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Marineland, Canada’s once-beloved aquatic animal park, has been floating on its last fins for a while now. In 2019, the federal government passed Bill S-203, the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act, which banned the use of cetaceans—whales, dolphins and porpoises—for breeding or entertainment. Then came the pandemic, which tanked attendance at the park, and the growing recognition that keeping giant animals in relatively tiny enclosures is a massive moral failing.
Marineland closed its gates after its summer 2024 season, listing its Niagara Falls property for sale and beginning to sell off its rides. Now there’s just one problem. Okay, make that 30 giant problems.
According to a report from the CBC, Marineland recently applied for a permit to export all 30 of its belugas. A Chinese theme park called Chimelong Ocean Kingdom has confirmed it is interested in the purchase, but the transaction requires the sign-off of the minister of fisheries.
Enter World Animal Protection Canada, an animal rights organization that says this “fire sale on whales” is an abdication of responsibility from government. “Belugas are not commodities. The risk of them being auctioned off to the highest bidder—possibly shipped overseas to facilities with equally low standards and continually bred for the animal entertainment industry—is real, and it’s unacceptable,” says WAPC executive director Colin Saravanamuttoo.
The group has called for the acceleration of a seaside sanctuary project currently being planned in Nova Scotia that would provide a high quality of life for captive whales. In the meantime, they want Doug Ford to clarify the province’s role in Marineland’s ownership and oversight.
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Nineteen belugas have died at Marineland since 2019. In a statement to the CBC, Ontario’s Solicitor General’s Office said animal welfare inspectors have visited the park more than 220 times since 2020, conducting “regular inspections of Marineland to ensure compliance with standards of care.”
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Courtney Shea is a freelance journalist in Toronto. She started her career as an intern at Toronto Life and continues to contribute frequently to the publication, including her 2022 National Magazine Award–winning feature, “The Death Cheaters,” her regular Q&As and her recent investigation into whether Taylor Swift hung out at a Toronto dive bar (she did not). Courtney was a producer and writer on the 2022 documentary The Talented Mr. Rosenberg, based on her 2014 Toronto Life magazine feature “The Yorkville Swindler.”
Earlier today, FIFA unveiled the mascots for the 2026 World Cup host countries, including Canada’s very own Maple the Moose. And maybe you’re thinking, Oh my, what a reductive cultural stereotype. What’s next: an American eagle? A Mexican jaguar? Does Maple live in an igloo and say “sorry” too much?
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Yes, yes and no, actually: Maple is a “a street style–loving artist, music enthusiast and dedicated goalkeeper” who “found purpose through creativity, resilience and unapologetic individuality.” It’s a lot of backstory for an animated moose, but at least Maple sounds a bit cooler than Clutch the Eagle, who “possesses an unquenchable thirst for adventure” and doesn’t appear to have any hipster side-hustles. Zayu the Jaguar completes this ragtag gang of animated critters that social media is already comparing to The Backyardigans.
It really takes you back to all the Barney the Dinosaur cracks that accompanied the launch of the Raptors branding way back when. But today we love our Raptor, and we will love Maple too. It’s just funny to imagine a bunch of over-educated branding whizzes sitting in a boardroom and someone mentioning a Canadian moose “as a joke” in the first 30 seconds of the brainstorming sesh. And six months later, here we are. Antlers up!
Courtney Shea is a freelance journalist in Toronto. She started her career as an intern at Toronto Life and continues to contribute frequently to the publication, including her 2022 National Magazine Award–winning feature, “The Death Cheaters,” her regular Q&As and her recent investigation into whether Taylor Swift hung out at a Toronto dive bar (she did not). Courtney was a producer and writer on the 2022 documentary The Talented Mr. Rosenberg, based on her 2014 Toronto Life magazine feature “The Yorkville Swindler.”
Dr. Clara Chan has always pursued high-impact, fast-paced opportunities. The former Goldman Sachs intern made the switch from Silicon Valley startups to corneal surgery following a summer at a Toronto cornea clinic with Dr. David Rootman, a world-renowned corneal surgeon at University Health Network’s (UHN) Donald K. Johnson Eye Institute.
Originally from Toronto, Chan moved between Canada and the United States for her education, first attending Stanford University, then completing medical school in Ontario and returning to the United States for a fellowship in corneal surgery. She eventually settled back in Toronto to develop the country’s most comprehensive ocular stem cell transplant program with Dr. Allan Slomovic at UHN, Canada’s top hospital and, currently, the third highest-ranked hospital in the world.
“It’s nice to come full circle,” says Chan. “I published my first research article in medical school with my mentor, Dr. David Rootman, and we now share our practice here.”
As a world-leading institution in transplant and stem cell innovation, UHN handles some of the most complex medical challenges in the country. For Chan, there was no better place to launch the institute.
Johanne Provost, a mother from Quebec, had been struggling with swelling and pain in her eye—eventually losing her vision entirely. Johanne’s ophthalmologist had been consulting with Chan on her case. Together, they delivered a diagnosis of lichen planus, an autoimmune condition typically appearing on the skin. While they were working to bring Johanne’s immune system back under control, the stem cells in her eyes became permanently damaged. Her last and only hope to restore her vision was a corneal stem cell transplant.
Typically, stem cells are transferred over from the patient’s other eye—however, this wasn’t an option for Johanne, as her condition affected both of her eyes. Instead, Chan used corneal stem cells from a deceased donor, making UHN the first and only institution in Canada to offer ocular stem cell transplants from non-living donors.
A UHN multidisciplinary team of world-class transplant specialists, care coordinators and nurses began to prepare Johanne for surgery with a combination of immunosuppressants to stabilize her immune system and to ensure a more successful outcome. Following her surgery and recovery period, Johanne was finally able to see her children—now teenagers—and her husband again, all three years older than when she last saw them.
“The surgery gave me my life back—my independence, my liberty,” she says.
Through donor support, UHN’s Donald K. Johnson Eye Institute currently provides international fellows with specialized training and access to one of the world’s largest patient populations in need of corneal surgery. Donor support is also fuelling UHN’s new Canada Leads initiative, aiming to recruit top clinician-scientists from around the world to help accelerate research for more Canadian-born discoveries, job creation and global influence.
“Corneal stem cell transplants are only possible through the incredible research that turns bold ideas into treatments for our patients, like Johanne,” says Chan.
Learn more about how you can help UHN attract the world’s best talent at UHNfoundation.ca/CanadaLeads.
Marineland is having a fire sale on belugas - Toronto Life
