Representatives of some of Canada's largest conservation organizations will appear today before the Senate committee for energy, the environment and natural resources and urge the Senate to pass a bill that will protect seabirds and put a stop to operators in the shipping industry who pollute Canada's waters.
Bill C-15, in its current form, will provide the Canadian government with the ability to effectively enforce the Migratory Birds Convention Act and the Canadian Environment Protection Act in Canada's coastal exclusive economic zone. It would not impose any new costs or regulatory changes for vessels and operators who follow the law. Only those shippers who illegally dump bilge oil, and who make little or no effort to prevent such dumping, will be affected.
Environment Canada estimates that, on average, a minimum of 300,000 seabirds are killed every year in Atlantic Canada waters as a result of ship operators illegally dumping bilge oil. This number of deaths is greater than that caused by the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska in 1989.
Bill C-15 provides an opportunity to eliminate an unnecessary activity practised by irresponsible companies and individuals whose actions make the entire industry look bad. Newfoundlanders who have had to walk along beaches filled with dead and dying oiled sea birds - indeed, all Canadians who treasure Canada's coastal environment - will be pleased to see this abhorrent activity dramatically curtailed, if not entirely stopped. Without the swift passage of Bill C-15, this environmental disaster - first reported nearly 45 years ago - will continue.
The core purpose of Bill C-15 is to hold shipping companies and their ships' officers accountable if they have illegally dumped bilge oil in Canadian waters. As currently proposed, vessels of more than 5,000 dead weight tons found guilty of contravening the Migratory Birds Contravention Act will face a minimum fine of $100,000 for a summary conviction and $500,000 for an indictable offence. Greater enforcement powers and those penalties contained in the bill will help create an effective deterrent to illegal bilge oil dumping.
Unfortunately, in the past few weeks, representatives of Canada's shipping industry have been working hard to scuttle this proposed law either by having the Senate defeat it, or by making amendments that will weaken the bill and cause it to go back to the House of Commons.
Under the current law, penalties for illegally dumping bilge oil are much less severe than in other jurisdictions. Those convicted in Canada face trivial fines that are far below American and European fines and can be dismissed as the cost of doing business. This has created a perverse situation in that it makes good economic sense, from some shippers' perspectives, to run the risk of dumping bilge oil in Canada's exclusive economic zone regardless of the environmental impact.
Last May, the federal government took an important step forward in protecting Canada's ocean habitat when an earlier version of Bill C-15 (Bill C-34) was introduced in the House. That bill had garnered support from all parties in the House before it died on the order paper when the election was called. It has since been reintroduced as Bill C-15, was again passed and is now before the Senate.
If Bill C-15 is not passed as is, vessels will continue to dump bilge oil illegally, with predictable negative results on seabirds and other marine life. The February crisis off Newfoundland, where bilge oil was illegally dumped near an ecological reserve and affected an estimated 1,500 eider ducks, is just the latest in a long history of such events.
The Senate now has a real chance to stand up for wildlife, our coastal communities and those in the shipping community who responsibly dispose of their wastes. By passing Bill C-15 as drafted, the Senate will play a crucial role in helping to protect Canada's marine ecosystems.
Let's make sure Canada is no longer a dumping ground for the global shipping industry. Canada's battered coastal ecosystems can't wait.
Mike Russill is president and CEO of World Wildlife Fund Canada. Phyllis Campbell-McRae is acting director of International Fund for Animal Welfare. George Finney is president of Bird Studies Canada. Rob Rainer is director of conservation of Nature Canada (on behalf of BirdLife International).