Hon. Mary Coyle: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak here, on the traditional unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin People, in support of Bill S-241, the Jane Goodall act, sponsored by our colleague Senator Klyne.

Honourable senators, Jane Goodall is quoted as having said, “The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves.”

Colleagues, as senators, we know that it is our special duty to represent the rights of those who might otherwise be overlooked, especially those most disadvantaged. In the case of Bill S-241, we are being asked to represent the rights of our non‑domesticated animal counterparts, as well as take certain measures to ensure their individual welfare and the protection of certain species. We are being asked to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Our former colleague the Honourable Murray Sinclair introduced an earlier version of this bill in November 2020. In December of that same year, he penned an article for Maclean’s magazine which has relevance to our debate and study of Bill S-241.

Former Senator Sinclair said:

Science increasingly affirms what Indigenous peoples have always known, and what many Canadians are discovering: everything is connected. This is true not just of you and I, but of all life forms of Creation. This is why my people, the Anishinaabe, use the term “nii-konasiitook,” which means “all of my relations,” when speaking. It reflects the belief that all people owe each other as well as the environment, including animals and plants, a duty of respect. In turn, a healthy environment provides for our well-being, through clean air and water, plentiful food and favourable weather. The respect is mutual.

Closer to my home in Nova Scotia, in Mi’kma’ki, Hereditary Chief Stephen Augustine recounts the Mi’kmaq creation story, and I would like to read one small section that I have previously mentioned:

The third level of creation, down below us, is our Mother Earth, on whom we walk, and who bears the spirits of our ancestors. The interconnective relationship between Mother Earth and the whole of creation is evident in the Mi’kmaw language. The Mi’kmaw words for the people, and for the Earth, and for mother, and the drum, all come from that term which refers to “the surface on which we stand, and which we share with other surface dwellers.”

We are all surface dwellers, or weskijinu in the Mi’kmaq language.

That sense of interconnectivity is recognized and emphasized in Bill S-241 — the Jane Goodall act — 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).

As I sought to understand the main purposes of the act and to find a way to build on the earlier comprehensive contributions of Senator Sinclair and Bill S-241 sponsor Senator Marty Klyne, as well as the thoughtful contributions of our colleagues Senators Harder, Miville-Dechêne, Bovey, Petitclerc and Cordy, I found the preamble to the act to be a very helpful statement of the intent and purposes of this legislation.

Colleagues, Plato suggested that preambles should persuade citizens to obey important laws by speaking to their hearts and minds through both reason and poetry. While this bill’s preamble might not include poetry, I find it to be an excellent articulation of the essence of the Jane Goodall act. For that reason, I will share the key elements of this preamble with you:

Whereas the phrase “All My Relations” expresses an Indigenous understanding that all life forms of Creation are interconnected and interdependent;

Whereas science, empathy and justice require everyone to respect the biological and ecological characteristics and needs of animals;

Whereas cetaceans —

— whales, dolphins and porpoises —

— great apes, elephants and certain other non-domesticated animals ought not to be kept in captivity, except for justifiable purposes such as their best interests — including individual welfare and conservation — and non-harmful scientific research;

Whereas non-domesticated animals that may benefit from protection, in circumstances of captivity, through designation under the provisions enacted by this Act include big cats, bears, wolves, pinnipeds —

— seals —

— non-human primates, dangerous reptiles and other species;

Whereas animal care organizations that meet the highest standards of animal care may serve the interests of animals across many species with regard to animal welfare, conservation, non-harmful scientific research and public education;

Whereas animal care organizations may contribute to wildlife rescue and rehabilitation, the provision of sanctuary for animals in need, the restoration of wild populations and field research;

Whereas a ban in Canada on trade in elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn and on the collection of elephant and rhinoceros hunting trophies will help to conserve elephant and rhinoceros populations and encourage bans in other countries;

Whereas the global wildlife trade contributes to biodiversity loss, mass extinction and the risk of zoonotic disease and the Government of Canada may address wildlife trafficking through regulation;

Whereas Parliament may enact criminal laws and laws to regulate international trade and commerce in relation to animals, and provincial legislatures may enact laws in relation to property and civil rights such as granting legal standing to the orca Kiska —

 — the female orca at MarineLand —

— thus enabling orders in her best interests by her own right;

And whereas the subject matter of non-domesticated captive animals has a double aspect of shared federal and provincial jurisdiction;

We’ve heard some discussion on that issue here.

Colleagues, all aspects of the Jane Goodall act are important for the protection of animals from cruelty, for overall conservation and for addressing biodiversity loss, but I will focus my next remarks on the aspects of the bill that are related to trade in non-domesticated — what are commonly called “wild” — animals and, very tellingly, often called “big game.”

I started my professional career in the early 1980s in Botswana, a country that is well known for its wildlife. Botswana’s Chobe National Park, its unique Okavango Delta and the vast Kalahari Desert are all areas literally teeming with magnificent lions, leopards, cheetahs, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, zebras, crocodiles, a variety of antelopes and the ever-majestic African elephant.

The Batswana people’s traditional — or pre-colonial — beliefs included a supernatural being or creator called Modimo, who was also representative of the ancestors and, like the Indigenous peoples of Canada, the cosmology of the Batswana reflects a very strong connection between people and their natural environment.

The San people of the Kalahari believe that humans do not have primacy over any other life and that all forms of life are connected and interdependent.

In his speech on Bill S-218, the predecessor to Bill S-241, Senator Sinclair described the African elephant:

. . . the largest land animals in existence. Elephants are intelligent and highly emotional, with excellent memories and a strong sense of empathy. . . . Their sense of smell is five times more acute than a bloodhound’s, yet their trunks are versatile enough to pluck a blade of grass, suck up eight litres of water or flip a hippo.

They can hear storms hundreds of kilometres away and change their routes days in advance in order to intercept rain. Socially, elephants are matriarchal . . . . Older females keep the knowledge that allows the herd to survive, including . . . relationships and the locations of water and seasonal foods.

Elephants . . . try to revive sick or dying individuals . . . mourn their dead, scattering family members’ bones and standing vigil over dead matriarchs.

For Hindus, Ganesh, or Ganesha, the elephant god, is the embodiment of compassion, loyalty and wisdom.

Oh, but colleagues, what a rough ride these majestic beings have had. Between 1979 and 1989, half of all Africa’s elephants were lost to the ivory trade.

Today, there are between 400,000 and 500,000 elephants in Africa, a 70% decline since the 1970s, primarily due to poaching linked to organized crime.

Colleagues, wildlife rangers are often referred to as nature’s first responders. Around 100 of these protectors are killed annually by poachers largely feeding the global ivory trade.

The number of elephants killed every year is now declining, but it is still very significant.

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime says that reduced poaching seems to be the result of the dismembering through arrests and prosecutions of a large number of transnational organized crime networks involved in poaching and trafficking in east and southern Africa between 2014 and 2020, including several members of the Shuidong network, the Sheikhs gang and the principal leaders of the Kromah network. But these organized crime networks have shown themselves to be very resilient and are regrouping and reorganizing.

Countries and jurisdictions that have banned the domestic sale of elephant ivory within their borders, or are in the process of doing so, include China, the U.K., France, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Belgium, Luxembourg, the European Union and nearly every state in the U.S. It is believed that China’s domestic ban on elephant ivory may have displaced markets to neighbouring countries.

And now to our own country of Canada. Between 2007 and 2016, Canada allowed the importation of 83 trophy elephants, 434 elephant skulls and 260 elephant feet. About 300 African elephant tusks representing 150 elephants were legally imported into Canada between 2010 and 2018.

Canada, Japan, Namibia and South Africa were the four countries that opposed closing their domestic trade markets at the 2016 International Union for Conservation of Nature, Canada’s concern being that an ivory ban could affect the highly regulated Inuit trade in walrus and narwhal ivory. This is something our committee would no doubt want to probe into in their study of the bill.

As for rhinoceros, globally there were 11,000 poached since 2008. In 2015, a rhino horn was sold at auction in Vancouver for $228,000. It is legal to trade pre-1995 rhino products, but this is seen as a problematic loophole as the auction houses are not required to verify an item’s origin. Recent scientific reports by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Service recognize wildlife trade as a top driver of pandemic risk and biodiversity loss.

Colleagues, last fall’s election saw the Liberal, Conservative and NDP platforms all committing to ending illegal wildlife trophy trade. In his second reading speech, Senator Klyne said:

We are building a big tent that puts animals first. . . .

Rooted in scientific evidence, the Jane Goodall act would establish the strongest legal protections in the world for wild animals in captivity . . . as well as enhancing conservation laws.

It will phase out elephant captivity in Canada. It addresses the unsustainable global wildlife trade, and Senator Klyne has committed to working further with partners to develop regulatory recommendations and amendments to the bill relating to the global wildlife trade and illegal trafficking. So we’ll be looking for that.

More than 1.8 million wild animals were imported to Canada between 2014 and 2019 for a variety of purposes, and most were not subject to any permits or pathogen screening. We know there are 4,000 privately owned big cats in Canada. We heard Senator Cordy speak about that. This bill bans over 800 captive, non-domesticated species at roadside zoos.

Colleagues, very importantly, it establishes legal status for credible animal care organizations, and it updates Canada’s great ape policies.

Melissa Matlow, campaign director with World Animal Protection Canada said:

This is a historic bill that would make Canada a global leader in protecting wildlife and animal welfare. The unsustainable trade in wild animals requires urgent action, to prevent cruelty, extinction and future pandemics.

Colleagues, the Honourable Murray Sinclair reminded us in his speech that:

We are at a crucial time where the interrelated goals of Indigenous rights, environmental protection and animal welfare can help to combat cultural loss, climate change and mass extinction in Canada and beyond. . . .

Honourable senators, I’m happy to support Senator Klyne’s Bill S-241. I believe this is an opportunity for each of us and for our chamber to support Canadians in our collective desire to make a substantial difference in recognizing and respecting the rights of animals and thus making our world a much better place for all.

Thank you. Wela’lioq.