The only reason that I attended the Parks Board Meeting of Nov. 27th, 2006, was to deliver the following message on Bjossa's behalf. The night I heard her crying, five years ago, I was moved in a way that will continue reverberating in my life forever. It really is beyond mere words to explain. It was as plaintive as it is possible to be.

"Commissioners, Fellow Citizens:

I am here tonight to speak on behalf of one sentient being: a being I did not know as well as I should, but one by whom I was profoundly moved. I am compelled to be here and speak on her behalf.

Five years ago she was forced out of a confinement home where she spent 20 years of her shortened life.
Five years ago she pled in the only way available to her.
She cried out loud.

Anyone who heard her, anyone who was possessed by any compassion whatsoever, knew that her crying was of anguish and not for joy.
Many cried with her. Sentience makes it so. There was nothing she could do, but cry.

Five years ago, in a larger confinement home, she gave up.

Five years ago, she died.

In the hearts and minds of those who heard her crying here in Vancouver, she is not forgotten, nor ever will be.

I do not know her real name. We called her Bjossa.

Her crying, for those who actually hear, is a clear plea that beings of her Order should not be treated similarly.

Her crying loudly bespeaks the fact that, not only should the Vancouver Aquarium not be allowed to expand, in its role as a circus, it should not exist at all!

I write this here, simply as a memorial to a being who tried to sound truth and who was, and is, ignored by her captors.