Robert Janes, representing a coalition of Coast Salish bands, said Judge Cohen must address the topic because part of his mandate is to make recommendations on the future management of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

And DFO, he said, has to deal with the interests of the more than 90 bands that live and fish along the Fraser River.

“DFO has to come to grips with the legal right of the aboriginal fishery,” Mr. Janes said.

He said currently DFO authorizes aboriginal fisheries, but does not recognize legal right of aboriginals to fish without federal approval.

Mr. Janes said there is often an atmosphere of “hostility and conflict” on the river between DFO and native communities that needs to be resolved.

“The reason you have to address these issues ... is to encourage DFO ... to take on the process of recognizing aboriginal rights [to fish are a legal right],” he said.

Tim Dickson, speaking for the Sto:lo Tribal Council and the Cheam Indian Band, said his clients have been relying on sockeye harvests on the Fraser River for thousands of years.

“When Europeans arrived the Sto:lo were here, fishing in the river for sockeye,” he said. “The Sto:lo lived off the fish . . . they had those [fishing] rights then and they continue to exist today,” said Mr. Dickson.

He said the Sto:lo and other bands on the Fraser want their legal right to fish recognized so they can begin to share in the management of salmon stocks.

“They want to manage the sockeye through a truly collaborative process. They don’t want to be told where and how they can fish by DFO,”