UVic Law Prof on Aboriginal Fishing Rights

University of Victoria Law School professor Hamar Foster writes that history, not race, determines the extent to which aboriginal fishing rights are entrenched in treaties:

First Nations are being allocated fishing rights not because of their race but because their fisheries were wrongfully appropriated …

If a First Nation is recognized as having fishing rights above and beyond the food fishery it will be because it has either established a constitutional right to such a fishery in court (as the Heiltsuk have done with respect to the commercial herring spawn-on-kelp fishery) or because it has negotiated such rights as a side agreement to a treaty.

Either way, historical entitlement is the basis of the agreement, not “race,” because simply being “Indian” is not enough. An aboriginal person who is not a member of the treaty group can no more participate in a treaty fishery without permission than a non-aboriginal person can.

Surely there is something very unfair about taking property away from people because of their race and then arguing that it is racist to give it back.

See also:

Latest Court Decision in BC’s Salmon Fishery
Race-based Fishery Questions, Redux

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