Editor:

I read with interest a letter to the editor from Grand Chief Doug Kelly in the Times (Jan. 31 - First Nations People know Cummins far too well). Doug Kelly is certainly entitled to his own opinions. But he is not similarly entitled to his own facts.

The protest fisheries that I helped organize and participated in did not target "authorized lawful and constitutionally protected fisheries" as mistated by the Grand Chief.

In truth, they targeted fisheries conducted solely to harvest fish for illegal sale.

In sworn testimony before the recently concluded Cohen Inquiry into the Fraser River sockeye fishery, federal Fisheries Officers made clear that 97 per cent of the fish caught under native "food, social and ceremonial" licences was sold illegally.

We protested the government's failure to respect the rule of law and enforce federal fisheries legislation and have no regrets about doing so.

A BC Conservative government has committed to authorizing provincial Conservation officers to enforce federal fisheries law if the federal government won't.

John Cummins Leader, British Columbia Conservatives