Canada Bans Captivity of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises

Canada has passed legislation that bans keeping whales, dolphins and porpoises in captivity for entertainment.

Today, the House of Commons voted overwhelmingly in favor of Bill S-203, the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act. The bill phases out the captivity of cetaceans (i.e. whales, dolphins and porpoises) in Canada, except for rescues, rehabilitation, licensed scientific research, or cetaceans’ best interests. It also prohibits the trade, possession, capture and breeding of cetaceans.

“This is a major victory for cetaceans,” said Dr. Lori Marino, President of the Whale Sanctuary Project, who testified at Senate hearings in 2017. “They are among the most cognitively complex of all animals. Confining them to life in a concrete tank is truly unbearable for them.”

Only two facilities in Canada house cetaceans: the Vancouver Aquarium, which has a Pacific white-sided dolphin, and Marineland in Niagara Falls, which holds a lone orca, Kiska, and more than 50 beluga whales. The bill permits these facilities to keep them but not to breed them.

The bill took nearly four years to work its way through Parliament. Sponsored in the Senate in December 2015 by Sen. Wilfred Moore, it was opposed, blocked and obstructed by special interests. Forty witnesses, six experts from the Whale Sanctuary Project, testified at 17 committee hearings.

“We have a moral obligation to phase out the capture and retention of animals for profit and entertainment,” Moore said after today’s vote. “Canadians are calling upon us to do better – and we have listened.”

Moore himself had not been able to see the bill through to its final reading in the Senate, last year, since he had reached the compulsory retirement age of 65. His place was taken by the renowned Sen. Murray Sinclair, who spoke of plans to create a seaside sanctuary so that whales and dolphins could be retired from captivity:

“The intention of this sanctuary is to provide a place where rescued whales and dolphins can be rehabilitated for release while living in an environment that maximizes their well-being and autonomy in a setting as close as possible to their natural habitat, or where they might remain permanently if unreleasable.

“… Let’s not forget the creatures living in the concrete tanks. And let’s not forget the wild cetaceans who may yet face violent capture from their family groups for the purpose of display for human entertainment. That’s what this bill is about and why it matters so much.

“… Given the scientific knowledge presented by experts about the biological characteristics and needs of cetaceans during the study of this bill, it is evident that it is cruel to keep cetaceans in captivity.

“We, I believe, do not want to be cruel. We should not allow others to be, either.”

And Senator Daniel Christmas noted that no testimony had been possible, of course, from the people who will be most affected by the vote: the whales themselves.

“A lot of the argument talked about the human need to research the species … but I wish it were possible to get the testimony of a cetacean,” he said. “If I had the opportunity to ask a beluga, I believe I would ask them: ‘What is best for your family?’”

The bill passed in the Senate in October 2018 and then moved to the House of Commons, where it was championed by Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.

“Canadians have been clear, they want the cruel practice of keeping whales and dolphins in captivity to end,” she said after today’s vote.

“With the passage of Bill S-203, we have ensured that this will happen.”