On October 9th, our joint campaign with World Elephant Day, ‘Give Wildlife Crime The Severity That It Deserves,’ officially closed its letter-writing drive.
We would like to thank every educator, advocate, student, and supporter who took thirty seconds to email their Member of Parliament, share our posts, or sign our petition.
Because of your action, Canadian ministers and MPs have received an unmistakable message: Canadians are asking their parliamentary members to support a legally binding Wildlife Crime Protocol to strengthen international laws and close the legal loopholes that allow organized crime to exploit global wildlife.
Why This Campaign Mattered: Bridging Global Policy with Local Communities
As highlighted in recent investigative reporting by Mongabay, Canada’s current import framework leaves critical gaps. Under existing laws, importers are not consistently required to prove the legal origin of wildlife at our borders.
Former Canadian Director General of Wildlife Enforcement Sheldon Jordan put it bluntly: under current legal frameworks, import bans are “hardly worth more than the paper they’re written on.” In short, if a species isn’t explicitly listed under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), Canadian border officers cannot legally stop a shipment—even if it was poached or taken illegally from another country. Without mandatory proof of legal origin at our borders, Canada unwittingly acts as a safe harbor for illicit wildlife trade.
This isn’t just an abstract overseas issue—it directly impacts Canadian communities. As featured in our recent publication in the Surrey Now-Leader:
“Across Surrey, residents and local business owners are feeling the weight of rising property crime, gang activity, and illicit trade. Wildlife trade is at the heart of transnational organized crime… A protocol to protect international wildlife is key to cracking down on transnational crime in our own backyards.”
Our campaign demanded a structural, international solution to address both local safety and global conservation:
-
A Dedicated UNTOC Protocol: Adding a fourth protocol under the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime to target wildlife trafficking syndicates.
-
Mandatory Cross-Border Verification: Closing legal loopholes so illegal shipments cannot hide behind weak regional laws.
-
Law Enforcement Severity: Giving enforcement agencies the global intelligence tools needed to freeze criminal assets and dismantle wildlife trafficking networks.
What Happens Next?
While the letter-writing window for this campaign phase has closed, our policy work is just beginning.
Elephanatics is compiling and submitting the letters gathered through this joint initiative with World Elephant Day directly to Canadian decision-makers ahead of the UNTOC Conference of the Parties (CoP13) meetings this month. We are ensuring ministers and MPs hear clearly that their constituents want Canada to lead—not follow—on global environmental justice and international wildlife protection.
Stay Connected
Our educational toolkits and advocacy resources remain live on our site:
- 🍎 Educators & Parents: You can still access our free UNTOC Education Toolkit to bring conservation policy into the classroom.
- 🐘 Stay Informed: Subscribe to receive updates as UNTOC negotiations progress!
The drive to protect global wildlife doesn’t stop here. Thank you for standing with us to make wildlife crime a global priority.
— The Elephanatics Team
