MP Fin Donnelly, Bill C-380 to Ban the Shark Fin Trade; & Teresa Telecky, HSI, on Polar Bears and the CITES Proposal to Ban the International Trade on Polar Bear Parts

Here’s this week’s show!

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To start this post Valentine’s Day show, we each chat about what we did to celebrate this day of love and compassion, which includes a diversity of activities (read: vegan baking, vagina monologuing, and the Animal Voices “Expand Your Love” film screening!). Jenni also talks to us about the Simon Fraser University LOVE Club, which she heads up. The student club promotes Living Opposed to Violence and Exploitation through vegetarian lifestyle and action relating to social justice.

Member of Parliament Fin Donnelly, Bill C-380 to Ban the Shark Fin Trade

For our first interview, we have Fin Donnelly on the show, who is a Member of Canadian Parliament for the New Westminster-Coquitlam and Port Moody riding, here in British Columbia, and also serves as the Deputy Critic for Fisheries and Oceans for the West Coast. He comes to us today to speak about the sharks, and, specifically, the results of the debate in Parliament earlier this week regarding his proposed Bill C-380, which calls for a nation-wide ban on the importation of shark fin parts in Canada.

This Monday in Ottawa, Members of Parliament participated in a second reading and debate of the proposed legislation, and plans are for the Bill to go to vote in Parliament on March 27th.

To find out more about this issue, and to sign the petition for Parliament, to support legislation to ban the import of shark fin to Canada, please visit this page on Fin Donnelly’s website: www.findonnelly.ca/sharkfin

Teresa Telecky, Humane Society International, on Polar Bears and the CITES Proposal to Ban the International Trade on Polar Bear Parts

For our feature interview, we have Teresa Telecky on the show, who is the Director for Wildlife for the Humane Society International. Teresa speaks with us about the polar bears, and the threats that they face that are currently putting them at risk of extinction. The topic of polar bears will be on the agenda of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Thailand this March, where a proposal to ban the international trade of polar bear parts will be voted on. As polar bear populations are dwindling, especially due to the impacts of global warming, one might think that this proposal would be unanimously agreed upon; however, major opposition is coming from the Canadian government (and Canada’s First Nations people). We ask Teresa to explain what scientific experts are saying about the threats to the polar bear populations, and what the opposition says in return.

A new Environics poll commissioned by Humane Society International and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) shows that the vast majority (85 percent) of Canadians support the proposal to prohibit the international commercial trade of polar bear parts. If you would like to add your voice to show your support for the proposal to CITES, here is a petition you can sign. Help save the polar bears, before it’s too late!