World Council of Whalers - The United Voice of Whaling Peoples

Press Releases

7 April 1999 - WCW Resolution Entered into Hansard Report of Canadian Senate

The resolution adopted by the World Council of Whalers at its First Annual General Meeting was entered into the official Hansard report of debates of the Canadian Senate after the following address to the Senate by the Hon. Charlie Watt:

Hon. Charlie Watt: Honorable senators, I wish to present to the chamber a resolution that was passed formally at the World Council of Whalers, a body which held its first general meeting at Victoria, British Columbia, last March 2 to 4. I am doing so in recognition of the fact that the United Nations has declared 1998 the International Year of the Ocean.

I am also concerned about the impact of the activities of the animal rights organizations on people around the world who rely on the coastal resources for their livelihood and renewable resources such as sea mammals and the general fisheries.

It is also with the hope of an alternative to the American legislation, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which is up for renewal in 1999, that I present the whalers' resolution.