Hon. Rosa Galvez: Colleagues, I’m speaking to you today about Bill S-241, the Jane Goodall act. This bill, which aims to support Canada’s leadership on banning the holding of whales and dolphins in captivity, has received strong public support.

I’d like to begin by acknowledging the work of former senator Murray Sinclair, who introduced this bill in 2020. I’d also like to thank Senator Klyne and his team, who worked tirelessly to ensure that this important work didn’t go unfinished.

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Honourable senators, I and an increasing number of Canadians believe wild animals should have the right to a wildlife and shouldn’t be held in captivity, unless there is a direct benefit to them or a greater conservation goal. I am satisfied that this bill significantly contributes to making that goal a reality for a selection of animals, including great apes, elephants, big cats, bears, wolves, seals, walruses and dangerous reptiles.

Bill S-241 increases protection for more than 800 wild species where there is an abundance of evidence they suffer greatly in captivity because their natural movements and behaviour are severely restricted. There should be only exceptional circumstances for keeping wild animals in captivity: when it serves the animal’s best interests and for research that has conservation benefits.

Even if there is a conservation benefit to breeding wild animals in captivity, this bill was crafted with the foresight to recognize that a higher bar needs to be met to protect the dignity of the wild animal species and, indeed, to protect the dignity of our own species. The preamble of the bill sets out the opportunity to address the global wildlife trade through regulation. I strongly support further action in that regard.

Senator Klyne, in his initial speech, mentioned the opportunity to protect amphibians from a dangerous fungus and addressed the poaching of Canadian bears for gallbladders. I think those are important examples of the harm posed by the commercial wildlife trade. Whether that trade is legal or illegal, it causes harm to the animals themselves and increases the potential for significant zoonotic diseases that can harm animals and people. We just passed through COVID-19, as an example.

This bill will make Canada a global leader in protecting wildlife welfare and fulfill the mandate of the Minister of Environment to protect animals in captivity, help curb the illegal wildlife trade and end the elephant and rhinoceros tusk trade in Canada.

Last year, World Animal Protection released a report. Based on their analysis of Canada’s importation records, they estimated that more than 1.8 million wild animals were imported into our country between 2014 and 2018 and that the vast majority, 93%, were seemingly not subject to any permits or pathogen screening. Given the role of the wildlife trade in driving the biodiversity crisis and disease risk — I just talked about that a few weeks ago — that is very concerning.

Animal welfare science is constantly evolving. We are learning more and more about the complex biological, psychological and ecological needs of a variety of wild animal species and how difficult it is to meet those needs in captivity.

I’m very pleased the bill will end elephant captivity in Canada. I applaud the Zoo de Granby for announcing their plans to retire the elephants and support this bill. Highly social, intelligent and vast roaming animals like elephants should not be kept in captivity, particularly in Canada, where our climate for most of the year is brutal for these animals. Many people may not realize these animals spend most of their time in much smaller indoor enclosures due to the cold and, as a result, are unable to fully benefit from large outdoor pens, if they are provided.

This bill will help prevent future cases like that of the elephant Lucy. If you follow me on Twitter, I’ve been helping this group. It’s truly sad to see the situation of Lucy, who must spend more than two thirds of her life indoors at the Edmonton Valley Zoo due to harsh Canadian winters. As a result, she is 1,000 pounds overweight and shows signs of mental duress, such as rocking back and forth. I’d like to thank Lucy’s Edmonton Advocates’ Project for their important work in giving Lucy a voice.

I’m glad to see the bill is also supported by other zoos like the Toronto Zoo, the Calgary Zoo and the Montreal Biodome. This bill is clearly not anti-zoo, but it will raise the standard of zoos to what we, as a society, find acceptable. It will help establish transparent legal and science-based standards so animals like tigers, lions and many species of monkeys are no longer kept in undersized, flimsy cages where you don’t need a licence, a reason, any expertise or training to keep a tiger or other exotic wild animal.

It is no surprise that wild animals escape roadside zoos and people have been injured and even killed because of serious regulatory gaps. Just in 2013, we had a tragic case in New Brunswick where an African rock python, a reptile that wouldn’t be allowed to be held in captivity under this proposed legislation, killed two children aged 4 and 6. This legislation cannot be passed soon enough.

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In Quebec, a zoo was criminally charged with animal cruelty and neglect, saddling the Montreal SPCA and its partners with the task of having to seize and relocate more than 100 wild animals.

Despite the importance of this bill, it isn’t the last chapter. More rules need to be adopted to fight against the trade of wild animals. This is an under-regulated and unsustainable sector. Although the preamble of the bill addresses the pleas of the World Animal Protection organization, we need to do more to reduce animal suffering, the risks of illness and the loss of biodiversity. Legal trade only fuels illegal trade and we need new regulations to improve the very lax data collection and monitoring system that exists in Canada.

Bill S-241 has my unwavering support and should be referred to committee to be studied in due course so that we can take this major step in recognizing that the well-being of animals is essential to the way we measure progress in our society.

Thank you. Meegwetch.

(On motion of Senator Martin, debate adjourned.)

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On the Order:

Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator Boyer, seconded by the Honourable Senator Marwah, for the second reading of Bill S-250, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (sterilization procedures).