“What I Wish I Could Ask a Whale”

“In my aboriginal upbringing, we were always taught that animals are our brothers and sisters. They are living beings like us. They have their own spirits, they have their own families, they have their own language. And when I think of it that way, I see cetaceans as [our] equals.”

That’s the perspective that Senator Daniel Christmas brought to the Canadian Senate in June 2018 as members were preparing to vote on Senate Bill S-203: The Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act.

Dr. Lori Marino, President of the Whale Sanctuary Project, had testified at the Senate committee hearings, and Senator Christmas has since become an enthusiastic supporter of the sanctuary.

In the upcoming webinar, the Senator joins Lori for a conversation about the whale sanctuary and how it will affect captive whales, and also about how whales feature in the Senator’s aboriginal Mi’kmaq culture. Her questions include:

• In your speech to the Canadian Senate you said you wished it had been possible to hear directly from a beluga whale. What would you have liked to ask them?
• Mi’kmaq culture includes the concept that whales are our equals and that a human can “become” a whale or another animal, and vice versa. In what sense is that the case?
• One of the Mi’kmaq cultural heroes has a close relationship with a spirit whale who carries him across the ocean. What is their relationship and what is its significance?

Register for the webinar here.
Bring your questions, too, or send them in advance by email.
And then join us on Tuesday, March 2nd at 3:00 pm EDT.