1997-01
Wildlife News and Views by
Andrea Stevens, North West Wildlife Preservation Society
[Seeking an end to Bear hunting in BC]
…
Motivation for attempting the huge petition came from a 1995 Angus Reid poll
which showed that 78% of those polled support banning trophy hunting of black
bears in BC…
1997-01-11-6
The Review, Richmond, BC by
David DaSilva
[Hunting presentation called off in
latest enviro-hunting clash]
…
Students in an environmental club at Palmer Secondary School arranged to have
Anthony Marr… speak… But when Doug Walker of the BC Wildlife Federation heard
about it, and (told the school to either cancel out on Marr or give them equal
time), the event was (suspended)…
1997-01-17 Daily News, Nanaimo,
BC by Anthony Marr
[Vanderhorst misled with numbers]
…
WCWC’s stand on the anti-hunting campaign is to start and end with the bear,
but for once, Vanderhorst is right about me. I am against recreational and trophy
hunting… of any species… Ultimately, everything has to do with one species -
our own, regarding how civilized we truly are.
1997-02-13-4
The Vancouver
Sun
by Anthony Marr
[Tiger, tiger, burning…out?]
…
If we commit to Gaia our heart and soul, our children may just see a new world
emerge, one more compassionate than ever before, perhaps one destined for the
stars.
1997-03 New
Internationalist
magazine
by Ross Crockford
[Bad Medicine –
Ross Crockford tells the story of a man
who has stepped on toes from Campbell River to Hong Kong to stop a pernicious
trade…]
Anthony
Marr knows what it feels like to be endangered. Last summer the Vancouver
environmentalist was touring small towns in British Columbia... Often the
reception he got was downright hostile. Many people in the countryside
claimed he was trying to destroy their livelihood and their heritage...
Now,
Marr is taking his campaign around the world... He knows there will be some
risk; organized crime is directly involved in the endangered species trade...
But after tangling with British Columbia's hunters, he should be ready.
1997-03-19
The Hindu, Delhi, India
[In aid of the vanishing Bengal Tiger]
Finally,
the BET’R Campaign of Western Canada Wilderness Committee to save bears,
elephants, tigers and rhinos has entered India as well…
1997-spring/summer
WSPA
News
[BC Petition to ban bear hunt fails]
…
Anthony Marr has said that the failure to collect enough signatures should not
be seen as a reflection on how well they ran their campaign. Nor should it be seen as a reflection of
public sentiment about bear hunting…
1997-05
Common Ground Magazine
by Anthony Marr
BC's
Recall and Initiative Act for citizen initiated referendums does not work.
Anthony
Marr found that out the hard way, working for six months on a Bear Referendum
that failed. Compared to California and
Washington state, our act is designed to fail and does not serve the
public. Here is a proposal to make the
act workable.
In
June 1989, thousands of Chinese students died in Tiennanmen Square for
democracy, some shot, others crushed in their tents by tanks. Had my family
never escaped from China, I would likely have been in their midst. Living
instead in Canada, I do not take my freedom for granted. I safeguard it with my
life, and make sure I use it to its fullest extent towards making the maximum
difference for as long as possible.
This
is why, seeing that BC is the only Canadian province with the provision for
citizens to launch referendums through the Recall and Initiative Act, I
expended six full months of my life on Western Canada Wilderness Committee's
(WCWC) Bear Referendum campaign last year.
This is why, after the exercise in futility, I have come to abhor the
true lack of full and real democracy in BC, and therefore in Canada.
What
we have here is at best semi-democracy, if not downright pseudo-democracy. We have the right to vote for politicians
who are usually little more than the least of several evils, who then behave
more like dictators than democrats.
Most of all, the Recall and Initiative Act is all semblance but no
substance.
On
July 13, 1996, the Editor-in-Chief of the Kamloops Daily News, Mel
Rothenburger, wrote: "Nobody ever
promised democracy would be easy.
Anthony Marr, who grew up in Hong Kong, is learning all about that in Canada. Marr was in town this week as part of a tour
of BC cities setting the stage for what he hopes will be a provincial
referendum on bear hunting. Aside from
the cogency of his argument, what struck me most about his objective is the
near-impossibility of success . . ."
Having
travelled 20,000 km from city to city debating trophy hunters by the hundreds
face to face and on various media, generating some 200 newspaper articles
around the province, working hard with some 2,000 volunteers in the Initiative
Petition phase of the Referendum campaign in sleet and snow, and still ending up
short of the impossible goal set by BC's Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh, I
declare the process unworkable-by-design, and the government's purported wish
to share legislative power with the people totally insincere.
How
our Act compares to those of California and Washington State
The fact that no other Canadian province has even BC's pretence of a
citizen-launchable initiative makes Canada a less-than-first-class
democracy. First, let me recap the
current rules and regulations in Election BC's Recall and Initiative Act, and
compare and contrast it against other proven, workable systems around the
democratic world whenever possible:
To
force a province-wide referendum, the Proponent must first collect signatures
from at least 10% of the registered voters in each and every one of the 75
electoral districts in the province, which should total about 220,000
province-wide. If only one electoral
district falls short by even 1%, all is for nought. In contrast, California and Washington state, for example, require
only 5% of the number of voters who actually voted in the previous election,
which given a 60% turnout is equivalent only to 3% of the registered voters,
and at that from anywhere in the state.
The
BC signatures must be collected by government approved and registered
“volunteer canvassers”, who must themselves be registered voters. To register a canvasser according to
Elections BC protocol requires five stages of mailing, spanning about three
weeks. California and Washington state,
on the other hand, have no such requirement; petition forms can be displayed,
distributed and circulated by anyone.
75
different sets of petition forms are issued by Elections BC, one for each
electoral district. This means that
canvassers have to carry around multi-sets of forms, in case some of the people
they approach in a certain electoral district, or who approach them, have come
from another district. This also means
that many people from other districts would have to be turned away if the
canvasser happens not to have the right petition form.
In
Vancouver and Victoria in particular, canvassers have to carry all 75 sets of
forms, which makes the exercise extremely tedious, awkward, expensive and time
consuming. California and Washington state, on the other hand, issue only one
set of petition forms, applicable to every corner of the state.
BC's
Proponent has only 90 days to collect the signatures of 10% of all registered
voters, whereas California's and Washington's proponents have 150 days to
collect the signatures of 5% of those who voted in the last election.
In
BC, there can be only one Proponent, and at that it must be an individual
instead of an organization, whereas there can be any number of Opponents, who
can be organizations as well as individuals. In the Bear Referendum's case,
there were 107 registered Opponents, comprising 38 individuals and 69
organizations headed by the 35,000-members-strong BC Wildlife Federation (a
misleading title which should be more truthfully renamed BC Hunting
Association).
This
obviously is biased in favour of the Opponents in terms of fund raising and
networking potential.
The
disparity is made even more pronounced by that whereas the Proponent needs to
work on all 75 electoral districts to ensure that they all succeed, the Opponents
need concentrate on only two or three to ensure that at least one fails (see
point #1).
While
debating hunters, one of their arguments is:
"Who
are you, from Vancouver, to tell us up here what to do?"
First,
if the referendum succeeds, it would be the entire BC electorate's decision,
not just the people of Vancouver. I can understand that some measure of
regional representation is fair, but if hypothetically 74 districts get enough
signatures, who is the one dissenting district to derail all the rest?
It
would be fair, in my opinion, that the electoral districts also follow the
democratic principle of a simple majority, namely that 38 out of the 75 should
suffice.
In
BC, unlike in California and Washington state, the success of the Initiative
Petition does not automatically guarantee a referendum vote. In fact, the
legislature still has the power to trash the petition as it sees fit.
When
it comes to the referendum vote, California and Washington state requires the
usual simple majority of those who turn out to vote, whereas in BC, a majority
of the registered voters is required.
In other words, if 50% of the registered voters turned out to vote, and
100% of them voted for the proposal, the Referendum would not pass. It would
fail by one vote.
Even
if the referendum vote is won, it still goes back to debate in legislature
which still has the power to trash the vote, whereas in California and
Washington state, legislative change is automatic.
Although
there is a provision to prohibit direct interference by the Opponents in the
Initiative Petition process, such as intimidating those who came to sign, which
some Opponents did violate, there is no provision to prohibit indirect
interference, such as the Opponents threatening to picket and boycott those
malls that allow the Proponent to set up booths, which the Opponents took full
advantage of.
Since
the Recall and Initiative Act originated as a provision for citizens to recall
politicians in whom they have lost confidence, the government sees itself being
naturally in the Opponent camp, which in part explains the above anti-Proponent
bias.
When
Mr. Dosanjh was challenged by provincial Liberal leader Gordon Campbell on the
unworkability of the rules, he cited the $18 million cost for a referendum vote
as justification for the difficulties imposed to rule out wanton launches of
referendums on “trivial issues”, which the bear-hunting issue certainly was
not.
Indeed,
as a lone-standing event, an Initiative Vote would be exceedingly expensive
-cranking up the entire voting machinerry throughout the province in terms of
voter registration, setting up and manning polling stations, publicizing the
event, counting of votes, etc., etc.
But
this is circular argument in his own favour.
It was Mr. Dosanjh himself who caused the process to be expensive by
making the Initiative Vote a lone-standing event in the first place. In contrast, referendums in California and
Washington state are appended to political elections at minimal cost, and there
is no disadvantage to it.
Coinciding
with BC's bear referendum, there was a bear referendum in Washington state in
their last political election on banning the use of bait and dogs in bear
hunting, and their referendum was won.
I
congratulate them, especially considering that they would have lost had
Washington state's rules been the same as BC's.
Conversely,
had BC's rules been the same as Washington state's, we would have succeeded.
If
the comparison is still found unconvincing, I can cite the case of Switzerland,
where for the last 130 years, the signatures of only 1% of the registered
voters are required to force a referendum vote to challenge any existing policy
or law, and only 2% for the proposal of new laws.
Citizen-generated
referendums are tools for truly democratic governments to place the power with
the people. It is the way public
servants live up to their true calling in a truly democratic society, however
much remuneration and prestige they deem fit to reward themselves. If this province's Attorney General is truly
sincere in elected government sharing legislative power with the people, he
will change the referendum rules to be more democratic.
We
need to change the Act. To this effect, WCWC has prepared a petition to the BC
government outlining 12 realistic points to make BC's referendum act workable.
We encourage you to obtain a copy, sign it, gather more signatures, and take
part in the democratic process of changing our referendum act.
Petition to Change the BC Referendum Act
We,
the people of British Columbia, wish to amend the current Recall and Initiative
Act as follows:
· The Initiative
Petition to call a referendum shall require signatures from at least 3% of the
registered voters province wide.
· The provincial
total shall include signatures from at least 3% of the registered voters in at
least 38 of BC's 75 electoral districts.
· The time frame
provided for the gathering of these signatures shall be 150 days, which will
begin on a date jointly decided upon by the Proponent(s) and Elections BC.
· There can be any
number of Proponents and Opponents.
· Both Proponents
and Opponents can be individuals as well as organizations.
· There shall be
only one set of Initiative Petition forms instead of the current 75 different
sets.
· Signatures can be
collected by anyone regardless of his/her being a registered voter.
· Opponents shall
not use intimidation tactics to directly or indirectly interfere with the
signature collection process.
· A successful
Initiative Petition shall automatically bring about an Initiative Vote.
· The Initiative
Vote shall be appended to the first provincial election after the conclusion of
the Initiative Petition.
· The Initiative
Vote shall be won by the Proponent(s) with a simple 50%-plus-one-vote majority
of popular votes province-wide, and simple 50%-plus-one-vote majorities of the
popular votes in at least 38 of the 75 electoral districts.
· The proposed
amendment or removal of an existing law or policy, and/or introduction of a new
law or policy as stated in the Initiative Petition, shall automatically take
effect in legislature upon the winning of the Initiative Vote by the
Proponent(s).
1997-05-08
The Georgia Straight,
Vancouver by Roland
Goetz
[Save tigers rather than saving feelings]
…
According to the article ([Bloody Superstition] - April 14), Garry Grigg of the
Canadian Wildlife Service says, “We don’t want to be too heavy. We have got too
many new Canadians here, and it takes a while to assimilate. We’re dealing with something that is
thousands of years old.”
My
question is, would we allow other cultural practices, such as incest, clitoral
mutilation, bestiality, or polygamy, to be imported into Canada?…
…
to save some feelings, we (may be allowing) a magnificent species to be
destroyed.
1997-05-15
LONDON -- (ENS) -
In
a report released this week, an international coalition of wildlife
organisations, including the London-based World Society for the Protection of
Animals (WSPA), expose South Korea92s leading role in the illegal trade in
bear parts. The report , “Killed for Korea”
concludes that “South Korea
and Korean
people abroad represent the bear92s worst enemy after habitat loss.”
Undercover
film recently taken by animal campaigners shows Korean-sponsored
bear poaching and gallbladder smuggling
on an international scale as well as the killing of endangered bears for South Korean
restaurant-goers.
The
bears are desired for bear paw soup, a highly prized delicacy in South Korea.
Diners will pay in excess of US$1,000
for a bowl of bear paw soup.
WSPA,
together with the Korean
Federation for the Environment
Movement (KFEM), Humane Society of the US/Humane
Society International (HSUS/HSI) and the Global Survival
Network (GSN), is lobbying the US
government to sanction
South Korea
over the illegal trade in
bear parts. The organizations, with a
total membership of over four million people worldwide, are considering an
international boycott
campaign of Korean
goods, if their current approaches to Korean
authorities are unsuccessful.
Andrew
Dickson, WSPA chief executive, said, “Consumption of bear parts is a national
disgrace for South Korea. We are trying to persuade the Korean
authorities to stop this illegal trade
which is pushing Asian bears towards extinction.”
WSPA92s
campaign is being backed by the Korean
Federation for the Environment
Movement (KFEM). Kwon Heanyol,
spokesperson for KFEM said, “This outdated practice is a slur on our national
reputation. It makes us look cruel and
barbaric. Herbal, synthetic and Western alternatives exist for bear
gallbladder. Why can92t all Koreans
use these instead of continuing to torture
and slaughter bears?”
Anthony
Marr, organizer of Bears, Elephants, Tigers,
Rhinos (BETR), a conservation
group based in Vancouver, British Columbia,
confirms that South Korea
is the world's leading consumer of bear parts.
Marr says, “South Koreans
sometimes import
black bears on the pretext of using them for zoo exhibits, then they have them
killed in front of restaurant customers to prove authenticity and freshness.”
Marr
says he has read reports of caged bears lowered live onto hot coals to
have their paws cooked. This procedure
is supposed to guarantee freshness, authenticity and entertainment for the
customer.
Marr
has a video showing a 1989 restaurant menu from the posh Hilton hotel in
Seoul offering “bear palm soup. Price - current.”
Bear
paws are considered a delicacy, not a medicinal, but bear gall bladders are
prized for their medicinal effect.
The
powdered bile taken from the bear galls has a whole range of uses, primarily
for digestive healing and intestinal illnesses including parasites and
bacterial infections. The powdered bile is used as an anti-spasmodic, a
pain-killer, tranquillizer, an anti-allergenic, and a cough remedy. It is also
considered to be a general purpose body tuning tonic. Bear bile is even said to
restore a liver damaged by overdrinking.
Unlike
tiger
bones and rhino horns which have no real medicinal value, bear galls do contain
ursodeoxycolic acid which does have a medicinal effect. This acid was patented as a synthetic in Japan in
the 1930s. Today, 150 tons are used
annually worldwide.
There
are seven species of bears in the world, excluding the panda and koala, which
are not considered to be true bears.
Three bear species are endangered, particularly the Asiatic black bear,
which used to be the main source of galls.
The Asiatic black bear is now almost completely wiped out in China
and Korea.
To
meet the demand from Korea
and other Asian countries, poachers have been taking bears from Russia
and North America. Marr says poaching is “huge” in North America. Poachers have
been caught in British Columbia
recently, but provincial laws have no teeth, as the indigenous bears are not
yet listed as endangered.
The
penalty is very light when poachers are caught in B.C. Marr says, “Someone recently caught with 90
galls, which would easily sell for US$250,000
thousand in Korea,
was fined $3,500 bucks, not even the price of one gall in Korea. For every batch of poached bear parts
discovered by law enforcement officers, 49 get away. Customs officials estimate they can check only 2-3% of what goes
out of Canada.”
Marr
estimates that between 20,000 and 40,000 bears are poached in Canada
yearly. Legal trophy hunting kills
22,000 more.
In
London, the WSPA is offering broadcast quality undercover footage showing the
killing of endangered bears for South Korean
diners and the farming
of bears in China,
some of which are destined for the Korean
market
(From
the Environment News
Service: http://www.envirolink.org/environews/ens/)
1997-05-18-3
The Free Press, Price George,
BC by David Plug
[Poaching for gall-bladders –
Asian demand pushes up numbers, says
conservationists]
Animal
advocates and wildlife officials agree that most poachers of bear parts are
never caught, but differ wildly on the scale of the problem in the north,
To
Anthony Marr… last week’s laying of 67 charges for unlawful possession of bear
parts against a Prince George resident is just the tip of the iceberg…
1997-05-25-1
The Vancouver
Sun
by Anthony Marr
[Unbearable bear facts]
Recent
radio ads (by the BC Wildlife Federation) portray deliberate misrepresentations
of truth…
“96%
of BC’s residents rejected” last year’s Bear Referendum objective, citing that
only 4% of BC’s residents signed the petition…
…
the ad itself is a demonstration of the usual illogic and dishonesty of the
trophy hunters, and shows that the BC Wildlife Federation is worried. If they really believe that 96% of BC’s
residents support trophy hunting, what do they have to worry about?
1997-07
Discovery Channel, cable TV - Forbidden Places series
[Killer instincts]
Forbidden
Places’ examines Canada’s thriving poaching trade - … Only small victories can
be claimed. For a bigger victory, there must be a public outrage - which may
begin with programs like this. – Anthony Marr featured.
1997-07-08
The Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa,
Ontario by Finbar O’Reilly
[Animal activist targets Chinatown]
…
One Ottawa professor of traditional Chinese medicine, who asked not to be
identified, said she abides by Canada’s laws banning the sale of tiger and bear
parts, but that doesn’t mean she agrees with them.
“How
come you have to protect the tiger, but not the cow?” she asked. “I am a doctor. I want to treat people. If you care more about human than animal
(sic), then why not use animal parts for safety?”…
Mr.
Marr, who plans a visit to the Chinatowns of both Toronto and Ottawa (to
demonstrate that the new law) is not being properly enforced…
1997-07-11
The Toronto
Sun
by Tom Godfrey
[Tiger goods on shelf]
“…
Toronto has become a hotbed for the sale of animal parts, including penises…,”
said Anthony Marr…
…
within an hour he was able to buy processed medicines containing or claiming to
contain tiger bone, seal penis, deer penis…
1997-07-15
The Globe and Mail,
national
by Michael Valpy
[The trade in seal and tiger parts]
This
is a Canadian story. Anthony Marr, a Chinese Canadian who lives in Vancouver,
is sitting in a Toronto hotel restaurant waiting for a television crew.
When
the crew arrives, he will take its members to Toronto's Chinese community’s
downtown commercial district on Spadina Avenue. Here they will wire him with a microphone and film him buying
illegal tiger bone pills and legal, regrettably, seal penis pills…
Mr.
Marr, an intense man, says he has been embarrassed by all these practices…
1997-09
Video
production
by Terry Brooks
[Unbearable] –
on Anthony Marr’s BET’R Campaign
Winner
of: Global Vision Award / 1997 Cascadia Festival of Moving Images, Award of
Excellence (3rd) / 20th Annual International Wildlife
Film Festival (2nd) / International Film & Video Festival,
Silver Seal Award, Merit Award for Conservation Message
1997-10-01-3
News Leader, Burnaby, BC
[Gilmore students join efforts to
"Save-the-Tiger"]
…
“Unless a huge conservation effort ignites now, the tiger will be extinct in
the wild within a decade…” said Anthony Marr… who gives the slideshows to the
schools. “Some adults say, ‘How many
tiger are there in Canada? Why should
we be bothered?’ Go ask the kids.…”
1997-10-04-6 The
Peace Arch News, Surrey, BC by
Tracy Holmes
[Care for the cats]
Save
the tiger.
That
was the message students of Peace Arch Elementary received at a presentation
by… Anthony Marr…
Under
the watchful eyes of a 50-foot inflatable tiger, the kids learned that only
4,000 tigers remain in the wild, and that some subspecies totaled less than the
number of students in the gym.
But,
“I do not believe the tiger is doomed,” Anthony Marr told the kids. “The reason I believe this is because nobody
has ever asked kids like you to help out.
If we can get kids around the world to say, ‘I want to save the tiger’,
I believe the tiger will be saved.”…
He
also asked them to come to WCWC’s Save-the-Tiger Walk at Stanley Park Oct. 18.
1997-10-08-3
The Vancouver
Courier
by Gudrun Will
[Students take tiger by the tail]
High
school environmental club rallies behind animal activist.
An
auditorium full of Kitsilano high school students roared in appreciation…
Inspiring
youth, Marr believes, is the only hope to save the rapidly diminished species
in the long run…
1997-10-10-5
The Toronto Star by Joseph Hall
[Seals killed to fill demand for sex
potions, group charges]
…
Group brings together prominent Canadians…
Canadian
taxpayers are subsidizing an international trade in seal penises to create
dubious Chinese sex potions, a new anti-sealing group - Canadians Against the
Commercial Seal Hunt - has charged…
Vancouver
environmentalist Anthony Marr says seals are shot or clubbed at random and then
turned over to see whether they’re males.
He
says that most of the seal penises harvested in this way went into Chinese
aphrodisiacs that have no scientifically proven value (just like tiger penis
medicines)…
1997-10-16
The Westender, Vancouver
[Halloween fun, Tiger Walk set]
…
The WCWC has organized Save-the-Tiger Walk ’97…
1997-10-19-7
The Province, Vancouver
[Walking for wildlife]
Hundreds
of concerned people took part in the ‘Save-the-Tiger Walk’ in Vancouver’s
Stanley Park yesterday. They were
walking to raise money to protect the dwindling number of tigers left in the
wild.
1997-10-19-7
Ming Pao Daily News (Chinese), global
[1,000 people walk to save 4,000 tigers]
WCWC’s
Save-the-Tiger Walk attracted over 1,000 children and their teachers and
parents, and raised $20,000…
1997-10-29-3
The Comox Valley
Echo
by Diane Radmore
[Service to remember animals]
Animal
lovers of all kinds are invited to come hear guest speakers and attend an
outdoor gathering called In Remembrance of the Animals at noon Saturday,
November 1, at the Sid Williams Foundation in downtown Courtenay…
…
Anthony Marr, initiator of the worldwide BET’R Campaign… will also be in
attendance…
1997-10-31-5
The Comox Valley Record by Diane Radmore
[Vigil for lost wildlife]
Local
activists to speak at downtown rally tomorrow…
…
Since last year’s referendum on bear hunting in BC campaign, Marr has been to
India on behalf of the dwindling tiger population and was a guest speaker at
last week’s International Fund for Animal Welfare Conference concerning the
East Coast seal hunt…
1997-11-08-6
The Vancouver Sun by Alex
Strachan
[Mason Lee can be bright, witty and
hugely irritating]
On
the Edge (Global TV), with Robert Mason Lee…
…
A recent debate between Vancouver Aquarium director John Nightingale, UBC
animal welfare professor Dan Weary, Western Canada Wilderness Committee
scientist Anthony Marr and the Humane Society’s Ingrid Pollack about the moral
and ethical implications of keeping whales in captivity was informative and
captivating.
Another
recent discussion about smokers’ rights… was pointless and irritating…