Hon. Paula Simons: Honourable senators, today I rise to speak to Bill S-241, known as the “Jane Goodall Act.” Since this bill was first placed before us, we have heard many inspirational, passionate, even lyrical speeches about the importance of protecting animals, especially “charismatic” mammals, including gorillas, elephants, tigers and whales, from abuse and exploitation.

Our cultural expectations for the proper care of captive wildlife in zoos and aquariums has changed radically over our lifetimes. Today, it is not enough for animals to be kept safe and well fed. We also demand that animals today be cared for and displayed in a way that recognizes and respects their dignity and autonomy. We now believe that the primary role of zoological gardens and marine parks is not to entertain children and sell popcorn, but to protect endangered species from extirpation and extinction. Canada’s zoos pride themselves on their breeding programs — their efforts not just to keep animals safe in captivity, but to work to reintroduce them, where and when possible, to their natural habitats.

This has been a radical paradigm shift. When I was growing up in Edmonton, I lived just a few blocks away from what was then called the Storyland Zoo. Animals were kept in enclosures that featured nursery rhyme and fairy tale settings and backdrops. There was no effort to keep the animals in naturalistic landscapes. They were there to be cute and to be part of a fairy tale, fantasy world.

But the zoo abandoned the Storyland theme decades ago. Today, the Edmonton Valley Zoo focuses primarily, though not exclusively, on northern and prairie animals who are well adapted to life at 53° latitude. The zoo strives to keep animals — where they can — in relatively naturalistic settings. Some of the older enclosures are still lacking, but the zoo is moving in the right direction, in keeping with emerging philosophies of zoo keeping.

The Edmonton Valley Zoo is also part of an international network involved in what is known as the Species Survival Plan, a program to help breed and restore populations of endangered or threatened species. It is specifically involved in the breeding and protection of the Amur tiger, the Grevy’s zebra, the snow leopard, the red panda and the Goeldi’s monkey. The zoo also supports the work of the Snow Leopard Trust, the Red Panda Network and the Amphibian Ark.

The Edmonton Valley Zoo has done its best to learn from the mistakes and prejudices of the past, and it strives to create a facility that offers educational opportunities to the community and to help safeguard species at risk.

I bring this up not just to mark the way the philosophy of Canadian zoo management has evolved over time but because the successes — and failures — of the Edmonton Valley Zoo highlight a problematic weakness in Bill S-241.

As currently drafted, the legislation pays extraordinary deference to the American standards of zoo and aquarium care as set by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the AZA — although I guess that should be “A-zee-A,” which is sort of my point. The bill grants to the seven big Canadian zoos and marine parks that have achieved “A-zee-A” status particular privileges and exemptions, for which other Canadian zoos do not qualify. Never mind that Canada has its own agency that independently inspects and rates Canadian zoos, CAZA, which stands for Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums.

The bill doesn’t offer an explanation of why we should or would rely on American rather than Canadian standards. There seems to be an implicit suggestion that the American accreditation is better or, perhaps, harder to achieve. But as a Canadian, I am deeply uncomfortable with writing an explicit preference for American rather than Canadian protocols right into the text of the bill —