limited restrictions placed on the fishery are targeted and specific to particular fish species and are intended to ensure that the particular vulnerability of each species is duly considered, and that all persons using the resource, including the author and the other members of the Hiawatha First Nation, benefit there from. Limits are imposed on what species of fish may be caught, when each species may be caught and how many may be caught.11 When the waters bordering the Hiawatha Reserve are closed from 16 November to late April for conservation purposes, the author can fish for most species in other lakes and rivers further away from January to March and from May to December. could not conclude that the Indians were mislead at the time of the 1923 Treaty, and that section 35 of the Constitution Act 1982, recognizing and confirming the existence of aboriginal treaty rights of the aboriginal people of Canada, did not create new rights or reconstitute the rights that had been contracted away. In the Ontario Court of Appeal, the central issue was whether the rights of the Hiawatha First Nation members to fish on the Otanabee river had been surrendered by the 1923 Williams Treaty. The author argued that the Treaty should not be interpreted so as to extinguish the rights, or alternatively that the Rice Lake Band (as the Hiawatha First Nation was then called) did not have sufficient knowledge and understanding of the Treaty’s terms to bind the Band to it. The Court found that the language of the 1923 Treaty clearly and without ambiguity showed that the Band surrendered its fishing rights throughout Ontario when it entered into that Treaty and concluded that the Crown had satisfied its onus of establishing that the representatives of the Band knew and understood the treaty and its terms. On appeal to the Supreme Court, the central issue was whether the signatories to the 1923 Williams Treaty had surrendered their treaty right to fish. The Supreme Court after having carefully reviewed the lower courts’ assessment of the evidence, endorsed their findings and concluded that the historical context did not provide any basis for concluding that the terms of the 1923 Treaty were ambiguous or that they would not have been understood by the Hiawatha signatories. In this context, the Court pointed out that the Hiawatha signatories were businessmen and a civil servant and that they all were literate and active participants of the economy and society of their province. 9.4 The State party thus argues that, since the author is able to fish all year round, share his catch with his family and show his children and grandchildren how to fish, his right to enjoy the fishing rights belonging to his culture has not been denied to him. The State party submits that the author’s assertion that there is not enough fish where he is allowed to fish cannot be reconciled with the fact that he can fish adjacent to the Hiawatha First Nation reserve in the Otonabee river, a short distance downstream from where he was fishing on 18 January 1985 and is also inconsistent with fishery surveys and with public statements made by the Hiawatha First Nation in order to attract tourists. Lawful fishing opportunities exist for the author also in the winter season when the waters next to the Hiawatha reserve are closed for fishing. 9.5 As to the author’s argument that the Supreme Court’s decision in his case is inconsistent with the State party’s obligations under article 27 of the Covenant, the State party recalls the issues and arguments presented to the courts and their decisions. The author was charged for unlawfully fishing during a closed period, because he had taken some pickerel fish from the Otanabee river near but not on the Hiawatha First Nation reserve. At trial before the Provincial Court of Ontario, the author pleaded not guilty and argued that he had a right to fish as a member of the Hiawatha First Nation, that this right was not extinguished by the 1923 Williams Treaty and that this right should not be abrogated by the fishing regulations. The trial judge, having been provided with hundreds of pages of documentary evidence, concluded that the lands where the offence was alleged to have occurred were in fact ceded by the 1923 Treaty, and that any special rights as to fishing were included in that. On appeal in the District Court of Ontario, the judge found that he 9.6 The State party argues that the author’s attempt to undermine the courts’ findings of fact goes against the Committee’s principle that it is for the courts of the States parties and not for the Committee to evaluate facts and evidence in a particular case. The State party also takes issue with the author’s suggestion that the Supreme Court’s decision in his case reversed a long held understanding of the Hiawatha First Nation that after 1923 they maintained their aboriginal right to fish and were not subject to Ontario’s fishing laws. According to the State party this proposition was not supported by any evidence during the court hearings and in fact, the evidence was to the contrary. 9.7 Finally, the State party argues that article 27 must allow for a minority to make a choice to agree to the limitation of its rights to pursue its traditional means of livelihood over a certain territory in exchange for other rights and benefits. This choice was made by the Hiawatha First Nation in 1923 and, in the State party’s opinion, article 27 does not permit the author to undo his community’s choice 11 The State party indicates that with a resident sport fishing licence, the author can daily catch and possess : 6 walleye, 6 mouth bass, 6 northern pike, 5 trout or salmon, 1 muskellunge, 25 whitefish and unlimited yellow perch, crappie, carp and catfish. 131