Manitoba fishers can apply for pandemic relief

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This article was published 04/08/2020 (1360 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Manitoba fishers will get their fair share of federal COVID-19 funding once it is doled out, the federal government said Wednesday as it rejected criticism from two opposition Manitoba MPs who fear coastal fishers are the government’s priority.

“We’ve been working diligently since Day 1 to get it out the door,” federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan told the Free Press.

“I think three months for a program is actually pretty good, when you consider we had to start from scratch.”

On Wednesday, Ottawa announced the programs will start taking applications on Aug. 24 — 14 weeks after they were announced — and provide cash within five days.

On May 14, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled two programs worth $469.4 million for fishers. The Fish Harvester Benefit gives self-employed or co-op fishers up to $10,164 for lost revenue, while the Fish Harvester Grant pays up to $40,000 for business costs.

A short time later, two Manitoba MPs whose ridings have a large number of fishers, said they had been inundated with calls. NDP MP Niki Ashton, who represents northern Manitoba, and Conservative MP James Bezan, who represents the Interlake, said constituents asked how they could access the funding, which targets people who don’t qualify for federal pandemic programs such as the wage subsidy or business loans. They crossed partisan lines to hold a joint press conference on July 10 and issue public letters demanding support for Manitoba.

The pickerel fishery, which has sustained many First Nations and Métis communities, has taken a huge hit because U.S. restaurants have dramatically cut back under COVID-19.

The two MPs accused Ottawa of stalling, and said they worried the government would disproportionately channel cash to coastal communities that had voted Liberal.

Asked to explain the 14-week delay, Jordan said officials had to work with provinces, such as Manitoba, that license fishers to assess the need, and then get Service Canada to figure out how the program will be delivered.

Jordan stressed that Indigenous fishers on Lake Winnipeg will have as fair a shot as coastal Canadians.

“There has never been any qualms about making sure the freshwater fishery is included,” she said.

Jordan criticized the approach taken by Ashton and Bezan. She said their tone was unhelpful, after exchanging letters with Bezan and particularly after a call with Ashton.

“It was unfortunate she felt that she had to use this for political gain,” Jordan said, insisting Indigenous fishers will receive payments.

Jordan said she is reluctant to intervene in the operations of the federal agency based in Winnipeg that facilitates much of Manitoba’s catch.

The Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp. collects fish from remote communities, processes it and sells it almost entirely to food-service industries across North America and abroad. It stopped buying fish on March 21 because the lack of revenue from pickerel made it too costly to process other species. The agency started to buy fish this spring, but only species that customers had confirmed they would pay for.

Meanwhile, an internal briefing note prepared for Jordan warns that a drop in the price of pickerel could hurt Manitoba in the long run.

“Prior to this season, (pickerel) has been the primary source of returns both to the (marketing corporation) and the fish harvesters that it serves. However, recent increases in supply of the species from Lake Erie has depressed prices,” reads the May 13 note, obtained through an access-to-information request.

Ashton and Bezan have asked Jordan to push the corporation to aggressively market fish abroad and give some supply to food banks, in order to buy more product. Jordan insisted the arm’s-length corporation acts on its own accord, but said she’ll monitor the “very important” role it plays during the pandemic.

She noted Ottawa has a marketing campaign that tries to convince more Canadians to buy domestic fish, to make up for the collapse in global demand.

Jordan also declined a request by the two MPs to have a Manitoba liaison ensure that the province’s fishers apply for their fair share of the program, saying the online process is simple and the department will help those who have difficulty.

The two opposition MPs reiterated that demand Wednesday, and called again for a beefed-up role for the marketing corporation.

“The longer Manitoba’s freshwater fishing industry has to wait for support, the harder it gets for fishing families and businesses to recover,” Bezan and Ashton wrote in a joint statement.

“For many northern, remote and Indigenous communities, fishing is the economic backbone and without it, the community and tertiary businesses will be economically devastated.”

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca

Briefing package for federal fisheries minister's call with Niki Ashton