Honourable senators, I rise today to speak in support of Bill S-241, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (great apes, elephants and certain other animals). I wish to thank Senator Klyne for his work in reintroducing this bill.

For those of us who believe in a higher being, whether we call them God or Creator, we can fundamentally agree that there are both purpose and intent for all creation. Within this holistic view, humankind is but one of millions of species sharing Mother Earth. Yet we find that the brash actions taken by humans, being one small piece of a very large puzzle, have severely threatened the future of our planet, as well as threatened the other life forms we share it with. All living things have inherent value on this earth, and all our relations merit protection for the value they provide.

Culturally speaking, all our relations also fulfill the intrinsic human need for spiritual rekindling and artistic inspiration. Our relations — the eagle and the beaver — in their natural habitat, that some call the wilderness, have deeply shaped our national identity. Together, they continue to profoundly influence how we view ourselves as Canadians. Likewise, exotic animals hold a similar level of intrinsic value within their native countries.

Yet how do we uphold them? By confining them in artificial habitats far from their homelands, largely for the selfish purposes of human entertainment. In his book, Thinking Like a Mountain, author Robert Bateman quotes the great biologist and ecologist E.O. Wilson, “. . . the past century will be remembered less for its technological prowess than for its destruction of diversity.”

Bateman continues:

Humanity needs a new definition of Progress, one that is more elegant and sophisticated, one that values heritage, both natural and human. We need to think carefully about the health and well-being of future generations . . . . Our grandchildren . . . will learn the many marvels of earth, air, and stream. They will see the miracle of renewal — how the world and its creature replenish themselves according to the normal cycles and processes of nature. But numerous memories will never be made — because the last couple of generations will have destroyed so much.

Honourable senators, we must recognize the global nature of the issue at hand. Simply put, the animals that Bill S-241 seeks to protect should not be residing in Canada. As Senator Klyne pointed out in his earlier remarks, the vast majority of these animals have no business existing in Canada’s unforgiving climate.

To this point, many of these animals — ones that are biologically wired and engineered for life in their respective homelands — are forced to live an existence that is both unfamiliar and unfair, and sometimes dangerous and life‑threatening. This includes animals as substantial as the elephant being forced to live indoors for many months of the year because they are not intended to live in Canada’s snowy climate. To be frank, what we are witnessing is unnatural and amoral.

Colleagues, the animals that are nearest and dearest to my heart are the ones native to Canada. At home, I am concerned for the wolf, the buffalo, the bear and the sturgeon. It is through my concern for them that I can empathize with the current situation facing these more exotic animals — ones who are similarly imperiled but for markedly different reasons.

How have we, as human beings, become so disconnected from nature? In the book, Rewilding Our Hearts: Building Pathways of Compassion and Coexistence, author Marc Bekoff states:

We experience alienation from nature when we learn about or participate in, the wanton killing of wild species, when fields and forests are clear cut and paved over for suburban development, and when ecosystems are ruined by pollution or other human impacts. We experience firsthand our separation from nonhuman animals when we keep them in cages in zoos. And we instill alienation from nature in our children by teaching them primarily indoors at desks and in front of computer screens. Alienation flows from the belief that humans are superior to all other animals and that we are meant to dominate other species and use the Earth solely for our benefit.

Bekoff continues:

We are also inconsistent in our caring. People are often outraged over specific incidents of animal cruelty — such as the massacre of 49 captive wild animals in Ohio in October 2011 — but they remain unmoved by the slaughter of billions of animals for food and research, or the horrific and ongoing abuse of animals used for entertainment in zoos, aquariums, circuses and rodeos.

Honourable senators, when it comes to Bill S-241, I urge you to practise consistency. This chamber did critical work in passing similar legislation as it pertains to whales and dolphins in captivity. Let us ensure we always take a view that lends itself to compassion for all animals with whom we share this planet. The first step in doing so is allowing this bill to be referred to committee in short order.

Colleagues, I would like to provide a glimpse into a perspective I hold on these matters. To illustrate this, I will quote Judge Berger from the book entitled Stories Told: Stories and Images of the Berger Inquiry, by Patrick Scott:

The native people of Canada, and indeed indigenous people throughout the world, have what they regard as a special relationship with their environment. Native people of the North have told this Inquiry that they regard themselves as inseparable from the land, the waters and the animals with which they share the world. They regard themselves as custodians of the land, which is for their use during their lifetime, and which they must pass on to their children and their children’s children after them. In their languages there are no words for wilderness.

It further reads:

The native people’s relationship to the land is so different from that of the dominant culture that only through their own words can we comprehend it. . . . The native people’s identity, pride, self-respect and independence are inseparably linked to the land and a way of life that has land at its centre. . . . Even native people, who are not themselves hunters and trappers but who make their contribution to native society in other ways, see their identity and pride as people as linked to the land.

Honourable senators, why is it that humans are so closely invested in the concept of confinement? I speak of our tendency to take living things and confine them to unnatural, foreign spaces and then present it as a form of education or business.

Human folly allowed us to normalize the act of confinement on our own brothers and sisters. We have seen this through different media, including residential schools, internment camps, refugee camps and so on. This folly emboldened us to further extend such unnatural confinement to unsuspecting animals.

Can anyone, human or animal, actually live in captivity, or do they merely exist? As someone who faced this bleak reality for 11 years of my life in a residential school, I can unequivocally say that we exist in that environment; we do not live. Nature and biology dictate that humans and animals in captivity shut down to accommodate the terrible confining situation they find themselves in. Such confinement fundamentally alters both physical and mental behaviours. The harm done therein is undeniable.

Colleagues, how we proceed on this long-overdue human-driven issue will reflect what we, as Canadians and as senators, value. Do we not want these magnificent animals to be protected, to remain in their natural habitat and to be a part of our world for seven generations to come?

As I see it, we have two fundamental options before us: First, we can consciously decide that the protection of biodiversity is not important and not our responsibility, despite the fact we are the ones who manufactured this situation. This would be represented by having this bill sit idle.

Alternatively, we can consciously decide that these animals need to be respected and protected. Doing so would include a recognition that the unnatural confines and manufactured environments we have created do more harm than good. It would require us to advocate for the best interests of these animals by allowing for a vote on this bill.

Honourable senators, although we have created the human framework of confinement, we now have the ability to partially correct that error.

As author Marc Bekoff writes in his aforementioned book:

We often have unrealistic expectations, or we define our needs and build our communities such that animals will inevitably become a problem. This reminds me of how some zoo administrators call animals who are not part of their captive breeding program “surplus” animals, and then they kill these animals because they are of no use to the zoo. For example, in early 2014, the Copenhagen Zoo killed a young healthy male giraffe named Marius because he couldn’t be used as a breeding machine, and later four lions, including two cubs, were killed at the same zoo so that a new male could be introduced to the remaining females. It’s a perversion of logic and morality to breed animals to “save” species only to kill those same animals when they become too inconvenient to care for.

Bekoff quotes Richard Foster, editor of the Daily Kumquat, saying:

The blind eye we turn to the suffering of animals is probably the greatest example of cognitive dissonance in the world.

However, colleagues, what we are seeing across the country are citizens who largely reject the notion of animal captivity. There are numerous polls and studies that reflect this trend in beliefs. The onus is now squarely on us to adopt a similarly enlightened approach. Every day that we sit idle on this legislation is another day that these emotionally attuned animals continue to toil in captivity.

The seriousness of the issue before us cannot be overstated. The suffering we are permitting to occur to such intelligent, cognizant animals must stop now.

Personally, I know the legacy I would like to leave for my children, my grandchildren and those to come. It is to lead with love, to champion compassion and to value life in all its forms. I ask you to embrace the same.

I thank my colleagues for their consideration on this matter. For any senators intending to speak on this bill, I urge you to do so promptly so that a vote can soon take place on this important legislation, and we can send it to committee.

Honourable senators, let us see these animals for what they are — all our relations. Thank you. Kinanâskomitin.

Yes, I would.

The senator only has a minute left, Senator Plett. Perhaps, Senator McCallum, would you like to ask for five minutes to answer a question?

Yes, please.

Is leave granted, honourable senators?

Thank you for your questions. When I said that senators are sitting idle, I was referring to senators who want to speak on this, and — because it’s such a critical issue — asking them if they would speak on it as soon as possible. That was why I said, “sitting idle.”

When I look at 2,000 acres to roam around, that is still captivity, especially when you look at the range that wolves have up North where they have thousands and thousands of acres and can move throughout the province. To me, the acres are not enough.

You asked: What happens if they become extinct? That’s why it needs to go to the committee — that is what I’m advocating for — so that we can find the answers to these very questions. I am working on the sturgeon with one of the First Nations because it is becoming extinct in its natural habitat due to resource extraction. I’m concerned about it, and I’m concerned that it will lead to further disrespect of wildlife because people are engineering species. When you look at the salmon, they no longer spawn in the space they’re meant to spawn in. I worry that many of the animals will head that way because society seems to think they’re disposable.