
Stephen Hume, Special to the Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, January 28, 2008
If British Columbia's wild salmon runs were damaged by a sea lice crisis similar to those in Norway, Scotland and Ireland, who should be accountable?
Chief Darren Blaney of the Xwemalhkwu First Nation figures government. So Blaney is urging fellow chiefs to start thinking about class action suits directed at governments constitutionally required to protect wild fish for first nations but which always seem to place industrial interests first.
"I've talked to some of the Sto:lo chiefs about it already," Blaney says. He plans to bring the idea forward again at a cross-border meeting of tribal chiefs and elders from around the Georgia Basin.
This year it's in Tulalip, Wash. Washington tribes share Fraser River sockeye stocks, so he may find sympathy south of the 49th parallel. Not to mention among upper Fraser bands who rely on sockeye runs for food.