A former trainer at Marineland took a Conservative senator to task last night, accusing him of doing the marine park’s bidding on a committee studying a ban on whale and dolphin captivity in Canada.

Phil Demers, who has worked as a marine mammal trainer for 12 years, told members of the Senate committee on fisheries and oceans he quit Marineland in 2012 after a mechanical breakdown of a water disinfectant system at the park went unfixed for months, despite pleas from maintenance employees and veterinarians.

“The disastrous effects of the hyper-chlorination of the water left no animal immune to the consequences. Seals, sea lions, walruses and dolphins became dangerously lethargic, their skin often bleeding and peeling off,” Demers said, noting drugs — including valium — were force-fed to animals to try and mitigate their suffering.

“Many animals’ eyes were permanently damaged, our youngest suffering ulcers.”

He said management complacency led a water maintenance supervisor to quit as he couldn’t bear to see the animals’ suffering. Demers said he soon followed, as he “could no longer tolerate the unnecessary and prolonged suffering of animals.”

He’s been a vocal critic of the park ever since.

“Since speaking of my experiences at Marineland, I myself have become the target of relentless attacks. In an effort to stifle public debate, Marineland has launched nearly a dozen SLAPP lawsuits … I’m the recipient of a most peculiar one, as they allege I plotted to steal Smooshi the walrus.”

In addition to Demers, the park has launched suits against other critics, including a teenage filmmaker and the media for reporting on Ontario SPCA investigations.

Demers said he’s been threatened with violence, had been stalked and has been the target of a smear campaign that has also seeped into the walls of the Senate.

“Senator (Don) Plett has already proved himself all too willing to do Marineland’s bidding for them, quoting verbatim their baseless lawsuit,” Demers said. “I also suspect Marineland has well-prepared him for follow up questions, which I am now prepared to field.”

Once he had the floor, Plett said, “I know you have been anxiously waiting for me to ask you questions.”

“I’m all warm inside,” Demers quipped.

Plett said Demers had forwarded serious allegations to the Toronto Star, which led to investigations by the OSPCA, CAZA, the Niagara Falls Humane Society, the Ministry of Labour and an independent report and review commissioned by the Government of Ontario.

“None of those investigations, not one, led to any charges. This, sir, has become a pattern,” Plett said.

Turning to Carly Ferguson, president of Ontario Captive Animal Watch, Plett said she’d made repeated complaints about Kiska — Marineland’s lone orca — to the OSPCA, which were all investigated.

“Is it correct that after each investigation, not a single charge has been laid?”

“I do not believe that the OSPCA have the wherewithal or knowledge to deal with cetaceans,” Ferguson replied. “Kiska, as you saw in the photos that I provided you, doesn’t even have shelter, and that is a basic standard of care under Ontario Regulation 60/90. So when the belugas or Kiska don’t have shelter, the OSPCA don’t have the wherewithal to deal with it.”

Marineland was charged with five counts of animal cruelty late last year, alleging abuse against its black bears, guinea hens and a peacock. In January, the park was charged by the OSPCA with six additional counts of cruelty relating to elk, red deer and fallow deer. A recent routine inspection of the park by the OSPCA found no issues, however.

Demers said he was initially keen to work at Marineland, but came to realize that what cetaceans need can’t be replicated in a pool.

“They lose their reason for being, for living.”

Today, he strongly supports Bill 203, which would ban the captivity of whales and dolphins in Canada, as well as the import and export of cetaceans.

Demers said Canada lags far behind other countries when it comes to regulating animal imports.

Ferguson listed other jurisdictions that have taken steps in prohibiting the further capture and confinement of cetaceans, including Hungary, Switzerland, Croatia, Chile, Costa Rica, India and Greece.

“A few countries have standards so strict that it is nearly impossible to keep cetaceans in captivity, including Brazil, Luxembourg, Norway and the U.K.,” she said.

In North America, South Carolina was the first U.S. state to ban marine mammals in captivity in 1982. California has since banned orca shows and breeding. Representative Adam Schiff has introduced legislation to amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to prohibit the taking, importation and exportation of orcas for public display. New York State has also banned the possession and harbouring of orcas.

In Canada, Ontario has prohibited the further breeding and acquisition of killer whales within the province. Most recently, the Vancouver Park Board voted to ban cetacean captivity at the Vancouver Aquarium.

“This void of laws (in Canada) has resulted in international animal trade program that’s been capitalized on by Marineland that sees calves of wild-caught belugas traded and sold to American aquariums where the import of wild animals is strictly outlawed,” Demers said.

Demers said that between 1999 and 2012, after Marineland was denied an application to capture belugas from the waters near Churchill, Manitoba, its import of wild belugas captured in Russia ramped up.

“As quickly as they died, animals were replaced. Marineland’s beluga collection grew from a mere three whales to now nearly 60, with multiple calves being born and dying each season,” he said.

“With no credible oversight, these deaths go undocumented and unreported.”

Demers said Marineland’s “indiscriminate breeding” of belugas and their inability to maintain natural social groups has caused unnecessary deaths and suffering among newborns.

“Beluga mothers are forced to witness their calves get displaced and often killed by male belugas as concrete walls impede their ability to escape.”

He said the same thing happens with dolphins, who have no protection from aggressors — noting a dolphin named Echo is a target of daily attacks.

“Marineland habitually sedates animals in the hopes of mitigating these attacks.”

Like the belugas, Demers said Marineland’s dolphins were imported en masse from Russia, although only five females remain today. In one case a dolphin named Lida was captured from the wild while pregnant. Once her calf was born at the park, he said, it lived just a few days.

Demers said “thousands of animals” are buried in Marineland’s on-site mass graves. “I personally buried and unearthed countless animals, the image of which still haunts me,” he said.

Ferguson told the committee 20 orcas have died prematurely at Marineland since 1973, which she noted “is one of the worst records in the world for captive orca deaths.”

“Kiska has birthed five calves at Marineland and all five are now dead, none of which have surpassed the age of six years old.”

Demers added: “Not a single dolphin or orca born at Marineland is alive today. Not a single one. That’s 55 years of failed breeding. How long is too long?”

Not so, said Plett, referring to the seven belugas born in the park in 2016, which he said are all alive and thriving today.

“Probably, if this committee were to go to Marineland, they would point them out to us …” he said.

The hearing soon grew heated, with Demers accusing Plett of quoting Marineland’s lawsuits verbatim.

“They’re utilizing you to attack me personally,” he said.

“No one is utilizing me,” Plett replied. “We are independent senators.”

Last year, iPolitics wrote about Plett trolling animal rights activists on Twitter and proclaiming his love for Marineland.

An angry Sen. Jim Munson weighed in yesterday. “Let him answer the question,” he said to Plett. “You’re interrupting everyone’s answers.”

Demers told Plett he couldn’t comment about whether the seven belugas born in 2016 were alive and well and thriving.

“I haven’t seen them. But if that is in fact the case, I would have a great deal of concern that they are overbreeding indiscriminately …”

Ferguson told the committee she’s spent countless hours over the course of several years documenting Kiska.

“She spends her days circling a very distinct, obsessive path, never clockwise, over and over and over again. As we know from studies conducted on wild populations, orca swim up to 100 miles per day with their families. However, it takes Kiska an estimated 15 to 20 seconds to swim a straight line from one end of her tank to the other.”

Experts have said the poor condition of her teeth are a direct result of gnawing on fixtures in her tank, Ferguson said, something she does as a result of stress and boredom.

“I’m telling you about her enrichment. She gets a belly rub every now and then, and she gets to play with a rubber tire on a rope,” she said. “She can’t do much anymore. Everything has been taken from her. She’s had her children taken from her, her freedom, the ability to speak to other whales.”

Ferguson also presented a number of photos of the holding tanks at Marineland to the committee and questioned claims by CAZA — Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums, of which Marineland is a paying member — that it adheres to the best standards in the world for cetacean care.

“Most aquariums that hold cetaceans around the world keep roughly two to eight beluga whales,” she said.

“At Marineland, they currently hold upwards of 50 and there is nothing preventing them from obtaining more from the wild or from further breeding of them.”

The committee also heard from Barbara Cartwright, the CEO of the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, which represents 55 associations from all 10 provinces and two of the territories. Her organization stands firmly behind the passage of this bill, which she called a sensible piece of legislation that codifies what’s already been happening in Canada for some time.

“Our long-standing position statement on captive cetaceans is that they should not be kept in captivity. It does not meet animal welfare, conservation or education needs,” Cartwright said.

“The CFHS recognizes the abundant scientific evidence that the confinement of cetaceans causes physical and mental pain and suffering and therefore fails to meet their health, behavioural and environmental needs.”

She told senators that while she’s sure it’s top of mind, it’s worth mentioning again that Bill 203, if passed, will only ultimately affect one commercial entertainment facility in all of Canada: Marineland.

The Vancouver Aquarium’s opposition is now a moot point given the recent decision of the park board.

As senators have been told, studying whales in captivity to better understand their natural behaviour in the wild is not good science, Cartwright said. She quoted Jacques Cousteau:

“There is about as much educational benefit to be gained in studying dolphins in captivity as there would be studying mankind by only observing prisoners held in solitary confinement.”