NEW MANITOBA "WILDLIFE AMENDMENT ACT"

THE FINAL OUTCOME

The Avicultural Advancement Council of Canada and the Parrot Association of Canada, through their joint efforts and with the help of many other people, successfully challenged the Manitoba Government’s proposed amendments to the Wildlife Act. As the result of written and oral deputations from AACC and PAC directors and members, the Committee reviewing the proposed amendments recommended to the Legislature that further changes be made to address the concerns of bird owners and breeders in Manitoba (as well as other commercial interests such as buffalo ranchers).

The proposed amendments to the Wildlife Act were supposed to prohibit "penned hunting"of animals in enclosed areas. However, the actual wording of the amendments would also have prohibited the keeping of birds and animals of any species that are "wild by nature but not indigenous in the province." This would have included all birds such as parrots, budgies, canaries, lovebirds, macaws, finches and others, even though they may have been domestically bred and owned for many years.

Although the Committee did not recommend changing the definitions as we had proposed, they did recommend, and the Legislature accepted, that the following clause be added to the Wildlife Act:

"The purpose of this Act is to provide for the regulation of captive hunting of animals without affecting the division of responsibilities within the Government of Manitoba relating to the regulation of animals and activities involving animals."

Your birds should be safe unless you decide to set them free and hunt them down, as he once suggested.

HISTORY

A brief history of the germination and growth of this legislation may be of interest. We first heard of the proposed amendments in February and understood that they were to deal only with "penned hunting." There had been a public uproar against this practice triggered by the Winnipeg Humane Society which, together with the NDP government’s election promise to introduce a Bill to prohibit it, resulted in the proposed amendments. The changes were proposed by Mr. Lathlin and apparently drafted by government lawyers, although we could not confirm this.

The Bill had received First Reading on December 14, 1999 and was slated for Second Reading in April. We immediately went to work on a response and a legal analysis of the effect of the amendments and letters were sent to all Manitoba Members of the Legislative Assembly as well as to various media.

Although every response we received assured us that the legislation was intended to deal only with penned hunting, our main concern was that it also made it illegal to possess (as well as hunt) "exotic wildlife" which included most if not all birds. The motives behind the changes were also suspect since exotic wildlife was defined to include "an egg, sperm, embryo or body part" of any such animal and this clearly did not have anything to do with penned hunting. This type of terminology comes right out of "endangered species legislation" which is intended to prohibit entirely the keeping of exotic birds and animals. There were also very serious enforcement provisions which gave wildlife officers greater powers than the police and which could result in serious injustice if exercised indiscriminately.

The Manitoba effort was led by Dennis Saydak, a local parrot breeder (The Best Little Henhouse), and AACC and PAC member. Not only did Dennis write to all MLA’s and speak to many of them, he gave some very effective radio and newspaper interviews. He also designed and implemented PAC’s first website (www.parrotscanada.org) which was used to publish Legislative Alerts and ongoing reports. Chris Holoboff, acting as a joint Director of PAC and AACC, prepared a legal analysis of the amendments, which was posted on the website, sent to all MLAs and media, and to anyone else who was interested. He too was interviewed by the Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg Sun and a local radio station, and sent various letters to the Editors responding to articles and comments from the Government. The Manitoba Canary and Finch Club collected over 400 signatures on a petition against the Bill and the Manitoba Parrot Club collected another 500, which definitely had an impact as well as raised awareness among local bird owners and the general public.

The Bill went through partial Second Reading on April 26 and 27 with considerable debate over its effect on pet owners, breeders and commercial interests, largely as a result of our correspondence. Second Reading was interrupted by the budget debate and was finally completed on July 17 at which time the Bill was referred to the Standing Committee on Public Utilities and Natural Resources for public consultation and review.

Although we were given only 1½ days advance notice of the Public Hearing scheduled for July 19 in Winnipeg, we were able to get written deputations into the Committee (by working through the night). Dennis Saydak appeared before the Committee and made an oral presentation and Dunstan Browne, President of AACC, flew in from Victoria, B.C., also to make a presentation. Other presenters included local aviculturists such as Tracy Bell, Graham Wyatt (Parrots of Asia), Mike Crawford (President of Manitoba Canary and Finch Club) and others.

The Committee reported to the Legislative Assembly on July 24 and, as a result of the deputations made to it, recommended a further amendment to more clearly define the purpose of the Wildlife Act. The Bill had Third Reading on August 16 and still generated considerable debate on issues that were raised by us. (For those with Internet access, the Hansard reports make very interesting reading.) It received Royal Assent on August 17 and will be proclaimed in force when the regulations under it have been drafted, approved and passed, which could be several months.

FUTURE CONCERNS

This episode gave the avicultural community an excellent opportunity to inform and educate our provincial legislators, who probably had never given any thought to parrots or the pet industry in general, and should provide positive benefits in the future. We must take advantage of this opportunity and continue to keep them aware of our concerns and the importance of aviculture, not only to conservation, but also to society as a whole.

Although this battle is largely over, there are still some issues to be dealt with. Regulations are being drafted that will define and list species considered to be exotic wildlife. It is extremely important that these regulations contain appropriate exemptions for the possession of domestically bred and legally obtained wild caught species.

As Mr. Lathlin’s letter indicates, there will be province wide consultation meetings with all stakeholders , and that includes all bird owners in the Province. Everyone is urged to contact the Manitoba Legislative Clerk to find out when and where these public meetings are to be held and to participate in them so that the government is fully informed.

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The Avicultural Advancement Council of Canada and the Parrot Association of Canada depleted their Legislative War Chests fighting this legislation and donations would be very much appreciated in order to continue the fight to protect your rights.

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Some Contacts:

Office of the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
(Tel.) 204-945-3636 (Fax.) 204-948-2507

Committee Clerk Rick Yarish
(Tel.) 204-945-4729

Manitoba Government Website
http://www.gov.mb.ca/leg-asmb

Christopher Holoboff
Director AACC, PAC, BFBS

Find the names and addresses of the Members of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly

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