David Gislason

Anishinabek/Ontario Fisheries Resource Centre

The Anishinabek/Ontario Fisheries Resource Centre is a not-for-profit corporation providing research and technical support in the fields of fisheries and natural resource management to the 39 First Nations of the Anishinabek Nation. The Centre's headquarters are in North Bay, Ontario. The Centre is a product of the 1993 Anishinabek Conservation and Fishing Agreement between the Crown as represented by the Ontario Minister of Natural Resources and the Ontario Minister Responsible for Aboriginal Affairs and the Anishinabek Nation as represented by the Union of Ontario Indians. The agreement arose out of a period of tense and occasionally violent disagreements across Canada between First Nations using fish resources on the one side and non-indigenous members of the public and the Crown on the other. The Centre was formally incorporated in 1995 and has served as an independent source of information about the resource since then. Most of its work is undertaken at the request of First Nations belonging to the Anishinabek Nation. The A/OFRC is governed by a board of nine directors comprising four appointees from the Province of Ontario, four appointees from the Anishinabek Nation and a jointly appointed Chair.