Flood of applicants seek standing at probe into decline of Fraser River Salmon

Mark Hume
April 16, 2010
The Globe and Mail

A federal inquiry into the decline of sockeye salmon in the Fraser River has received more applications for standing from interested parties than did commissions that investigated the bombing of Air India Flight 182 or the sponsorship scandal.

British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen, who last November was appointed to head the salmon commission, said 50 applicants sought standing before him as formal participants.

“This number is significantly greater than for other federal commissions of inquiry,” Mr. Cohen said in a ruling that grants standing to less than half the applicants.

To illustrate the overwhelming interest in the salmon commission, he noted that the Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182 received 21 applications for standing, the Gomery Inquiry into the sponsorship scandal had 15 applications and the inquiry into the Maher Arar case had 24 applications.

Mr. Cohen said he was granting standing to only 20 groups and individuals because “I am concerned that too many participants could make the process unwieldy and expensive and impede the completion of the commission’s work.”

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail

Read related stories:

• Whistler Pique;  April 27, 2010; "Salmon Inquiry lacks Sea to Sky presence - role of fish farms expected to be central"
• The Globe and Mail; April 22, 2010; "Six leading scientists to advise Cohen Comission" 
• Agassiz Harrison Observer; April 20; 2010; "Missing salmon inquiry gears up"
• Vancouver Sun; April 15, 2010; "Cohen Commission names 20 groups to Fraser sockeye salmon inquiry"