ACTIVIST SAYS DELAYS DESIGNED TO STOP WHALE VOTE

A Vancouver antiwhaling activist has alleged that Vancouver city hall staff gave her the runaround to prevent a citywide referendum this November on keeping whales in captivity. Annelise Sorg, director of the Coalition for No Whales in Captivity, told the Straight that city staff have not written a report or scheduled a meeting with city council more than four months after she first raised this issue. Instead, Sorg said, city staff asked the director of the Vancouver Aquarium on September 7 to write a report stating his views. The Vancouver park board has refused to endorse a referendum on keeping whales in captivity.

Aquarium director John Nightingale sent the Straight a copy of the two-page report , which was written in response to the request from city hall Nightingale said he opposes a referendum for three reasons: because it would cost time and money; because the aquarium is on federal land leased to the park board, which means that this issue is significant for "a broader swath than just the people within city limits"; and because the
park board already dealt with the issue in 1996.

Nightingale said the aquarium agreed in 1996 not to collect any cetaceans from the wild. "We're still the only zoological institution in the world that has said that," he said. Sorg replied that the aquarium's pledge only applies to whales and dolphins captured after September 30 1996. "The only thing the aquarium should be asked is, 'Are you going to bring in more whales?'" she said. "The aquarium will say "Yes!""

On May 3, Sorg wrote to Mayor Philip Owen and the NPA council requesting to speak to them about authorizing a referendum as part of this November's civic election. In her letter, Sorg wrote that seven groups, including the B.C. SPCA and the Vancouver Humane Society, would like to submit written presentations or address council in person.

Sorg told the straight that an official in the clerk's department, Gail Johnson, told her that a meeting might occur on September 16 or 23. Since then, Sorg alleged, the issue has been passed to four different staff people. Now, she said, it might be too late to get it on the ballot. "It's a slap in the face of democracy," she said.

Vancouver city hall communications coordinator Paul Heraty told the Straight that he can't understand why Sorg is saying she is getting the runaround. "Because the aquarium is on park-board land, a request has to come from the park board to put it on the ballot," Heraty said.     Sorg, however, said that in 1993, the park board didn't want a referendum on the zoo, but concerned citizens persuaded Vancouver city council to place the issue on the ballot.