Open Letter to Prime Minister Carney: Industry Closures Escalating Economic Crisis, Triggering Social Crises in BC First Nations

Dear Prime Minister Carney,

On behalf of the Coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship, we are writing you regarding the future of salmon aquaculture in British Columbia and the need for you to immediately reverse the Trudeau government’s 2029 open-net pen ban policy.

We face an avoidable and escalating economic crisis in our communities, for which we are already seeing the social effects of short term and permanent job loss with the resulting closure of the salmon aquaculture sector and the ancillary businesses up and down the coast of British Columbia. As leaders, we are increasingly called upon to intervene at the local level with the uptick in mental health, substance abuse, longer food bank lines and other social upheaval in our communities that coincides with work shifts being cut, and families struggling with less income and few job prospects. The own-source revenue derived from participation in the salmon aquaculture sector funds desperately needed new house construction, child and family services and other mental health and wellness supports. Without this revenue, the demand for these services will increase, while the revenues to support them dry up.

This crisis can be avoided with an urgent and clear signal from your government that the net pen ban will be immediately reversed, enabling companies and First Nations to unleash over $1B in new investment along the BC coast.

For our communities this is economically devastating, at a time that the BC forestry sector has been hit hard by ongoing tariff wars, and that we are all - First Nations families and Canadians families - facing a food affordability and a food security crisis. These salmon aquaculture jobs are year-round, family supporting jobs, that cannot be replaced in many instances, as a result of the rural, remote and coastal locations and skills sets in our communities.

As we have explained to your Cabinet and your government many times, salmon aquaculture is the backbone of the seafood sector - wild and farmed – in BC. Our processing facilities, small craft harbour and transportation networks (e.g. BC Ferries) are critical to the processing and transport of goods and services, fresh food and people to our traditional territories.

Prime Minister, this economic reversal stands in increasingly stark contrast to the positive direction your government has been setting for Canada since your arrival to the office.

You welcomed the world to Toronto to invest in Canada. You have put in place an agenda to drive more private investment in Canada, faster development of major projects, stronger domestic production, stable employment and greater Indigenous participation in the projects and resources that shape this country’s economy. These very objectives are already being achieved along B.C.’s coast in the salmon aquaculture sector, and there is exponential potential to continue strengthening that achievement.

Sir, we know that you often visit the BC coast; you understand that our waters, winds and tides differ based on our locations and territories. We also know that you understand First Nations along the coast have conserved vast swaths of our waters and lands, while leaving space to enable an economic future for our peoples. Nations have consistently maintained that our territories are different, our operational realities are different, and the technologies and industries appropriate to each Nation will also be different. We also have decades of both Indigenous and western science to prove it.

WITH AN IMMEDIATE NET PEN BAN REVERSAL, FIRST NATIONS AND COMPANIES ARE READY TO INVEST IN SALMON AQUACULTURE.

The economic opportunity for salmon aquaculture alone is significant: $1 billion in foreign direct investment is poised to be injected into B.C.’s salmon aquaculture value chain, while approximately $500 million in new, Indigenous equity to build and expand fish-processing operations across the B.C. coast is waiting to be unlocked. Nation-partnered salmon farming operations support approximately 4,560 full-time-equivalent jobs and $129 million in GDP contributions.

Your government launched a National Food Security Strategy centered on producing more food in Canada and strengthening Canadian food self-sufficiency. 380 million salmon meals land on Canadian dinner plates directly from B.C. waters now, and we are ready to ramp up that production. The demand is there, evidenced by the increase in farmed salmon imports over 2024-2025; Canada spent $765 million importing salmon raised overseas, an increase of $65 million from the year before.

Lastly, your government has repeatedly emphasized that Indigenous groups should participate as partners and owners in the development of Canada’s economy, including in major resource and infrastructure projects. We agree. But economic reconciliation must mean respecting the decisions First Nations make about the projects that take place within their own territories—we cannot accept that a First Nation involved in a pipeline project in B.C.’s interior is trusted to protect their watersheds and river systems, while our Nations are not given the same when it comes to protecting wild Pacific salmon.

The immediate issue is certainty. The time to reverse the new pen ban is NOW. Coalition Nations and industry partners are making business decisions now about future production cycles, capital investment, employment and infrastructure.

We have communicated our concerns repeatedly to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Crown-Indigenous Relations and your Office. We have presented your government with a comprehensive 5-Pillar Plan that recognizes aquaculture as the backbone of a broader, Indigenous-led blue economy in coastal British Columbia, and that stands ready for immediate implementation.

We respectfully request an urgent decision from you this week that provides immediate investment confidence for the sector and enables First Nations to remain responsible salmon stewards and farmers while leading the testing, development, investment and adoption of new technologies appropriate to their territories.

We believe there is a significant opportunity to build a stronger, more innovative and increasingly Indigenous-led Canadian aquaculture industry aligned with the economic and social objectives your government has set for the country. Step one is the immediate reversal of the 2029 net pen ban.

Gilakas’la,

Dallas Smith
Tlowitsis First Nation
Spokesperson, Coalition FNFFS

Isaiah Robinson
Kitasoo/Xai’xais Nations
Spokesperson, Coalition FNFFS

Hasheukumiss, Ha’wiih Tyee
Richard George
Ahousaht First Nation