Ah, the lazy hazy days of summer. It's a perfect time of year to go fishing. But before you grab the rod and reel, you might want to make sure you are of the right race. In Canada there are two fisheries; a native only fishery and a fishery for all other Canadians.

The Aboriginal Fishery Strategy (AFS) was first implemented on the Pacific coast in 1992. The program enabled four native bands to pilot the management and sale of their commercial food fish. It was expanded in 1994 to allow government to take voluntarily retired commercial fishing licences and the issuances of new licences and offer them to eligible native organizations.

This strategy is still in effect and has expanded over the years. Leaving other Canadian fishermen - commercial or recreational - left with whatever fragments might remain. In other words, native Canadians fish first.

Amazingly, there is nothing in the AFS to prohibit a native commercial fisherman from participating in both the native only fishery and the regular fishery. Clearly the double-dipping provides an unfair competitive advantage over other commercial fishermen.

Common sense would suggest there must be a reason for this madness. Unfortunately, when political correctness is involved all common sense is thrown overboard.

Past federal governments and native groups have claimed the program was implemented as a way of complying with the Sparrow Supreme Court of Canada ruling. Unfortunately, the justification is based on a false interpretation of that ruling.

The 1990 Sparrow decision did not give natives the right to a native-only commercial fishery. What the decision did do was affirm that native people have a right - protected by the Constitution - to harvest fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes.

Remarkably the AFS was implemented despite the commercial fishery having a long history of including natives. In fact, natives have always enjoyed the same right of access to commercial fisheries as all other Canadians. For example, in British Columbia prior to the implementation of the AFS, native people participated in the commercial fishery at a ratio ten times that of their ratio to the general population. There was no need for the Aboriginal Fishery Strategy then or now.

Thankfully, Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently indicated in a letter to the Calgary Herald, "-In the coming months, we will strike a judicial inquiry into the collapse of the Fraser River salmon fishery and oppose racially divided fisheries programs."

Canadians intrinsically believe in the principles of fairness and equality. It is likely we would not stand for Korean-only logging, German-only mining or any other race-based industry. The words of the Prime Minister are encouraging. But, as long as the Aboriginal Fishing Strategy and segregation policies of this nature continue to operate in Canada, Stephen Harper's words will remain only words.