Winners and losers in fishing rights battle

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Like his father, grandfather and great grandfather before him, John Perks has commercially fished on southern Georgian Bay all his life. But now he's been told that his fish quota has been used up by Bruce Peninsula Native people.

Two fishing tugs from the Nawash band from the Cape Croker reserve and one from the Saugeen First Nation reserve moved to Meaford, Ont. about 30 kilometres east of Owen Sound earlier in the year.

"My family has fished here for 85 to 90 years. Now the ministry tells me my quota has gone to zero. The Native boats have used it up," he said.

Guy Nadjiwon's family from the Cape Croker reserve also has a heritage of commercial fishing that goes back generations. But until a 1993 court decision that recognized the right of the local Ojibway bands to commercially fish in traditional waters, the fishing activities of the Nadjiwon family were severely restricted.

"The entire quota for everyone on the reserve was 10,000 pounds of fish a year," said Nadjiwon.

The 1993 decision changed all that and Nadjiwon was able to return home to Cape Croker to follow a family tradition of casting nets for whitefish and lake trout.

"Fishing was born and bred into me," said Nadjiwon.

On an average day, his boat ties up at the dock in Meaford with about 1,400 pounds of whitefish and 100 pounds of lake trout.

There is a certain camaraderie between the two men. They deeply respect each other's determination to go out onto the lake in all kinds of weather and their knowledge of the lake and the fish habitat.

"He's a good guy," said Perks, waving to Nadjiwon as he backed his fish-laden truck away from the dock.

Perks, standing next to his idle fishing tug, said he isn't against Native fishing rights, but the decision that will cause him and his family to lose their livelihood is hard to take.

"If this is happening as a result of the courts interpreting the part of the Constitution that refers to fishing rights, then something has gone wrong," he said.

The Ministry of Natural Resources has set the annual commercial whitefish quota at 50,000 pounds for the Meaford area, but based on information from the customers of the three Native tugs fishing out of Meaford, that has already been used up.

The ministry has made an offer to buy or lease Perks' quota.

"It's on the table, but I've put that to one side. It's not what I want. Fishing is my life," he said.

Despite mediated talks between the ministry and the leaders of the First Nations since Justice David Fairgrieve confirmed the Saugeen First Nation's rights to fish the waters around the Bruce Peninsula, no agreement has been reached on how the rights should be implemented.

The Native fishing rights issue has dragged on too long and it's time the matter was settled, said Nadjiwon.

He has joined an independent association of Native fishermen who feel their band leaders are selling out the interests of Native fishermen in hopes of getting more government subsidies.

Nawash Chief Ralph Akiwenzie couldn't be reached for comment, but in earlier interviews Akiwenzie stated that negotiations are on behalf of all

band members and conservation of fish stocks is of prime importance.

"Our rights and the health of the fishery are in our mind, inseparable," he's said.

Nadjiwon said his fight is not with Perks.

"I don't want to make enemies, but non-Natives have fished these waters for 150 years and now it's our turn," he said.

He hires as many as eight band members to work on his boat and the economic spin-off is vital to their families, he said.

"And I've got a wife and two children to support," he said.

Nadjiwon said he is at a loss to understand why an area fishing club has cancelled its summer fish derby, citing the cancellation of Perks' quota and a concern for the state of the fish stocks as the reason.

"I can't understand what difference a Native tug using up the quota this year instead of a non-Native tug makes. The decision to cancel the derby is sports fishermen playing politis," he said.