Justin Trudeau's legacy gets mixed reviews from First Nations in B.C.
CBC
From a decision to phase out open-net salmon farms to buying a controversial oil pipeline, outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau left his mark on B.C.
Trudeau, who announced his resignation on Monday, is no stranger to the province, having studied at the University of B.C. and served as a teacher in Vancouver from 1999 to 2002.
Over his nine-year tenure as prime minister, he passed a range of national policies he'll likely be remembered for, including the carbon tax and a range of child-care benefits.
In B.C., his government will also be remembered for its purchase of the Trans Mountain Pipeline despite heated protests and numerous court cases, as well as the move to phase out open-net salmon farming.
Trudeau's B.C. legacy is mixed, according to Indigenous leaders, even as he draws praise for passing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) into law.
On the West Coast, Trudeau will be remembered for his decision to phase out open-net salmon pens, which has been delayed until 2029 to allow for a transition to land-based closed containment farms.
Environmental groups say the open-net salmon farms, which employ over 5,000 people in B.C., are causing disease and the depletion of wild salmon stocks.
"I'm grateful that [Trudeau] set the direction for the transition of open net pen fish farms," said Bob Chamberlin, who represents over 100 First Nations in B.C. as chair of the First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance.
"I'm grateful that we finally had a government that began to fully embrace the importance of wild Pacific salmon to British Columbians, Canadians and First Nations."
However, the salmon farming industry and some other First Nations say that with a more than $1 billion industry at stake, the transition plan is too rushed.
"We've been told by senior bureaucrats, we'll just put another industry in there," said Isaiah Robinson, deputy chief councillor of the Kitasoo Xai'Xais Nation on B.C.'s Central Coast.
"And .. we know the reality. That's not how things work."
Robinson says more than half of his region's economy depends on salmon farming, and while they support a gradual transition, they do not support a total ban on open-net salmon farming.
He and Chamberlin say they're in talks with political leaders of all stripes as Canada heads into an election this year.
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