WEEP, GAIA, WEEP!

Truly it’s enough to make Gaia herself weep. Mainstream (open net fish farms) has brought Don Staniford to court in order to punish him for alerting the public to their rotten fish farm practices that threaten the health of wild salmon. And while Don Staniford is brave and stalwart in his struggle against fish farm fish, from my own experience with BC courts on environmental issues, he’s up against the most conservative judiciary in Canada. However, BC judges do get annoyed, of course, when massive cuts in legal aid and overcrowded court room schedules impact their own judicial lives. But we can understand their annoyance since all these cuts come from the same BC Liberals that some of the same judges fought so hard to protect when under siege (Gordon Campbell, Christy Clark, in the BC Rail scandal). But we can hope for the best and support Don in anyway we can. We recognize that Gaia works in mysterious ways her wonders to perform.

Wild salmon are Gaia’s gift of love. To us. Many anthropologists believe that it was fish that first nourished the brains of pre-humans to the point of focused behavior, behavior that eventually became specifically human (tool making). And it isn’t just open net farm fish that are threatening this priceless gift.

It is also the genetically modified salmon biding their time in West Vancouver, awaiting their cue from the Harper government for release for human consumption, who in turn is awaiting his cue from the US environmental protection agencies. If the US answer is yes, that GMO fish is good for humans, then the Harper government will also move to release these artificial, hormonally treated, genetically scrambled fish for human consumption; fish that have no way of warning us humans what their tortured flesh will do to Canadian children and pregnant women who eat them, even if they knew. Some natural species do know, and send warnings in the form of certain colors, smells, etc., that they are dangerous to other species. The GMO salmon are not natural and can send no warnings. And neither are the sex changed, chemically infused, open net farmed fish.

We have depended on our government to warn us of dangerous foods, not promote then. I had sooner ask my daughter’s cat about the matter. I bet my boots that neither my daughter’s cat, nor her feline neighbourhood friends, would eat a GMO salmon. Or an open net farmed one. And would starve rather than consume an open net fish farmed, sex changed, flesh dyed, gene spliced, fish monstrosity that our government is gearing up to present to us. Yes, Gaia, weep for us! And a pox on those who mangle and murder your Great Gifts!

The Women’s Party has sent a further letter to Peter Kent, Minister of the Environment in reply to his letter to us. Copy below:

Jan.19, 2012
Minister of the Environment
The Honourable Peter Kent, P.C., M.P.
Ottawa, Canada K1A 0H3

Mr. Kent,
Thank you for your letter of Dec 12. We have been considering the information you provided in your letter along with the information provided in the letter from Mr. Gerry Ritz. We take issue with your letter, Mr. Kent on several grounds. First, the advances you claim for other genetically modified foods are wildly exaggerated. If this were not so, why wouldn’t your government allow the labeling of products that contain genetically modified foods? Certainly the Europeans demand this of their governments as well as other countries. The main over riding objection The Women’s Party has to GMO foods is that contrary to your claims, there is no science based, regulatory process that considers every “possible precaution” before letting these foods loose on the unsuspecting public simply because nobody knows at this point in time what the long term results will be, particularly in children, from ingesting GMO foods.

Yes, while it may be true that the struggle over GMO Salmon is still being fought in the US, your government is obviously getting geared up for an approval by the US. We feel that it is disingenuous to claim that because Canadian law (Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999) forbids new living organisms from being imported into Canada without a science-based assessment then your government can’t be guilty of such a thing. To the contrary, we argue that just allowing the cultivation of Genetically Modified Salmon eggs (on PEI) from and by a foreign company (Bay Fortune, part of AquaBounty, US) on Canadian soil is an infringement of the Act. Your government is willing to bypass Canadian law and run the risks of lost or escaped or even stolen eggs and fry of Bay Fortune, as well as that of matured GMO salmon who can interbreed with wild stock when matured in West Vancouver. We, Sir, are not.

We ask that a risk assessment on this practice be conducted forthwith as well as an explanation of why and how Stephen Harper’s government has been able to override the laws of Canada while exposing Canadian waters to a new and horrific threat of biological pollution.

Writing for the Women’s Party:
Betty Krawczyk betty.krawczyk@gmail.com

c.c.
The Honourable Leona Aglukkasq, PC, MP Minister_Ministre@hc-sc.gc.ca
The Honourable Keith Ashfield, PC, MP Min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
The Honourable Christian Paradis, PC, MP ministre.industrie@ic.gc.ca
The Honourable John Weston, MP john.weston@parl.gc.ca