Foreign funded activists manipulated ministers to get salmon farming ban

Salmon farming ban in B.C. is a textbook case of foreign-funded activists hijacking national policy, dismissing science, crippling economic stability, and sabotaging reconciliation efforts with aquaculture-dependent First Nations, states a top think tank.

By Fabian Dawson
SeaWestNews

The Trudeau government’s plan to ban ocean salmon farming in British Columbia is the result of political manipulation by activist groups backed by American dollars, states a scathing new report from one of Canada’s top-think tanks.

These funds have supported public protests, social media blitzes, and high-profile lobbying efforts that positioned salmon farming as a public enemy, despite scientific studies debunking their claims.

It is a textbook case of foreign-funded activists hijacking national policy, dismissing science, crippling economic stability, and sabotaging reconciliation efforts with First Nations reliant on salmon farming, said the report by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI).

The report – Swimming against the tide: The case for salmon fish farming in British Columbia – is authored by Ken Coates, director of Indigenous Affairs at MLI, which is an independent and non-partisan national public policy think-tank based in Ottawa.

The MLI is calling for an immediate reversal of the ban in favor of a science-based, economically sustainable approach that safeguards the environment while protecting thousands of jobs.

The call comes as business leaders across B.C. press Premier David Eby to oppose Ottawa’s salmon farm shutdown and a new scientific analysis that exposed how activists have grossly exaggerated the risk of disease transmission from farmed to wild salmon.

The MLI report highlights that organizations such as Wild First, the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance, and Pacific Wild have received significant foreign funding from U.S. environmental groups and philanthropic foundations.

These funds were strategically deployed to manufacture a campaign of distortion, using misleading studies, media manipulation, and targeted lobbying to create a false narrative around the risks of salmon farming.

Activists flooded social media with sensationalized claims, pressured politicians with fear-based messaging, and selectively ignored scientific studies that contradicted their agenda.

Among the biggest victories of these activists was securing the allegiance of key Liberal cabinet ministers, particularly Joyce Murray and Jonathan Wilkinson, both of whom represented ridings in British Columbia.

Murray (Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, 2021-2023) embraced the activists’ rhetoric, overriding her department’s own scientific research, which repeatedly found that salmon farming posed minimal risk to wild fish stocks.

Wilkinson (Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, 2018-2019) was instrumental in framing the narrative that ocean salmon farms had to transition to land-based containment systems, despite warnings that this nascent technology was not economically and environmentally feasible for B.C.

The MLI report said activist groups gained direct access to these ministers, feeding them selective data and emotional narratives while dismissing reports from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), the Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS), independent researchers, and salmon farmers.

In exchange for votes from the anti-fish farming lobby, the Trudeau Government is now advancing a Transition Plan for the sector which carries a staggering $9 billion price tag for taxpayers, extensive economic, social, and environmental consequences.

Described as a ‘reckless’ move aimed at placating the activists, the plan threatens to wipe out B.C.’s top agri-food export, eliminate 4,560 jobs, and significantly impact more than 1,000 Indigenous workers who depend on the industry.

Beyond the widespread fallout across Canada, over 1,400 B.C. businesses within the industry’s supply chain stand to lose $437 million – forcing some to shut down entirely.

Coates from MLI stressed that while Canada scales back its ocean-based salmon farming, other nations are surging ahead, recognizing the industry’s pivotal role in food security, economic stability, and environmental sustainability.

Countries like Norway, Scotland, and Chile are aggressively expanding their aquaculture industries, deploying advanced technologies to boost output while maintaining strict environmental safeguards.

Ottawa’s lack of support for domestic aquaculture has caused Canada to fall behind, increasing reliance on imported farmed salmon rather than capitalizing on its own world-class natural resources, the MLI report warned.

As global protein demand skyrockets, abandoning a thriving industry that ensures food security, economic prosperity, and Indigenous job creation is   a critical policy failure by the Trudeau Liberals – one that hands foreign salmon producers a competitive advantage at Canada’s expense, the report added.

“Moving forward requires reversing the outright ban and returning to evidence-based decision-making that relies on government scientists, Indigenous knowledge, and academic experts,” said Coates.

“The ban on West Coast salmon farming exemplifies the dangers of special interest-driven decision-making. Canada has time to get it right, but the nature of the federal decision has allowed emotion to override effective policymaking.”

(Main image shows former Fisheries Ministers Joyce Murray and Jonathan Wilkinson at IMPAC5, a global ocean conservation summit.)