Please see the following statement from Elizabeth May, MP for Saanich—Gulf Islands and Leader of the Green Party of Canada, recognising World Ocean Day:
“Every year June 8 we celebrate World Ocean Day. Terrestrial creatures, humans live on a water planet – 3/4 of which is oceans. Yet we are killing life beneath the water. Every second our burning of fossil fuels delivers warming to the ocean equivalent to five atomic bombs. When the 2021 heat dome hit British Columbia, over one billion sea creatures died. We are choking the life of our oceans with plastic pollution, overfishing its creatures and overheating the water while robbing it of oxygen. Canada is increasing tanker traffic that threatens our endangered Southern Resident Killer whales. Pollution from toxic open-pen fish factories is harming wild salmon populations. While some laws are in place to prevent these violations, they often are underused or are outright ignored.
