An Act to amend the Fish Inspection Act and the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act (importation and labelling of shark)

This bill was last introduced in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session, which ended in August 2015.

This bill was previously introduced in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session.

Sponsor

Elizabeth May  Green

Introduced as a private member’s bill. (These don’t often become law.)

Status

Outside the Order of Precedence (a private member's bill that hasn't yet won the draw that determines which private member's bills can be debated), as of April 5, 2012
(This bill did not become law.)

Summary

This is from the published bill. The Library of Parliament often publishes better independent summaries.

This enactment amends the Fish Inspection Act to add a requirement that, if a person is importing shark or shark product, the country of harvest and the common name of the shark must be indicated, in writing, to an inspector. It also amends the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act to prohibit the sale or importation of shark and shark product unless it is prepackaged and labelled to show certain information, including a statement that it may be unfit for human consumption due to mercury contamination.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Fish Inspection ActRoutine Proceedings

April 5th, 2012 / 12:35 p.m.
See context

Green

Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC

,

seconded by the member for Richmond—Arthabaska, moved for leave to introduce Bill C-417, An Act to amend the Fish Inspection Act and the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act (importation and labelling of shark).

She said: Mr. Speaker, today is my first opportunity to present a private member's bill in the House. This one is very complementary to other legislation in the House dealing with the ongoing and devastating practice of the finning of sharks for the purpose of one type of rare and prized dish accepted in Chinese culture. Shark fin soup is leading to the actual extinction of shark species around the planet. Over 70 million individual sharks a year are killed for this practice.

This bill attempts to help consumers through proper labelling. By focusing on labelling, I will be clear that the intent of the bill is to assist in the ending of the practice of trade and consumption of shark fins. In brief, the bill deals with the fact that as a high-end predator on the food chain, shark fins are contaminated with high levels of mercury. Currently, there is no warning of that in the consumption of sharks. It is also very important that the country of origin be labelled.

Through this labelling effort, the hope is that the practice will be come more difficult and in fact come to an end.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)