Tag Archives: Councillor Joy Thorkelson

Fisheries Act – Prince Rupert council calls for parity with East Coast fisheries

With changes coming to the Fisheries Act, Prince Rupert city council wants to make sure independent B.C. fishers are included. “All we’re asking for is parity with the East Coast,” Councillor Barry Cunningham said. “The East Coast has more of a thriving fishery, even though at times it’s in disarray. It’s definitely more beneficial to the communities and the individuals on the East Coast, whereas, in our fishery on the West Coast, corporations are slowly gobbling it up.” Council moved to bring a resolution to the Union of BC Municipalities, stating owner-operator licences should be applied to the West Coast. It asks that amendments to the Fisheries Act,,, >click to read<09:27

Prince Rupert Sends Letter to Fisheries Minister On Importance of Processing Fish At Home

Councillor Joy Thorkelson presented a motion to council to have the letter ask for better policies to ensure Canadian fish caught at home is processed at home instead of somewhere overseas. “An example is pink salmon is being frozen and sent to China, Vietnam, or the Philippines for processing. We’re buying it back in Canada when it’s processed in Asia. Those are our jobs. Those are Canadian jobs, those are good union jobs that support this community. We used to have 750 people working; this year had about 135 people working processing fish.” click here to read the story 22:59