Objective
Students will draft a Statement of Concerns for the jurisdiction they will be representing at the Salmon Summit.

Step 1

Have the students become familiar with the jurisdiction they will be representing at the Salmon Summit. At a minimum, students should read the Biology, Habitat, Culture, Fisheries, and Treaties milestones contributed by the school(s) from the jurisdiction they will be representing at the Salmon Summit. (Betty"s lesson for learning about the new jurisdiction would be a great one to incorporate here.)

Step 2

Divide the class into small groups. Each group will represent one type of stakeholder in the jurisdiction they will be representing at the Salmon Summit. (This is an opportunity for the class to discuss the notion of a "stakeholder." Groups may represent native people, commercial fishers, sports fishers, cannery operators, environmentalists, etc. Lesson Three under Treaty Activities: Teaching Ideas, is useful preparation for this activity in helping your students to identify stakeholder groups.)

Each group will use the information in the milestone activities contributed by the school(s) from the jurisdiction they will be representing and other resources, on-line or elsewhere, to identify concerns about the salmon fishery from the perspective of its stakeholder group. (Students may find it useful to use students from the other jurisdictions via the forum and the panelists in the Q&A section as resources, in addition to any other research they may do.)

Teachers may want to suggest some of the following as areas in which students might identify concerns:

Environment:
e.g., concerns about threats to genetic diversity; concerns about spawning grounds, water quality, blockage of riverways, food sources.
Economy:
e.g., concerns about threats to the livelihood of individuals and communities, concerns about the tax base of a region; concerns about fish as a food source.
Fairness:
e.g., concerns about escapement and stock viability; concerns about who gets what; concerns about terms in the current treaty that seem ineffective, inappropriate or unfair.
Culture:
e.g., concerns about the impact on ways of life, traditions, spiritual beliefs.

On a piece of chart paper, have each group make a list of concerns and write one or two sentences for each concern explaining why it is a concern for its stakeholder group. Students should be quite specific in stating a concern. For example: "We"re concerned about declining salmon numbers," is not very specific, whereas "We"re concerned that not enough salmon are returning to the tributaries of the Fraser River to spawn," is more specific. Similarly, students should be specific about why this is a concern for their stakeholder group. (In many ways, the "why" of the concern is more important than the "what.")

Step 3

Have each group share the concerns it has identified with the rest of the class by posting its list of concerns on the wall.

Have the groups read each other"s lists.

Have each group explain to the class their concerns and the reasons those concerns are important for their stakeholder group. (This is a good opportunity for class discussion and questioning. Allow students from other groups to ask questions of the presenting group until they feel they could present the concerns of that group clearly.)

Each group should be given a different coloured marker. (e.g., one group has a red marker, one group has a blue marker, etc.) If a group sees a concern that they share on another group"s list, they should put a check mark beside that concern using their coloured marker. (This could be a concern that they have already identified in their own list, or a concern that they would like to add to their list.)

Step 4

Have the class choose five or six concerns it wants to discuss at the Salmon Summit. There are a number of ways of choosing the concerns. For example, the class may decide to choose the most important concern for each stakeholder group. They may decide to choose the three concerns that received the most check marks in Step 3 and to choose two or three other concerns to ensure a fair representation of different stakeholder interests. They could decide to choose the five or six concerns that received the most check marks. (However, teachers might point out that this last procedure runs the risk of being a "tyranny of the majority." I.e., Issues that are critical to only one stakeholder group may end up being neglected because the issue is not a concern to the majority. In real life, when minority interests are completely ignored, the disenfranchised stakeholder group is unlikely to "buy-in" to whatever agreement is ultimately negotiated.)

Step 5

Using the format below, have the class state these concerns very clearly, so that someone who has not heard the discussion will understand what is being said.

Use this format:
Concern:
Statement of Concern: We are concerned that ...
Why this is a Concern: This concerns us because ...

Example:
Concern: Dams
Statement of Concern: We are concerned that dams are preventing salmon from reaching their spawning grounds on the Columbia River.
Why this is a Concern to Us: Our fishers have traditionally caught salmon that spawn in the tributaries of the Columbia River. The number of fish spawning has dropped below sustainable levels. In time, there will be no salmon in the river at all.

Step 6

Post the list of concerns on the Salmon Summit Web site.
When this publication form has been posted you will find a link here or go to: Treaties > Publish > Summit Preparation