seawestnews.com
Minister Jordan in a post announcement interview with SeaWestNews agreed that science took a back seat to social licence when she made her decision on the Discovery Islands.
But she stressed that it did not mean that First Nations will essentially have veto powers over salmon farming operations in their traditional territories.
“Absolutely not….we are going to have a bigger conversation around aquaculture. You know I think Canada can be a global leader in aquaculture, I think that this is an extremely important industry, not only to British Columbia but to the world,” she said.
“You know, science plays an extremely important role in all of our decision making but it is not the only thing we use when we are making decisions.
“In the case of the Discovery Islands, as I said, we heard loud and clear from the seven First Nations that are impacted. This was something they were not in support of. We have to make sure we take these kinds of things into consideration as we make our decisions and as I said, this one was a very tough decision to make.
“The Discovery Islands sites were singled out by the Cohen Commission nearly a decade ago and they have been on a different track ever since…, that is one of the reasons that those licences were only renewed on a yearly basis as opposed to for like a number of years for other farms,” said Jordan.
“I want to continue to work with industry to find the right path forward, to make sure we are doing everything we can to make sure aquaculture continues to be an extremely vital part of the British Columbia’s economy.”