News release		Communiqué
Inky Mark, MP		Dauphin-Swan River

Lathlin proposes to overule Supreme Court of Canada

Ottawa—Inky Mark, MP for Dauphin-Swan River says that Manitoba’s Conservation Minister, Oscar Lathlin, is making a grave error in proposing to enforce band bylaws over Supreme Court decisions when it comes to Aboriginal fishing rights.

“Last week Minister Lathlin said that Indian bands could enact bylaws concerning conservation and aboriginal fishing which the province would be bound to abide by. That is absolutely ridiculous. It is the province who has jurisdiction over natural resources within it’s borders. The Minister can’t go around carving up the province’s natural resources, delegating who gets to look after what. The Supreme Court has spoken loud and clear on this issue,” Mark said.

The Supreme Court ruling of The Queen vs. Sparrow in 1990 states:

“with regard to the band bylaws regulating fisheries on public waters, the Supreme Court has made it clear that such bylaws will be considered invalid. Although a band has no power to regulate fishing beyond the limits of it’s reserve, it does not mean the federal government has unfettered discretion in the management of the fisheries.”

Net fishing by aboriginal groups on Manitoba’s lakes has created a dispute which saw more than 500 people turn out at a rally in Dauphin to protest net fishing recently. An estimated 134,000 lbs of fish has been netted out of Lake Dauphin since November of 2001 and there are still an estimated 34 aboriginal nets in the lake. Mark says this kind of inaction on natural resources will kill any hopes of future generations of enjoying it.

“If the Doer government were really interested in conservation, they would put an immediate halt to all of the net fishing in Lake Dauphin, aboriginal or otherwise. Manitoba is the only province that lacks a solid set of regulations as to how to balance the needs and rights of aboriginal fishers against the need to conserve the natural resources. It’s about time they got down to it,” Mark said.

Mark concluded by saying that in order to conserve the natural resources, the Manitoba government should take a proactive stand rather than trying to pass off the responsibility to someone else.