“In my community, the Anishinaabe recognize that we are all related.  Not just you and I, but you and I and all life forms of creation.  As living things, we are connected to each other.  We depend upon one another.  Everything we do has an effect on other life forms and on our world.  That is why we use the term “nii-konasiitook – all of my relations” when addressing each other.

From Senator Murray Sinclair’s address to his colleagues in the Canadian Senate, on behalf of S-203 – the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act.

As people around the world begin to learn how to work together to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic,  I’d like to take a moment to recognize that what we’re experiencing now is a wake-up call to all of us.  One we simply can’t ignore.  

Our health is deeply affected by our relationship to the natural world.  A healthy planet is a precondition for human health.  We can never again pretend to exist separate and apart, and to expect to attain our own well-being.

In this particular instance, the virus appears to have originated in one of the so-called “wet markets” of China, where countless species of wild animals are kept in the most abysmal conditions, to be sold for food and other purposes.  We’ll need to raise our level of respect for wildlife many orders of magnitude if we ourselves hope to prosper.  This pandemic proves it.

But before we in the west assume this is a problem from outside our borders, we need to know that the next one may well come from one of our factory farms.  Thanks in part to the emergence of ‘ag gag’ laws that make it difficult to expose cruelty and neglect, there are millions of animals – including here in Canada – living in filthy, inhumane conditions.   These can be breeding grounds for deadly new viruses and bacteria, and we know now how easily these can jump from animals to us. 

As this daunting, global challenge unfolds, we remain optimistic that we will emerge from this much better informed.   We’ll be better able to appreciate a beautiful, thoughtful vision of a different kind of future, a redefined relationship with nature, on offer to us from amazing people like Jane Goodall.

In the meantime, we at The Canadian Cetacean Alliance hope you are staying safe and taking care of one another.

For The Orca’s Voice, 

Anna, and the CCA Team