Animal-welfare activist says captivity explains NPA-Hamilton rift

The founder of No Whales in Captivity thinks the NPA torpedoed Jamie Lee Hamilton's political ambition because of her longstanding opposition to keeping cetaceans in captivity in Stanley Park.

Annelise Sorg told the Straight that Hamilton, a transgender sex-workers' advocate, has been a very active person with No Whales in Captivity.

"She has always been very supportive of ending the whale captivity business in Stanley Park," Sorg said.  "It wouldn’t surprise me one bit that the NPA doesn’t want to even allow her into the door."

The NPA board refused to allow Hamilton's name to go before the membership on September 13  for a park-board nomination.

Sorg said that the last NPA-controlled park board eliminated the requirement to hold a referendum before any expansion to the Vancouver aquarium. A former aquarium employee, Heather Holden, was elected as a park commissioner in 2005 and subsequently became chair of the board.

Hamilton, a former Green party candidate,  said that Holden's husband, Doug Leung, asked most of the questions of her during the candidate-screening process.

Hamilton alleged that some of those questions concerned whether she was soliciting men and whether she was still active in the sex trade.

In Canada, prostitution is legal; however, it's illegal to  negotiate the sale of sexual services in public.

Sorg claimed that the aquarium has had a huge influence on the NPA-controlled park boards. She also pointed out that the NPA has run gay and lesbian candidates in the past, so she doubted that this is the reason why the NPA prevented Hamilton from running with the party.

"If anything, that's something they seek," Sorg said. "What they can't do is put somebody in there who is going to battle the aquarium. And that's exactly what Jamie Lee Hamilton was going to do because she always has."