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CHAPTER 12 



INDIANS IN THE 

 COMMERCIAL HSHERIES 



The fishery is our heritage. In it rests our 

 expertise and our hopes for the future. 



NUU-CHAH-NULTH TRIBAL CX)UNCIL' 



The Commission's terms of reference instruct me to 

 make recommendations for ensuring that the fisheries 

 make "the highest possible contribution to the economic 

 and social development of the people of Canada. . . ." 

 With respect to the commercial fisheries, the concern for 

 social as well as economic advantage focuses attention 

 especially on native Indians. 



When the modem fishery developed in the last century, 

 the Indians of the Pacific coast adapted to the new tech- 

 nology of fishing and canning much more readily and 

 successfully than they adapted to other industries. The 

 fisheries provided them with an opportunity to partici- 

 pate in the new industrial society, and for a great many, it 

 was the only opportunity. As a result, Indians have held a 

 particularly important place in the Pacific fisheries, and 

 fisheries policy has been moulded, with mixed success, to 

 accommodate their special needs. 



This Commission has received a remarkable amount of 

 information and advice from Indian organizations and 

 individuals. Eight tribal councils and eight bands, as well 

 as the Native Brotherhood of British Columbia, the 

 Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, Indian cooperatives and 

 individual Indians have submitted briefs. Others pro- 

 vided information in the form of Supplementary Docu- 

 ments. In addition, many non-Indian participants have 

 commented on the special problems of Indians. And the 

 Commission has held eight of its community meetings 

 either on reserves or in communities where Indians are 

 dominant. 



With respect to the position of Indians in the commer- 

 cial fisheries, the testimony has had a consistent theme: 

 Indian participation has been declining, and because the 

 fisheries aflTord a unique economic opportunity for them, 

 this trend must be reversed. This chapter is devoted to 

 this problem. It reviews the history of Indian participa- 

 tion and the policies adopted to promote it, and recom- 

 mends some initial steps toward improvement. 



IIVDIAN PARTICIPATION EN THE COMMERCIAL 

 nSHERIES 



Before European settlement, a much larger population 

 of Indians than survives today was settled in communi- 

 ties along the coast and the river systems of the interior, 

 in locations that were determined in large part by accessi- 

 bility to fish resources, especially salmon. Fish formed 

 the foundation of their local economies and inspired 

 many of their ceremonies and myths and much of their 

 folklore and art. 



Through all the dislocations and painful adjustments 

 to "white" society, involvement in the fisheries has been 

 essential for the Indians in maintaining their identity and 

 self-respect. This theme was introduced repeatedly in 

 presentations to this Commission. One group put it as 

 follows: 



Participation in the fishing industry allowed 

 us to remain living by the sea with our own 

 people. And it was a kind of work that was 

 more compatible with our way of life than 

 other kinds of work in the white man's econ- 

 omy. It was, if nothing better, at least the 

 lesser of two evils. It did not require us to give 

 up our communities and our culture alto- 

 gether.- 



As described in Chapter 2, the early salmon fishery 

 developed widely scattered operations along the coast. 

 Canneries were typically located near major salmon runs 

 in inlets and estuaries, where Indian communities were 

 also located. They drew heavily on those communities for 

 men to operate their vessels, and in addition, they pro- 

 vided employment for thousands of Indian women and 

 older children in the canneries. By 1919 there were 97 

 canneries on the coast from the Eraser River to the Nass 

 River, on Vancouver Island and on the Queen Charlottes, 

 employing more than 9,000 people, the majority of whom 

 were Indians. And more than one-third of all salmon 

 fishermen were Indian.^ They adjusted remarkably well 

 to the fishing industr>', even to the technological changes 

 that brought a wholesale shift to powered fishing vessels 

 and mechanized canning processes. 



During the 1920s and 1930s Indian fishermen were dis- 

 placed by the trend toward larger, costlier fishing vessels 

 and packers. The consolidation of carmeries also reduced 

 opportunities for many native cannery workers. For some 

 years the decline was slowed by Indian fishermen and 

 their families being transported from the south to the 

 canneries of the central coast for two months each sum- 

 mer. During World War II, the strong demand for fish 

 temporarily improved Indian employment, and the 

 expulsion of Japanese from the coast enabled many Indi- 

 ans to acquire fishing boats at bargain prices.** However, 



