The Polar Bear as a provincial emblem of Manitoba

On March 8, I spoke on second reading on a bill which will make the Polar Bear a provincial emblem for Manitoba.   I spoke again at third reading on March 16^th.  Manitoba Liberals are in strong support of the Polar Bear becoming a provincial emblem, but we also believe a strong plan is needed to ensure the Polar Bear’s survival in Manitoba.

 

Bill 5–The Coat of Arms, Emblems
and the Manitoba Tartan Amendment Act

Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): First, let me begin by saying that we support this bill, this legis­lation. We think that it is a worthwhile initiative for polar bears to become a mammalian emblem for Manitoba.

      Polar bears are amazing mammals. They have captured our imagination. Churchill in Manitoba is one of the few places in the world where tourists come in sub­stan­tial numbers to see polar bears. Our Winnipeg Zoo has a special display for polar bears where they can be swimming and living in a model polar bear environ­ment.

      A number of years ago, Robert Taylor presented to the world his iconic photos of polar bears, and they remind us of the beauty and the majesty of this bear to this day.

      Yet there is, at the same time, a real threat to polar bears in our province. With global warming, it is predicted that polar bears may not survive in Manitoba by the end of this century. The polar bear in Manitoba is listed as a species which is threatened. It is threatened at least in part because the warming climate may so change the environ­ment along Hudson's Bay in northern Manitoba that it's no longer hospitable for polar bears. And yet, sadly, associated with this bill, there is no plan to ensure polar bears will survive in Manitoba into the next century.

      It would be uncommon, to say the least, for a pro­vince or a country to name, as a symbol of its juris­dic­tion, an animal which would not be around for long term in our province unless there is a newly developed and innovative plan to enable polar bears to survive here.

      The minister brings up the case of the mosasaur. The mosasaur, of course, is a different type of symbol, a symbol of the time many, many thousands of years ago when mosasaurs lived in Manitoba, and all we have is skeletons. This is very different from the case of the polar bear.

      I have seen no exhibitions of skeletons of polar bears. People are interested in seeing the real bear and photos of the real bear. I hope the minister is not planning to display a skeleton of the polar bear like that of the mosasaur. We hope it will always be live polar bears and not a skeleton, which is the symbol–a mammal symbol of Manitoba.

      The gov­ern­ment could have done much better. The gov­ern­ment could have provided a plan for the future of polar bears in Manitoba, but it has not. The gov­ern­ment could have provided an updated plan for the region around Churchill. The gov­ern­ment could have consulted with local Indigenous groups, like the Fox Lake First Nation. The gov­ern­ment could have considered making changes, like moving the current wildlife manage­ment area to become a prov­incial polar bear park. But, sadly, none of these have happened or is happening.

      The–a year ago, the gov­ern­ment made changes to the use of the current wildlife manage­ment area near Churchill to issue new permits without reviews, without an open process so that various people could apply, but rather with a process which only offered two permits to a major Progressive Conservative party donor. The minister spoke of this subject being not a political subject, but, indeed, it is his gov­ern­ment which has made it a political subject.

      Sadly, the polar bear should be an unblemished, pure symbol for Manitobans, and that is how, I think, most Manitobans would consider it. And we would hope that in the future, whatever gov­ern­ments are present, that they will provide more open and trans­par­ent processes and make sure that there is the wildlife studies which support the decisions which are to be made.

      So, in the future–as we move to the future, we need not only to consider and support, as we are today, making polar bears a symbol, a mammal symbol of our province. We have work to do to ensure the survival of polar bears in Manitoba. We have work to do to make sure that we're symbolizing real bears and not skeletons of bears, and we have work to do in the planning that needs to be done in the future around the city of Churchill so that it will be open and trans­par­ent and fair. And if we move forward in a co‑operative spirit and not in a politicized spirit, as the gov­ern­ment has been doing.

      With those words, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I will end my remarks. I look forward to this bill going to com­mit­tee and discussions there. And I hope that it moves forward so that we will have the polar bear as a symbol of Manitoba, and hope that the real polar bear survives as well, so that the symbol and the real bear can proceed for many, many long years into the future.

      Thank you.

 

March 16: Third Reading

Mr. Gerrard: Mr. Speaker, the polar bears are amazing animals. They are iconic. They are found during parts of the year very frequently in Churchill. Although I have been to Churchill a couple of times, one of the sad parts of my trips to Churchill was that I have not yet seen a polar bear and I hope to yet. Seeing polar bears in the wild is an ex­per­ience which I think more and more people should have and, hopefully–hopefully–this bill will be part of a movement to try and make sure that polar bears will be part of Manitoba and will live in the wild in Manitoba for a long, long, long time into the future.

      But, of course, that future right now is in question. People are already talking about the likelihood that polar bears will no longer be in the wild in Manitoba by the end of this century. We have to be careful that we don't have an emblem which is going to disappear from our province. We need an action plan; we need an approach which is going to make sure that polar bears are here for years and years to come.

      Seeing a polar bear in the Assiniboine zoo is an in­cred­ible ex­per­ience. The display that was put to­gether there is a marvellous example of what can be done to give animals a habitat and an ecosystem in a very small scale, which better mimics the ecosystem in the wild. It is, I think, an example of what should be the situation for many, many more of the animals who are in our Assiniboine zoo. That they should have the space that is more similar to their wild space, they should have more room than a small cage and that we should consider the animals and the environ­ment which they are in as in­creasingly im­por­tant.

      What will it take to ensure that polar bears con­tinue to live in the wild in Manitoba?

      Probably, first and foremost, it will take a major effort to address climate change, to arrest what is so rapidly occurring at the moment, which is an increase in global temperatures, a decrease in winter tem­peratures–or, an increase in winter temperatures, and an increase that occurs parti­cularly in northern parts of the world and in mid-continent areas.

      And so, the polar bears are parti­cularly suscept­ible to climate change, and they need the kind of environ­ment that we have currently in Manitoba. And, if the ice is gone completely on Hudson Bay and if there are no longer the sort of winters that we've had in and around Hudson Bay and parti­cularly around Churchill, then the polar bears may not be around. And, of course, with that comes not only an increase in temperature, but an increase in the volatility.

      Here, we have increased floods, increased fires. Exactly what that will mean to the area around Churchill, I suspect we don't know for sure, except that probably a lot of the areas which have permafrost up there now will no longer have permafrost. We will see much more in the way of marshes instead of frozen permafrost areas, and it will be quite a big change. And that big change will not necessarily be good for polar bears.

      So, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I am in strong support of the polar bear being a symbol for Manitoba. I raise concerns over its future because I think we should all be concerned, and we should all be working not just to make it a symbol, but to do what we can to make sure that polar bears live in the wild in Manitoba for a long time to come.

      Thank you.