Fridays and most significant Canadian 48-hour deadlines, always playing with the 6-hour difference and, in some cases..... with the Easter Holiday .... diaspora!

1. Friday, the 3rd of March, 1995:

Canadian "ultimatum" to the 15 EU Member States, summoned by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Gordon Smith, at 5:00 p.m. in a session that lasted until 6:45 p.m. and pressed all of us to comply, with a moratoria of 60 days, after the objection procedure presented by the EU and the effective coming into force of the new "Bill for Protection of the Fisheries Amendment Act" as a sort of another ultimatum to be answered in 48 hours, by the following Monday.

Once the meeting ended, Mr. Cornier Terrence, Executive Assistant of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, dramatically announced from the frame of the door leading to the room, that just 5 minutes ago, the Governor General gave the Royal Assent to the inclusion of Spain and Portugal into the "Fisheries Amendment Act".

The meeting was so unexpected and so late convened as well as late going, that the 15 Ambassadors of the EU asked our Canadian guest permission to use the same room where this warning had been delivered, in order to quickly share our views as it was already 7:45 p.m., being Saturday early morning in Europe and, due to the late hour, we could not found another suitable place for a brief meeting.

2. The 6th of March 1995:

The European Council's answer was received in Ottawa, some 5 hours before the Canadian ultimatum "deadline". It was the following:

DÉCLARATION DU CONSEIL A.G. - 6 mars 1995

L'Union Européenne

Ayant pris acte des derniers développements et des initiatives récentes du Canada concernant les activités de pêche dans la zone NAFO, et notamment pour la pêcherie de flétan noir.

rappelle la procédure d'objection et réaffirme la position de l'Union prise en conformité du Droit de la Mer et les activités de pêche dirigées sur le flétan noir dans la zone NAFO. Il n'y a donc pas lieu d'accepter un moratoire pour les activités de pêche dirigées sur le flétan noir dans la zone NAFO;

confirme l'engagement de l'Union pour une utilisation rationnelle et responsable des ressources halieutiques, par le respect des limitations globales de captures fixées;

prend note du fait que la Commission a répondu favorablement à la demande canadienne d'organiser une réunion bilatérale, étant entendu que celle-ci devra se poursuivre dans le cadre multilatéral de la NAFO et que la Communauté demandera à cet effet une réunion des Parties Contractantes,

dénonce l'action unilatérale engagée par les autorités canadiennes et les invite à poursuivre la discussion dans le respect des régles et principes de droit, conformément aux dispositions pertinentes du Droit de la Mer. Le Conseil rappelle à cet égard sa position à l'encontre de la lágislation canadienne en matière de contr“le des activités de pêche de navires non-canadiens au-delà; des 200 miles, et demande à la Commission de lui soumettre dans les meilleurs délais une analyse juridique des modifications apportées à celle-ci le 3 mars dernier. A la lumière de cette analyse l'Union se réserve d'engager les démarches nécessaires.

3. Three days later, the 9th of March, 1995:

Around 3:00/4:00 p.m., casually being at the Portuguese Embassy, we heard the first news about the harassment and prosecution of the "Estai" leading to the posterior illegal seizure of the Spanish fishing vessel.

The Embassy of Spain proceeded immediately to send to the Canadian Government two official Protests, while the harassment was produced, contained in the Verbal Notes no. 24/95 and 25/95 which referred essentially to the written confirmation of tough verbal expressions of Mr. Paul Dubois, Director General for Western European Bureau, on using force against Spanish fishermen, as well as a protest against the harassment and prosecution of the Spanish vessel "Estai".

4. On Friday, the 10th of March 1995:

Ambassadors of the EU were summoned again to Foreign Affairs and the Ambassador of Spain, Dr. José Luis Pardos, read and handed personally to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Gordon Smith, the official protest of the Spanish Government for the illegal seizure of the "Estai" which was contained in the Verbal Note no. 27/95 which essentially referred to condemn the seizure, reiterate the European Union Statement of March 6, and asked for the immediate release of the vessel.

Also, that very same Friday, the 10th of March 1995, the Embassy of Spain presented a request of information to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade on the legal grounds and other reasons why the Canadian Government seized the "Estai" which was contained in the Verbal Note no. 28/95

5. On Friday, the 10th of March 1995:

The Embassy of Spain officially requested further information on the arrival procedures and specially about the presence of the Ambassador of Spain for receiving the Spanish vessel "Estai" which was contained in the Verbal Note no. 29/95

6. Arrival from the High seas of the ESTAI on Sunday, the 12th of March, 1995 at 11:00 a.m. and Departure to Vigo on Wednesday, the 15th of March, 1995 at 8:30 p.m.

7. Back in Ottawa,

the Spanish Ambassador requested a meeting with the Assistant Deputy Minister for Europe. On Thursday, the 23rd of March, 1995, the Ambassador of Spain met with the Assistant Deputy Minister for Europe, Mr. Jean-Pierre Juneau, and in a very tough and short session, presented the complaints about the procedures developed in St. John's while the "Estai" was there, which were contained in Verbal Note no. 32/95 and referred essentially to the absence of dialogue "in situ" with any responsible Canadian Authorities.

The four Ambassadors had to walk through the crowd to board the ship among angry and aggressive insults pronounced all along the long walking way to the Court premises access, since neither the crowd nor the media were restricted by a cordoned off area. It was significative the wording generally used in the media, which this Embassy does not dare repeating for dignity sake, as well as the degrading and humiliating pictures which prevailed in order to ensure as negative an impact as possible in the public opinion.

The Canadian reply was not produced until 6 days later, and did not address specifically the points of the substance of the Protest.

8. Friday, the 24th of March 1995:

When the cables of the "Pescamar I" were cut by the Canadian specialized "cutting" vessels, a subsequent information and general Verbal Notes of Protest, again had to be produced by this Embassy on another week-end.

9. Wednesday, the 5th of April, 1995,

at night, at 11:00 p.m. again another net cutting and subsequent harassment of the Spanish fishing vessels "Juan Antonio Nores and Ana María Gandón" were produced and the information was announced and confirmed throughout the Spanish National Radio into the Spanish Embassy in Ottawa, in presence of the Europarlamentarian Mr. Carlos Gasoliva, who was a guest at the Embassy to be briefed before he met with officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs next day after his lecture in Montreal.

Around 10:00 p.m., when this Embassy tried to contact some high level Foreign Affairs Officials, either at their Office or at home, they did not know anything about the harassment, the net cutting, and other problems. Following a peculiar information given to the Ambassador at 8:15 a.m. the next morning, he was told over the phone that all those acts were "ordinary inspection exercises".

10. Good Friday, the 14th of April, 1995.

The Ambassador of Spain was suddenly advised by Mr. Paul Dubois, Director General Western Europe Bureau, to stand by and get ready to go to The Ministry of Foreign Affairs around 8:25 p.m. together with the representative of the Presidency of the European Union, Ambassador of France, the Ambassador of Portugal (called off later) and the Delegate of the Commission Mr. John Beck. Mr. Paul Dubois told Ambassador Pardos that at that time, a Cabinet meeting with the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Fisheries was taking place, in order to prepare what Mr. Gordon Smith, was going to tell the Ambassador of Spain, in the presence of the Assistant Deputy Minister, Mr. Jean-Pierre Juneau and the Executive Assistant, Mr. Cornier Terrence, mainly that the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs was instructed to communicate to us the government's rules of engagement for her Majesty Canadian Ships, emphasizing that those were rules for military vessels and not for fisheries or coast guard ships.

Easter Saturday night, at 7 p.m. the Honorable Mr. Tobin produced his "Pascal Vigil" conference amidst a big paraphernalia of trophies, numerous graphical charts and a great emotional need for drinking water while thanking the men and women who intervened in this epopee.