34 



are important matters to decide in Manitoba waters. All these 

 points can be decided by exact biological study, and the time seems 

 opportune for some steps to provide for the province such a station 

 for scientific and fishery research as the Dominion government has 

 established in other provinces. Trained and qualified men can, of 

 course, alone carry on biological researches in such lakes as those of 

 Manitoba, but the University of Manitoba will soon have men equip- 

 ped for such work, and; on the professoriate are already men of dis- 

 tinction in various scientific fields, whose, services could no doubt 

 be secured were a biological station established. Two members of 

 the commission had the advantage of meeting Sir John Murray in 

 Winnipeg and he was enthusiastic as to the splendid field awaiting 

 scientific investigation in the Manitoba lakes. A biological station 

 seems a necessary and desirable institution for aiding the fisheries, 

 and as a commission we would urge such a station as a pressing 

 need. 



CLAIMS OF INDIANS. 



Former needs of 

 Indians. 



Settlers' and 

 Indians' permit for 

 food purposes. 



License for Indians 

 when fishing 

 commercially. 



Former supples of 

 "hung" fish for 

 Indians' use. 



One important feature in the fisheries of Manitoba in the past 

 has been the requirements of the Indians in supplying the Indian 

 bands with food and with fish for their dogs, and, in 1890, the late 

 Mr. Samuel Wilmot, when reporting on the fisheries of the pro- 

 vince, placed first this matter of the claims of the Indians, and, as 

 he termed it, the interests of the Department of the Interior. He 

 stated that at that time the Indians had suffered from a lack of 

 whitefish, which in former years had been obtained in great abund- 

 ance, and the decline was attributed to over-fishing at the mouth of 

 the rivers by the fish traders. In the recommendations made at the 

 time, it was provided that while the restrictions and regulations 

 should apply to Indians and Half-breeds just as to settlers and other 

 'white people, a special clause was devised whereby the Department 

 of Marine and Fisheries might set apart waters for the exclusive use 

 of the Indians, and grant free licenses to Indians and their bands to 

 fish during the close season to provide for their own necessities but 

 not for sale or traffic. 



In our present recommendations, we do not follow along the 

 lines of this provision, as we think that the time has come when the 

 Indian and the white settler might be given the same privilege in 

 order to enable them to provide for actual food purposes. As the 

 Indians had in recent years more and more been engaging in the 

 fisheries for market, and entering into competition with the white 

 fishermen, we think that the time has come when they should be 

 placed in the same position as the white settler, and be required to 

 take out an ordinary license when engaging in commercial fishing; 

 but that, along with the white settlers they should be allowed free 

 permits to obtain fish for their own; actual use but not for sale. 

 Formerly, the Indians resorted to the spawning grounds, such as at 

 the Grand Rapids at the mouth of the Great Saskatchewan, and at 

 the mouths of other rivers, where the whitefish are crowded in spawn- 

 ing schools for the purpose of depositing their eggs. The fish were 

 at that time easily caught, and were prepared as hung fish; The fish, 

 without being cleaned, had simply a cut made in the tail through 

 which a stick was inserted anJd about ten fish were suspended on this 

 stick which was placed horizontally so that the fish hung head down- 

 wards. A cut was made at the gills of the fish so that the blood 



