Nova Scotia MP says he faced death threats as Maritime elver fishery descended into lawlessness
CBC
MPs in Ottawa heard "alarming" accounts Thursday of failed Canadian government efforts to thwart the black-market fishery for baby eels, or elvers, earlier this year.
It included a claim that 25-tonnes of the tiny, translucent eels were flown out of Canada in illicit shipments, part of an organized crime to meet an "insatiable appetite" in China where they are grown for food.
The lawlessness even touched a Nova Scotia member of parliament who witnessed and spoke out against widespread poaching in his riding during the springtime elver run.
"I had many constituents whose properties were being defiled, destroyed as poachers, parked and utilized their things. I had single mothers threatened by people. I had death threats, as did my wife during this time," said South Shore-St. Margarets Conservative MP Rick Perkins
He was speaking in front of a Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) parliamentary committee studying illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in response to testimony by Stanley King, a commercial elver licence holder from Nova Scotia.
King appeared on behalf of the Canadian Committee for a Sustainable Eel Fishery.
"Our normally peaceful industry has recently seen kidnapping, robbery, assault, gun violence and an overall disruption of the peace," King told MPs.
"To date the response from both DFO and the RCMP to this organized crime ring has been almost non-existent," King said.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans shut down the authorized harvest after hundreds of poachers flooded onto Nova Scotia and New Brunswick rivers lured by easy money.
Elvers can fetch up to $5,000 a kilogram, but less on the black market.
DFO has defended its actions saying fishery officers patrolled the rivers and made numerous arrests and seizures worth over a million dollars.
King told MPs the entire Maritime harvest — both authorized and unauthorized — is flown live to China where they are grown in aquaculture facilities to adulthood for food.
"They have an insatiable appetite for this protein source and they will buy as much as they can. Chinese buyers readily buy black- and grey-market elvers from anyone and pay in cash, which has opened the door for organized crime," King testified.
"Your testimony is alarming but I take you at your word." said P.E.I. Liberal MP Robert Morrissey who wanted to know if King had seen "bags of cash."
As their role in health care continues to grow, nurse practitioners across Canada are looking to Alberta, where nurse practitioners recently formed their own union — but on P.E.I., the nurses' union that represents them says it's doing its job.
As the fallout over fallen buildings in Gore Park continues, Hamilton officials will be turning their attention to other properties.
Fire crews responded to a transport truck fire on the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor and Detroit.
When the government touts that its auto insurance reforms might curb premiums by $400 come 2027, the ministers and premier don't readily mention what's to come in the three years leading up to that.
Who poses the greater threat to the free speech of Conservative MPs — the Speaker of the House of Commons or the leader of the Conservative Party?
As city council prepares to vote on a temporary shelter village for people experiencing homelessness in Thunder Bay, Ont., opposition is growing among the area's business community.
A Toronto centre for Black art is hosting an exhibition this weekend that exclusively features work by artists from across the African diaspora.
Click on the video player above on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. ET to watch the 2024 Vanier Cup.
This story is part of CBC Health's Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers on Saturday mornings. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do that by clicking here.
Some Canadian seniors say they're feeling abandoned by the Liberal government's latest inflation relief measure after learning they don't qualify for it.
WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.