Tuesday, October 31, 2017

The Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans has the honour to present its

SEVENTH REPORT

Your committee, to which was referred Bill S-203, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and other Acts (ending the captivity of whales and dolphins), has, in obedience to the order of reference of November 23, 2016, examined the said bill and now reports the same with the following amendments:

1. Clause 2, pages 1 and 2:

(a) On page 1, replace line 11 with the following:

“(2) Subject to subsections (3) and (3.1), every one”; and

(b) on page 2,

(i) replace line 5 with the following:

“state of distress; or

(c) is authorized to keep a cetacean in captivity in the best interests of the cetacean’s welfare pursuant to a licence issued by the Lieutenant Governor in Council of a province or by such other person or authority in the province as may be specified by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

(3.1) Subsection (2) does not apply to a person who is conducting scientific research pursuant to a licence issued by the Lieutenant Governor in Council of a province or by such other person or authority in the province as may be specified by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.”, and

(ii) replace lines 20 to 26 with the following:

“an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine not exceeding $200,000.”.

2. Clause 4, page 3: replace lines 5 to 8 with the following:

“7.1 No person shall, except under and in accordance with a permit issued pursuant to subsection 10(1.1), import into Canada or export from Canada a living cetacean, including a whale, dolphin or porpoise, or sperm, a tissue culture or an embryo”.

3. New Clauses 5 and 6, page 3: Add the following after line 9:

“5 Section 10 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (1):

(1.1) The Minister may, on application and on such terms and conditions as the Minister thinks fit, issue a permit authorizing the importation or exportation of a living cetacean, or sperm, a tissue culture or an embryo of a cetacean, if the importation or exportation is for the purpose of

(a) conducting scientific research; or

(b) keeping the cetacean in captivity if it is in the best interests of the cetacean’s welfare to do so.

Related provision

6 For greater certainty, the amendments made by this Act to the Criminal Code, the Fisheries Act and the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act shall not be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from the protection provided for existing aboriginal or treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada by the recognition and affirmation of these rights in section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982.”.

Respectfully submitted,