Sarah Blyth: Defender of whales and poverty pimps
The Vancouver Aquarium is a beautiful facility, the first time Your Humble Narrator visited I was truly impressed- they’ve got great lighting, informative displays, and an amazing selection of creatures to peer at. That said, it was somewhat disturbing when we got to the whales. The first question I asked myself was “how did they let this happen”? Then I leaned over to my partner and commented “How does a city with such a progressive government allow this to happen? You’d think someone would have spoken out about this!”.
Six years later, they’ve finally spoken out. Vancouver Parks Board commissioners Sarah Blyth and Constance Barnes announced on April 5th that they want the Vancouver Aquarium to shut down their whale and dolphin enclosures. Blyth admitted this isn’t a new issue, and that the Parks Board has been going back and forth on it for the past 20 years. Since then, Mayor Gregor Robertson has come out in agreement.
This leads us to the question; why is this issue coming to the forefront right now? We’ve known about the problem for decades, Victoria’s Sealand of the Pacific was shut-down in 1991. Blyth’s story is that they’re motivated by Blackfish; a movie about whales kept in captivity that was released in December 2013. But is there more to the story, perhaps it’s meant to distract us from something?
Background On The Vancouver Aquarium:
Kids love this, but it’s probably a bad idea…
The Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre is located in the north side of Stanley Park. It’s a popular destination for Vancouver families, and their reasonably priced season passes bring a lot of repeat visitors. Animals on display include Pacific white-sided dolphins, beluga whales, sea otters, seals, and two harbour porpoises that were rescued by their Marine Mammal Rescue Centre.
It’s important to note that the aquarium is a non-profit organization, and that they do a lot of great work rescuing animals that are under distress. The movie Blackfish was focussed on Sea World in San Diego- a private, profit motivated, company. In a way, Blyth and Barnes are comparing apples to oranges.
The chair of the aquarium’s Executive Committee is led by Brian Hannah. In his day job, Hannah is the Business Development Director for the KPMG audit firm.
Wait, That KPMG!
Sarah Blyth lobbying for Portland Hotel Society
If you’re up-to-date on Vancouver politics, it’s likely you’ve put two and two together already. KPMG is the firm that released the audit that forced the Portland Hotel Society’s board of directors to resign in shame. Their auditors pointed out some seriously disturbing facts about PHS’s financial mismanagement- paying for $900 a night hotels, cruises on the Danube, and trips to Disneyland paid for on the backs of the poor.
Though Blyth has tried to pass herself off as a simple “broom pusher” at PHS, she’s clearly much more than that. It was her homeless soccer team that PHS paid to travel down to the “Homeless World Cup” in Brazil. And, searching her name on Google Images, it becomes apparent she’s played a very public role in her work at PHS.
Sarah Blyth: Co-manager of PHS’s New Fountain shelter
It’s All Speculation, But…
So, who knows, perhaps Blyth had a sudden epiphany that motivated her to suddenly become champion of the whales! That said, perhaps there’s more to the story? Blyth is not unknown to lose her temper and say/do stupid things. Because, the timing of all this is just spectacular. At the minimum, it’s the perfect way to distract us from the corruption in the DTES.
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