The Coastal First Nations of British Columbia are calling on senators to vote in favour of Bill S-203 and end whale and dolphin captivity in Canada.

As stewards of much of Canada’s Pacific Coast, President Marilyn Slett said her alliance of nine First Nations are in a unique position to speak to the importance of protecting whales and dolphins “while keeping them in the wild where they belong.”

“Historically our coastal communities have had a special and important relationship with cetaceans,” she said in a letter sent to senators earlier this month. “Many of our communities are home to lucrative and sustainable whale watching and ecotourism operations. As such, we see ourselves as key stakeholders in this discussion.”

Despite having held 16 meetings since February, hearing from numerous experts and stakeholders — some from as far away as New Zealand — and receiving thousands of calls and emails from the public, there is a move afoot once again by Conservative senators on the Senate Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans to quietly kill the bill. The same efforts were underway in June before the Senate recessed for the summer.

In May, the need for consultations with Indigenous people was raised at committee. One section of the bill would amend the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act to prohibit imports and exports of cetaceans to and from Canada. Andrew Burns, a lawyer for Marineland in Ontario, which is staunchly opposed to the bill, told the committee the bill intrudes into issues of constitutionally protected Inuit rights, specifically around the sale of narwhal tusks and harvesting wildlife.

He said the park’s position is that the legal ‘duty to consult’ with the Inuit had not been fulfilled.

At a June 8 meeting of the committee, Sen. Don Plett picked up where Marineland had left off and raised the issue of consultations again. The Conservative whip has made no attempt to hide his support for Marineland and the Vancouver Aquarium at committee or on social media. Those are the only two facilities in Canada that have cetaceans in captivity — and both have lobbied hard against the proposed ban.

However, former Liberal Sen. Wilfred Moore, the original sponsor of the bill when it was introduced in 2015, told the committee in his opening remarks in late February that he was aware of concerns about the import and export restrictions in the bill being overly broad. He said it was something that could easily be remedied by an amendment.

Since Moore reached mandatory retirement age in January, the bill’s been sponsored by Independent Sen. Murray Sinclair. He has amendments to the bill he’s looking to put forward, but has yet been given a chance yet, as the committee has yet to meet this fall.

Sinclair is aware of efforts to sink the bill and said backroom discussions and efforts aren’t in keeping with the role or the spirit of the Upper Chamber.

“I can tell you that my feeling is very strong that when bills come to the Senate, the reason they go to the committee is to be studied, to make improvements. (Senators) have an obligation to send the bill back with a recommendation to the Senate so that it can be voted on,” he told iPolitics earlier this month.

As for the duty to consult put forth by those opposed to the bill, it doesn’t appear to be an issue that holds water with Slett, who never raised it in her letter.

“Our experience in developing marine use plans, using ecosystem-based management and building successful whale watching and ecotourism businesses provides a compelling alternative vision for more respectful was of appreciating and living with someone the most magnificent wild animals on the planet,” she said.

The committee meets tonight for the first time this fall. It will select a new deputy chair, a position left vacant when Sen. Elizabeth Hubley retired last month. Senators will also hold an in-camera session to decide how to proceed from here.