Judicial inquiry into Fraser sockeye delayed
Kathryn Blaze Carlson
July 13, 2010
National Post
The tentative schedule for the judicial inquiry into the collapse of Fraser River sockeye has been pushed back by at least a month, as the commission council awaits thousands of federal documents and emails that have yet to be disclosed.
Evidentiary hearings were anticipated to begin on Sept. 7, but a spokesperson for the Cohen Commission said the date has been postponed to Oct. 25.
“We need to review tens of thousands of documents and more than 200,000 emails, and the government is working on getting them over to us,” said Carla Shore, spokesperson for the commission. “My understanding is that it’s not a question of an unwillingness to disclose the documents, it’s more a question of pulling it all together. Documents are coming in every day.”
Ms. Shore said the documents — comprised of “whatever had been determined to be relevant to our investigation” — are outstanding from a number of federal departments, including the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
The Cohen Commission, which was born in 2009 at the behest of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, will look into the causes for the decline of Fraser River sockeye and will also examine the policies and practices of the DFO — including forecasting and risk-management.
Federal forecasts for the Fraser River sockeye run have been notoriously inaccurate: Last year, the DFO predicted 10.3 million fish would show up, and only 1.3 million arrived.
“We fully support the delay,” said Phil Eidsvik, a spokesman for the B.C. Fisheries Survival Coalition. "There is a lot of information to gather and review, and it's a heavy burden. Better that they delay and do a good job."
Ms. Shore said the commission is still on track to issue its final report in May 2011.
Source: The National Post
Posted July 14th, 2010
