14 



with our American neiglibours. In ttie 

 county of Essex we are very peculiarly situ- 

 ated. We have a shore line of about 150 miles. 

 Along these shores we have our Ameri- 

 can ueighbiurs, in some places not more than 

 2,700 feet distant from us. What we feel to 

 be a jfreat grievance is that our Ameiioan 

 neighbours are allowed to fish from January 

 to January, whereas our people are compelled 

 to quit at the very time the fisli are running. 

 We have been fishing along these shores for 

 75 or 100 years. In a very large number 

 of cases the fishermen have purchased the 

 land along the shore for the purpose 

 of getting the front from which to 

 fish. The (rovernment under its present 

 policy, and under the policy that has been 

 in vogue for many j^ears, are depriving our 

 fishermen of that privilege. While our 

 shores are well adapted for the propagation 

 of fish, we find that while the fish are small 

 they remain there, but when they attain 

 to that size to be of use to our people then 

 the Americans are allowed to take them 

 instead of our own people. The Minister 

 stated that the fish do not go from one side 

 of the lake to the other. But it will be 

 found that according as the winds are the 

 fish go for the deep and smooth water. So 

 that if the Canadians are not allowed to fish, 

 our American neighbours surely get them. 

 It is stated also by the Minister that we 

 are on the eve of having an arrangement 

 made with our American neighbours, under '\ 

 wliich they will have a close season, the | 

 same as ours. For 20 or 2o years | 

 the same story has been going the rounds. . 

 Twenty years ago at a meeting in Detroit a | 

 proposition was made that the Americans ; 

 should have a close season, but during I 

 the whole of those 20 years we j 

 find no arrangements have yet been made. | 

 The Americans have taken our fish and ; 

 our fishermen are becoming poor. We know \ 

 that in the United States each state has | 

 a fishery law cf its own, and I/ake Erie, I 

 the Detroit River, the St. Clair River, and i 

 Lake St. Clair, are under the jurisdiction of ! 

 four separate states, namelj% Michigan, ' 

 Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. It 

 would be almost impossible for Canada to 

 make arrangements with the whole of these 

 four states at one and the same time. We 

 are asking only for fair play. We are 

 asking that we be treated the same 

 as our American neighbours who are 

 on the shores of tlie same waters as 

 we are. We ask that when they fish 

 we can also fish. If they are determined to 

 deplete the waters let us have our share. 

 If our fishermen are allowed to fish all 

 through the year, observing no close season, 

 our neighbours may l>ecome alarmed and be 

 led to proclaim a close season. But if they 

 will not, and are determined to take the 

 last fish, let us have our share of it. Why is it 

 that the Americans can take fish by the thou- 

 sands, and as my hon. friend (Mr. Allan) 

 has said by the million, while we are de- 



i prived of that privilege. We have petition- 

 I ed the Government. We bava shown the 

 Government the ne>cessity of a change in 

 their policy. We have petitioned Parliament 

 and the Government through the county 

 councils of the counties in which we reside ; 

 we have petitioned through the town 

 I councils of the different towns along the 

 j borders ; and we have petitioned this House 

 ! through the townships. We have also had 

 individual petitions asking for a change of 

 policy in reference to the fishing regulations, 

 but, Sir, we have had no answer to any one 

 of them. W^e feel that this is a great 

 grievance. We feel that our people having 

 invested a very large amount of money in 

 I the purchase of land for fishing purposes 

 j and then being deprived of the fish, are ob- 

 i liged to suffer a great loss. They have not 

 I only invested in the lands, but they have 

 I cleared the rivers for the purpose of fishing, 

 and the fact that they have not been able 

 to utilize their means of livelihood has left 

 many of them in debt. They have lost 

 their boats and their docks and many other 

 investments they have made, all on account 

 of the extraordinary and ruinous policy of 

 this Government. Sir Charles Tupper said : 

 Canada for the Canadians, but. Sir, the Min- 

 ister of Marine and Fisheries has said : 

 Canadian fish for the Americans. It is 

 against the laws of Canada for a Canadian 

 to have wliitefish in his possession during 

 the close season. The Government them- 

 selves come along and take large quantities 

 of whitetish for the ova, and the fish being 

 killed in the process, are sold to the Ameri- 

 cfins. The Canadians who have lived there 

 so long, and who have enjoyed the fishing 

 formerly, are not permitted to buy these 

 fish even from our Caiiadiau Government. 

 The Americans have that privilege and hon- 

 our. We feel that to be a great grievance. 

 Talk about the Czar of Russia and his 

 severity to Russian Jews. Sir, no Czar of 

 Russia ever treated the Russian Jews as 

 the people of Essex have been treated by 

 these fishery laws. The Czar of Russia has 

 been severe, but not so severe as the Min- 

 ister of Marine and Fisheries. Not only does 

 he keep the fish for the Americans, but 

 when his officers find that a Canadian has 

 made a mistake by fishing with a mesh a 

 little small, or fishing outside of the dose 

 season, they seize his boat and break it up, 

 they burn his nets, and the fisherman is 

 taken prisoner. All this is done to him when 

 he can stand at his own door and look across 

 the river, w^hich at many points is not 

 broader than twice the distance from 

 this House to Sparks street, and see his 

 American neighbours take in fish by the 

 thousands. We say that this is unfair and 

 that it is ill treatment to Canadians. Now, 

 Sir, we have no close season for herring 

 in our fresh waters, and we find that ir 

 1891, there were more herring in Lake Erie 

 than there had been in any previous season. 

 That shows that the policy of the Adminis- 



