for the shorter news release click here.

Click through to read a copy of the Factum that Keith Lowes has prepared on our behalf for the intervention in Kapp at the Supreme Court of Canada. 

I think it is a great piece of work and should be well received. Keith leaves next week to make oral arguments as well. Our partners were all on side to intervene so we are obliged to go along.

After discussing this with Keith and reviewing his Factum, I am positive it is the right choice.

Bill Otway, President

Sportfishing Defence Alliance

November 27, 2007 

- 2 Update items

To all

Please click on this link for an Executive Summary in the Williams Case. To access the full, 485 page judgment please click here. 

While the judge dismissed the claim for technical reasons, he made some very far reaching commitments in saying that the Band did in fact have title to some 2,000 square KM and that this title included private lands.

For the first time ever our courts have placed the rights and title granted to you and I in our property and homes. This judge clearly states that "The Province has no jurisdiction to extinguish Aboriginal title and such title has not bee extinguished by a conveyance of fee simple title".  In short if the natives claim ownership of your home and land, and can prove their title originally then they get it all.

So much for Campbell saying "Private Land is NOT on the Table in Treaties". You can bet your proverbials they will be very much on the table now.

The judge has made many judgments but he is very much out in left field when he says that the Indians have the right to capture horses for transportation and work.

The Supreme Court of Canada has made it clear that Native rights are those that were a significant and integral part of the Indian life before the arrival of Europeans. Before the Europeans arrived here, THERE WERE NO HORSES! Yet this judge contends that these rights existed before contact which he sets at 1793. 

He has also indicated that they own one kilometre on each side of the Chilko River and the river itself downstream from Chilko Lake to Siwash Bridge (I have not yet been able to identify where this is as yet.  

Ownership of the river is a very serious allocation and one that we need to be looking at very seriously. The precedent here is very dangerous. What does this do to the "navigable rivers" right and thousands of years of history? 

I would suggest every citizen of British Columbia should be contacting their MLA now and inquiring if they have to purchase their own title insurance for their home and property or is the government going to provide this. 

I am sure we can expect this matter to be before the courts again in the very near future, and once again our tax money will be paying for both sides of the case. Costs to date are anticipated to be $30 million. 

More to come.

Bill Otway

And......

First and foremost I have confirmed that the Supreme Court of Canada has rejected the request for appeal by the Cheam Band members in the Douglas case.

This is a major victory for all non native fishermen as it creates case law with the Court of Appeal for B.C. judgment that will now stand. 

Some of you may have forgotten what this case is about and I have attached a copy of the release from the SCC that gives some background. Read SCC release

However for us, the key is that the court has now upheld that the managers can have fisheries for other Canadians while they have the First Nations FSC closed. 

You will recall the members of the Cheam Band were charged and convicted for fishing for Early Stuart Sockeye during a closed time in 2000. They put forward the claim that as the recreational fishery for Chinook was open at this time they had full rights to fish. Simply put, if any recreational fishery is open anywhere these people claimed they could fish as they wished as well. In addition no one else should be allowed to fish until they had their quota. A difficult feat in that the Cheam Band has refused to set or agree to any harvest numbers. 

The law now stands that the natives do not have Absolute Priority and that managers can allow fisheries by others while the Native FSC fishery is closed. 

Special thanks is due to our legal counsel Keith Lowes who did a great job in putting our case forward in this instance. His points were accepted almost in total by the Appeal Court for B.C.

Bill Otway, President

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