Skeena salmon and Haida title rights discussed at Conservative meet-and-greet
On the Friday of the May-long weekend, an anxious crowd of 25 people waited in the stock room of a Glass Repair shop in Smithers, BC. They were waiting for Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre and Skeena MLA for the Conservative Party Ellis Ross to arrive.
CICK News was granted brief interviews with each politician. To Poilievre, they spoke about Skeena Salmon being caught and sold by Alaskan fishing boats which are harvesting the majority of non-Alaskan Chinook.
CICK News asked Ellis Ross about why he was not in attendance for the Rising Tides Haida Nation Recognition Amendment Act vote in the BC Legislature last month. Ross cited a “lack of clarity” as the reason he was not in attendance to vote on the agreement, which passed with 53 votes from New Democrats, Greens and independents in favour, and 25 votes from B.C. United and the Conservatives against.
The Rising Tide Haida Title Lands Agreement was signed into provincial law on April 14, 2024.