Polls show that the majority of people in Vancouver are against more whales being brought into captivity.

Whale Friends, the Coalition for No Whales in Captivity, Lifeforce Foundation and other organizations in Vancouver have been calling for a city wide referendum on this issue. Thousands of signatures have been collected in support of a referendum. In one high school, Kitsilano Secondary, students collected over 1200 signatures from among their peers.

A city wide referendum is the democratic way to go forward. The referendum questions should be along the lines: "Should the Vancouver Aquarium be allowed to bring more whales and dolphins into Stanley Park?" and "Should the Vancouver Aquarium phase-out its whale and dolphin captivity program ?"

Whale Friends is also demanding that the Vancouver Aquarium should refrain from importing another whale or dolphin until such a referendum is held.

The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation and Vancouver City Council are dominated by the pro-business biased Non Partisan Association (NPA )civic party . The Park Board and City Council, urged on by the Aquarium and the Tourist Industry, oppose the referendum proposal.

Their well founded fear is that given a democratic say, the majority of people in Vancouver would vote in favour of having the cetacean captivity program in the Aquarium phased-out. In a similar referendum in 1993 Vancouver voted to close down a zoo in Stanley Park .

Vancouver is the birthplace of the orca captivity trade. The city should be an example to the world in phasing out this cruel and inhumane practice.