This submission to the federal review of the Fisheries Act sets out West Coast Environmental Law Association’s top ten recommendations to strengthen and modernize this important law.
The submission highlights our overarching recommendation that Canada must engage on a government-to-government basis with Indigenous peoples on a new Act, in accordance with commitments to advance reconciliation and implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). It then lists ten reforms to restore lost protections and introduce modern safeguards to the Fisheries Act.
It also compares West Coast’s recommendations from two briefs on the Fisheries Act submitted to the government – Habitat 2.0: A new approach to Canada’s Fisheries Act, and Scaling up the Fisheries Act: Restoring lost protections and incorporating modern safeguards – with the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans (SCOFO) report "Review of Changes Made in 2012 to the Fisheries Act: Enhancing the Protection of Fish and Fish Habitat and the Management of Canadian Fisheries" and the Government response to the SCOFO review.
For more information on West Coast's recommendations regarding the federal environmental law reviews, please see:
- WCELA Submissions on the Environmental Assessment Aspects of the Environmental and Regulatory Reviews Discussion Paper
- WCEL Submissions on Modernizing the National Energy Board
- WCELA Brief on Review of Public Navigation Rights in Canada
- Making the Grade: A Report Card on Canada’s Proposal for Strengthening Environmental Laws and Processes