This enactment amends the Criminal Code to create offences respecting cetaceans in captivity. It also amends the Fisheries Act to prohibit the taking of a cetacean into captivity and the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act to require a permit for the import of a cetacean into Canada and the export of a cetacean from Canada.

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

Definition of cetacean

445.‍2 (1) In this section, cetacean includes any member of the cetacean order, including a whale, dolphin or porpoise.

Offence

(2) Subject to subsections (3) and (3.‍1), every one commits an offence who

• (a) owns, has the custody of or controls a cetacean that is kept in captivity;

• (b) breeds or impregnates a cetacean; or

• (c) possesses or seeks to obtain reproductive materials of cetaceans, including sperm or an embryo.

Exception

(3) Paragraph (2)‍(a) does not apply to a person who

• (a) owns, has the custody of or controls a cetacean that is kept in captivity at the coming into force of this section and remains continuously in captivity thereafter;

• (b) has the custody of or controls a cetacean that is kept in captivity for the purpose of providing it with assistance or care or to rehabilitate it following an injury or another state of distress; or

• (c) is authorized to keep a cetacean in captivity in the best interests of the cetacean’s welfare pursuant to a licence issued by the Lieutenant Governor in Council of a province or by such other person or authority in the province as may be specified by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

Exception

(3.‍1) Subsection (2) does not apply to a person who is conducting scientific research pursuant to a licence issued by the Lieutenant Governor in Council of a province or by such other person or authority in the province as may be specified by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

Exception

(4) Every one commits an offence who promotes, arranges, conducts, assists in, receives money for or takes part in any meeting, competition, exhibition, pastime, practice, display or event at or in the course of which captive cetaceans are used for performance for entertainment purposes unless such performance is authorized pursuant to a licence issued by the Lieutenant Governor in Council of a province or by such other person or authority in the province as may be specified by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

Punishment

(5) Every one who commits an offence under subsection (2) or (4) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine not exceeding $200,000.

Taking cetaceans into captivity

28.‍1 (1) Subject to subsection (2), no one shall move a live cetacean, including a whale, dolphin or porpoise, from its immediate vicinity with the intent to take it into captivity.

Exception

(2) A person may move a live cetacean from its immediate vicinity when the cetacean is injured or in distress and is in need of assistance.

Cetacean: import and export

7.‍1 No person shall, except under and in accordance with a permit issued pursuant to subsection 10(1.‍1), import into Canada or export from Canada a living cetacean, including a whale, dolphin or porpoise, or sperm, a tissue culture or an embryo of a cetacean.

Issuance

(1.‍1) The Minister may, on application and on such terms and conditions as the Minister thinks fit, issue a permit authorizing the importation or exportation of a living cetacean, or sperm, a tissue culture or an embryo of a cetacean, if the importation or exportation is for the purpose of

• (a) conducting scientific research; or

• (b) keeping the cetacean in captivity if it is in the best interests of the cetacean’s welfare to do so.