e-5144

Petition to the Minister of Transport

Whereas:

Canadians care deeply about the health of the ocean, and depend on a thriving ocean ecosystem;
The cruise ship industry is growing quickly, and new records are being set year over year for passengers travelling from and passed Canada to Alaska;
Cruise ships generate significant amounts of pollutants that are harmful to human health, aquatic organisms and coastal ecosystems;
Canada's regulations under the Canada Shipping Act addressing the discharge of sewage and greywater are much less stringent than those in US Pacific coastal states;
Canada has brought in an Interim Order to address this discrepancy, but significant loopholes undermine its effectiveness and put ecosystems, food harvesting areas, and community health at risk;

We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Minister of Transport to 1. Require cruise ships to have holding tanks of sufficient size to store all sewage and greywater produced during their voyages;

2. Remove the exemption that allows cruise ships to discharge sewage and greywater close to shore if no onshore reception facilities exist;

3. Extend the application of cruise ship discharge regulations to the entirety of Canada’s Internal Waters and territorial seas, including areas within the proposed Great Bear Sea Marine Protection Area Network;

4. Establish complete no-discharge zones within marine protected areas, in alignment with the enhanced restrictions of the Marine Protection Area Protection Standard;

5. Ban the use of scrubbers in Canada’s Internal Waters and territorial seas to prevent the release of toxic wastewater; and

6. Require regular, independent third-party monitoring of cruise ship discharges to ensure compliance with environmental regulations funded through a per-passenger fee.

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