Village says racism not to blame for attacks on fishermen

Residents of an eastern Ontario community are defending themselves after the province's chief human rights commissioner suggested assaults on Chinese-Canadian fishermen near a fish sanctuary this fall may have been racially motivated.

Ontario Provincial Police are investigating two separate attacks onfishermen ofAsian descent in Westport in September, including oneon Sept. 15 where a 76-year-oldman was allegedly beaten unconscious and another man was allegedly thrown off a bridge.

Neil Kudrinko, who lives in Westport, about 40 kilometres north of Kingston, told CBC's Ottawa Morning on Friday that as a community, local residents "aren't condoning that type of behaviour."

However, he said the incidents are likely motivated by frustration about poaching and the province's non-enforcement of fishing regulations near the village on Upper Rideau Lake despite years of complaints from locals.

"It's not about racism," he said. "It's about enforcement of the Conservation Act."

Victims were fishing legally: police

However, OPP spokeswoman Kristine Rae said police have determined that both victims inthe Westportincidents werein areas where fishing is allowed.

As of Friday, they had not made any arrests.

Two weeks earlier, the Brockville Recorder and Timesprinted a letter from Barbara Hall, chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, that said the attacks "are about racism, not about enforcing fishing regulations."

"When attacks are made against people of a particular race, we need to first investigate them from that perspective," Hall told CBC on Thursday. "To immediately dismiss it is how people often react to issues of racism. "

Kudrinko, who owns a local grocery store, said the community has invested a lot of time and private money to improve fish habitat and stock local waterways for the region's vital tourism industry.

He said Hall hasn't spoken to anyone in the community about the history of the situation.

"To say that it's simply a racist issue really shows a lack of understanding of concerns that have been expressed on a nightly basis by this community through calls to the [Ministry of Natural Resources] tips line, through discussions with local enforcement officers," he said. "And eventually, you know, that frustration is going to come to a head."

Meanwhile, Karen Sun, executive director of the Toronto chapter of the Chinese Canadian National Council, said the attacks and reports of illegal fishing are two separate issues.

"Under no circumstances is it appropriate to attack someone whether they are illegally fishing or not," Sun told the Peterborough Examiner onThursday.