The Walrus and the Whistleblower (2020) - full transcript

[tranquil music playing]

[phil demers]
when I was initially called
a whistleblower,

It was by an investigative
journalist who said,
"you'll be a whistleblower."

[soft music playing]

Whistleblower, I blew whistles
for years at marineland,

But it was, uh... It was to tel
the dolphins to come back
to the stage and get their fis.

[soft music playing]

[cheering]

I don't do speeches, so I was...
I was born a rambling man.

There's a walrus back there.

Her name is smooshi and
I gotta get her out of there.



[tranquil music playing]

[bell dings]

[woman 1]
♪ story goes ♪

♪ friendship cove ♪

♪ everyone loves marineland ♪

♪ you'll be spinning, diving
and soaring high ♪

♪ our roller coaster ride
will fly you to the sky ♪

♪ now you know what you'll say
when you leave here today ♪

♪ everyone loves marineland ♪

Yeah, the words have changed
except for the tagline
at the end.

♪ and the sea lions do this
and the whales do that ♪

♪ everyone loves marineland ♪

Even when we were kids that song
came on and you were so excited,
you know,

"oh, I get to go to marineland."



♪ watching the whales
and dolphins play ♪

It's there all the time
and I'm still singing the song.

♪ everyone loves marineland ♪

One of the things that made
niagara falls more popular

And brought in more families
with young children, especially,

Was the opening of marineland
in 1961.

[man 1] pick up your free
children's passes to marineland
and game farm.

The marineland and game farm
is open all day, every day

And features a thrilling
underwater show starring
jeff the seal, trained dolphin,

And an underwater valley.

[water splashes]

[soft music playing]

[phil] I started my job
at marineland on, uh,
March 11th of the year 2000.

So I was 22-year-old kid.

They had decided that, "hey,
let's put phil in the show.

Let's... Let's have him
swim with an orca."

And so they called me,
they said, "okay,
you want to come up front?"

I'm like, "for what?"

They're like, "we'll let...
We'll let you know
when you get here."

Okay, so I show up,
they're like,
"put a wetsuit on."

You know, I had no training.

I'd... I'd... I'd all but
touched an orca and fed him
at this point,

But, yeah,
they put me in the water,
no experience whatsoever,

I was making 6 dollars
and 85 cents an hour

And I was swimming with
killer whales, you know, mere
months after starting my job.

[tranquil music playing]

[doug draper] I sat down with
john in his park one sunny
afternoon for an interview.

He looked like a guy
that was going around

Just checking to make sure
the washroom facilities
were working properly.

This is the owner
of this tourist empire?

See, he loved walt disney
and he would say, "well,
disney does it like this."

And john wanted that degree
of sophistication
and I think he was envious.

[phil] he's an older man,
wise, successful,

He felt a bit fatherly
and so we had some
really powerful interactions.

[doug] he was from slovenia.

He told me that in his younger
years while he was still there,

He cut his teeth, uh,
training circus animals.

This was his culture.

[upbeat music playing]

[dan long] it was the biggest
game in town back then.

On a busy weekend, we would
do five-six shows maybe,
several thousand people a show.

It's 23.66.

24, 25, 30 and 40 dollars.

[ted salci] marineland was
the first of its kind

To hire as many people
as it does every year.

I believe about 800 people
a year.

Very, very strong commitment
to the public in niagara
for... For jobs.

And more than half of the hotel
rooms are filled in this area
because of this attraction.

[man 2] it's been a very special
week for us here in marineland,

A week of special thrills
and a week of special happiness.

[phil] I got to work with orcas
and dolphins and seals
and sea lions,

But then there was this
low rumbling rumor that we might
be getting a walrus

And I'll never forget it because
I remember saying,
"well, where would we put it?

Like, we don't have
a walrus thing."

A couple of days later,
we show up to work
and there's a baby walrus.

[soft music playing]

"look, she keeps smooshing
against me. Look at this.

What do you call this,
smooshing?

But she keeps...
Look, smooshing."

Uh, her name just
became smooshi.

We were undergoing a procedure
where we were trying to get
blood work done.

So the procedure is that you put
the net on the walruses

And then you wrestle them down
and then a vet draws the blood.

Smooshi was barking
and she's climbing the trainers,

So I sought to move her away
from the scene.

All I did was, I'm tapping
her... I'm tapping her
to get her attention

While she's trying to
smash everybody
and she looked up at me

And I put my hands
in front of her face
and she took this big breath

And her nostrils went big
and wide and her eyes got big
and at that exact moment,

Unbeknownst to me,
I don't know this, yet,
but I've imprinted on her.

It was this and that was the
exact moment, no question,

The window was this big,
it happened.

And, in that moment,
I became her mom.

Hey, smoosh.

Pretty snow hats.
Look at your snow hat, huh?

Look at your snow hat.
Look at your snow hat.

That's good.

Hey, walrus, what are you doing?
What are you doing, huh?

What are you doing?
Okay, that's a good girl.

She was like, uh,
just the sweetest
and most perfect little...

I guess best described
as ball of innocence.

She was... She could just...

And it's not because she's
the apple of my eye
that she could do no wrong,

It wasn't like that,
it was like... She was...
She was a brat.

I have more questions
and answers about this.

This is really a phenomenon
and there is something called
imprinting in animals

When baby animals
bond to their mothers

And it's conceivable
she thinks of phil
as her mother.

[inaudible].

[phil] I mean,
our hands are full suddenly.
We're walrusland.

Look. Look at buttercup.

Sonja, zeus and apollo,
smooshi and buttercup.

When it was established
that I was the walrus whisperer,

It was because I could
physically have four or five
walruses in front of me

And I could say, "let's go!"

[cheering]

A woman by the name
of elizabeth shearer,

She was looking for any type
of cute story she could run
on a valentine's day article

In the toronto star.

And so in 2007
that first article ran
and thereafter

It just became this ever-growing
momentum-building thing.

It progressed to a different
live morning radio interviews

And then, eventually, uh,
it would be a story
in cbc's the national

And then, eventually, it would
even get to jimmy kimmel,
like late night talk show.

This is a heartwarming tale
of...

And it's a kind of bond that cn
develop between animals
and people.

For three years, this trainer
at marineland in ontario

Has been working
with a walrus named--

Smooshi is a walrus who lives
at niagara falls, marineland.

He is at the center of
a love triangle between
his girlfriend, and a walrus.

[man 3] a 900-pound female
walrus chases a woman away
from her handsome, male handle.

You love me, moosh?
Do you, yeah? Give me a kiss.

[soft music playing]

Christine was a trainer
at marineland
for as long as I was.

She started a few months
before me.

She was kiska's primary trainer.

One of the first persons
that I crossed paths with
was christine.

Uh, we were at a doorway
in, uh, in the trainer's room
and, uh, she had purple hair.

And, you know, she's one of the
first people that said hi to me

And if I'm not mistaken,
one of the first things
she said was like,

"oh, what kind of music
do you listen to?"

-I always liked christine.
-Yes, it's true.

[phil] I always joked around
every time she came around--

You have to tell the stories.

[phil] I would tell people...
Like, if anyone come around,
like she... She...

I worked at the front in the
stadium where you do the show.

She was... Her focus was with
the killer whales at the back.

And you always flirted with me.

[phil] I would flirt with
christine. So what I would do is
anyone would show up--

-Only me.
-[phil] in the front,
they were coming

To pick up our garbage
or something, I'd say,
"oh, where's christine?"

They'd be like, "oh,
she's at the back." I'd be like,
"tell her I said hi."

Yeah, and that's what everyone
says to me
when they come see me,

"oh, by the way,
phil said hi."

-[phil] yeah, I'd do that a lot.
-Always.

Do you remember
what you used to say?

"oh, hey. Oh, hi crids."

Oh, wait, no you didn't
call me crids yet.

"oh, hi christine." and then
you would flip your whistle.

[phil] yeah, well,
that's my [inaudible].

I'm getting tears in my eyes.
It's so funny.

-[phil]
we ran the show at marineland.
-It's true.

[phil] oh, yeah.

-Are you recording me?
-[man 4] yeah, because it says
recording at the top.

That's right. Now push it
again and see if it stops.

You know, over time you become
good at what you do.

You enjoy the company of others
and the place becomes
like a family-like environment.

You know, I loved them all.
We really were
a tight-knit group.

It was a... Quite a perfect fit
for me, the job.

[whistling]

[orca calls]

Johnny, john holer's son who was
a good friend of mine,
he had a good heart, good sense.

Johnny liked me because, uh, I
was someone he could smoke
cigarettes and swear around.

If I needed something
it was a waste to go to john.
I would just go to johnny.

Johnny would get into trouble
a lot of times for me,
specifically for me.

[suspenseful music playing]

[doug] the only thing that we're
reading in the local media

Were stories about the birth
of another baby whale.

They were getting that
kind of coverage.

I took a look in our own files
of the st. Catharines standard,

There was one story
that struck me,

About one particular whale, uh,
at marineland.

The headline was

"baby jane upset
injures herself."

I mean a picture tells a huge
story and that one did for me.

When I... I look back on who was
protesting out there and who
was doing it first, nafa.

That's niagara action
for animals, and it was always
catherine ens

Who was the leader
of that organization
in the late 1980s.

I'm an anti-speciesist.
I guess that's the best way
to describe it.

I would like to see animals
stop being exploited,

Stop being used,
um, for anything.

I would like to see no
more marine mammals
in captivity, period.

That's... That's the
bottom line.

[phil] I didn't like the idea
that these guys are telling me
what I'm doing wrong

And they didn't even know
the half of it.

I'm just like,
"you guys got nothing."
that's the best part.

Like, they were saying,
"these animals just shouldn't be
in captivity."

It's like okay, well,
that's an easy one.

You've got, uh, 20,000 people
on this side of the fence
paying 50 dollars a head

Saying that they should be
in captivity and you got
12 people saying no.

[indistinct chatter]

[man 5] activists fought
with police today at marineland

During a demonstration
to protest
whale and dolphin captivity.

American activist ben white
was defiant till the end.

You don't go to marineland,
please.
Think about what you're doing.

We have the best record
of all the parks, marine parks,

In north america
as far as keeping
these animals alive.

[dan] I was quite a number of
years distant from marineland
at that time

And, in my mind,
I had become anti-captivity.

I spoke to captivity in general.
I didn't slam marineland.

I knew guys that
worked there still

And... And they were doing
the best they could
with what they had

And that's when the problem
started with john holer.

I had to work at marineland
in my capacity with the hydro

Which is what I was doing
at that time.

So we had to go on the property
and do a job

And I was talking to a couple
of guys I used to work with.

And one of the guys said,
"oh, well, if john sees you,
he's going to go crazy."

And sure enough, john showed up
and veins bulging out of his...
Of his forehead,

He... He threatened to put
a bullet in my brain.

"if I see you
on this property again."

One of the very first times
we were, uh, leafleting
at the, um, entrance gate,

He came out and there were three
of us there and he said words
to the effect that

He had a gun
in the back of his truck
and that he would use it.

And he was very angry.

In fact, I thought he might be
on the verge of like suffering
some kind of heart attack.

Like, his face just went
completely beet red.

This is the closest I've ever
been to evil in my life,
like, literally.

[man 6] come on, he's just
doing his job, man.

You're lucky you don't have
a knife. I'm lucky
you don't have a knife.

-So you would stab me
if you had a knife?
-That's right.

-Wow.
-Yeah, right here.

-Oh, you'd kill me right here?
-Oh, I would bury you
right here.

You would bury me right here?

-You wouldn't even bother to
put me in the mass graves.
-No.

[doug] he was so proud
of what he had done

And he had received so much
positive reinforcement for it
in the community--

Sir, you want a leaflet?
All right, have a nice day.

See, john, all we're doing
is asking.
People don't have to take it.

We don't need to take it.
You're nothing, but uh, uh, uh--

-A whale. A whale.
-An idiot. An idiot.

[doug] he just didn't get why
there were now people coming out

And saying,
"no, this isn't right."

He's starting to get
a little furious here.

[tranquil music playing]

Once upon a time
marineland had...
Had a lot of power and control.

The city worked in hand with
what marineland wanted.

[man 7] john holer has a...
A large portion of the land

Between niagara falls
and the village of chippawa,

Probably about a thousand acres.

[man 8] you know when you're
called the king of niagara,

You start to think you're a king
of sorts, of a place.

[naomi rose] there is a breed
of person, man...
There's a breed of man,

Egomaniacal, narcissistic.

They have a tendency to run
safari wildlife parks
and dolphinariums.

There's a guy in the
canary islands who's like that.

There's a guy
in the dominican republic
who's like that.

And there was john holer
who was the king of all of them

In terms of that
hoarding tendency.

[waves crashing]

[phil] normally, you don't know
the backstory of how an animal
comes into possession.

You don't know that
much about them.

Smooshi spent some time
at a russian facility.

It's widely accepted that
what happens, uh, is
these captors will storm a beach

Which will cause a panic.

And in all that,
there's a corralling
of the calves

And there are several scenarios
where the mother is slaughtered
and the baby abducted.

[blows]

[soft music playing]

[indistinct chatter]

They're put in these quite small
wooden boxes

And they're... They're merely
taken off a cargo plane in, uh,
at the airport

And then driven to marineland
where they're unloaded.

Uh, all of which happens
overnight when nobody except
for the select few people know.

Every couple of hours,
you show up with a warm bottle
and hope she eats

And, eventually,
you have fish in this hand.

So you're going, bottle,
bottle, bottle, fish.

Try it... You want to try it?
No. Okay, bottle, bottle,
bottle, fish.

You want to try it?
Oh, fish. Oh, good.
Bottle, bottle.

The next job for the next few
months is get them on fish.

Get them off the bottle
and on fish.

All training is based on
food deprivation, all of it.

If a trainer or anybody
in this... In the industry has
said to you, "we don't do that.

We reinforce positive behavior.
We, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah..."

Whatever which way that
they try to define
what it is that they do,

They've convinced
themselves of
they're not lying.

[seal calls]

The animals live behind
these bars on this very short,

Maybe six, seven-foot platform

Into these very shallow
and small pools.

That's their existence 24/7
unless they're performing.

The only reason an animal would
be taken out

Would be either for training,
uh, medical purposes,
or to perform.

And whether
it's born in captivity or not,

It carries the weight and stress
of... Of that trauma

Of being out of its element,
every single day.

That's abuse.
That's an abused animal.

[soft music playing]

There comes a point where
suddenly you used to make sense
of things you can't no more,

The excuses are gone.

I know that the animals
at marineland are medicated

Because I was the one
giving them the drugs.

Take a fish, you break the
membrane, take your pills
and you stuff them in.

Obviously, you get into valium

And we tried various forms
of actual
like human antidepressants.

[soft music playing]

In September of 2011,
there was a, uh, breakdown
in the water disinfection unit,

The ozone generator broke, uh,
which meant

We now had to rely on
the increased use of chlorine.

[soft music playing]

Sea lions had to get taken out
of the water, isolated in dry
environments for months on end.

Well, their skin was just
falling off,
their skin was bleeding,

It was dry, it was crusty,
they were in their own filth.

We couldn't clean, uh, their
little stations adequately
enough.

They were writhing in pain.
We couldn't get enough meds
to them.

Well, smooshi was not immune
to the effects of the water.

She had chemical burns.
So much of her fur
was coming off.

Her rear flippers were really
red and inflamed.

You bring the vet down,
you're like, "just look at her."

"oh, oh, yeah, ee-uh.
That's chemical burn.

Ah, ooh. Okay,
better get some antibiotics."
you're like, "oh, wait a second.

Shouldn't we be getting the
chlorine out of the water?"

What do you mean antibiotics?
Shouldn't we be
dumping this water?

We lose our mind about it.
We call the owner,
"get in here and address this."

"okay, I'm going to."
the next day you show up
it's even worse.

I sat down next to my supervisor
at the time and said, "how the
hell can we continue like this?"

And he said, "you know what
I like about you, phil?

The more shit we throw at you,
the more you keep coming back."

I fucking pulled out my phone,
I texted the vet.
"I just fucking quit."

"no, you did not."
"yes, I did."

She e-mails the cfo, says,
"no. You cannot let phil quit."

She says smooshi needs him,
echo needs him."
she lists animals.

"phil is the best.
Do not let him go."

On my very last day as I am
literally packing everything up,

John decided finally
it's time to dump that water.

I don't know that he was
doing it otherwise.

Prior to my leaving, I insisted
that I have a meeting
with cfo, tracy and john

And, uh, I stressed to them, um,
that given my relationship
with smooshi,

It's in their best interest,
of course,
and they acknowledged,

Uh, that I remain,
uh, available to them.

My understanding was firm,
"come back any time."

So in accordance
to our agreement,

I showed up to marineland,
but they weren't letting me in.

Well, it just so happened as...
As a one of those odd,

Perfect scenarios to unfold,

Uh, johnny suddenly appears
and he puts his arm around me
and says, "so, what's going on?"

I said, "they're not... They're
not letting me in the park."

He says, "you're like family
here, phil. Of course,
you're getting in the park."

[soft music playing]

And I walk right back to smooshi
and, ah, she's in rough shape.

[calls]

And so I decided to speak.

That was the choice.

Walk away, move on,
get a job doing whatever

And look the other way,
or save smooshi.

[gloomy music playing]

That is the incident that
changed everything.

[soft music playing]

[woman 2] former staff members
are leveling some
shocking allegations

Of animal neglect against the
popular niagara falls
theme park, marineland.

[phil] over the course of my
tenure at marineland,
I was witness to things

That people would never imagine
a place like marineland
to be capable of.

I heard what phil was saying
and I could back up everything
phil was saying was the truth.

I was seeing animals suffering
on a daily basis there
when I left.

The basic example I always give
is the, quote, unquote,
"beluga rodeo."

There's like 10-12 belugas
in a pool, they drop the water
down to knee level

And then all the trainers run in
and jump on top of a beluga
to restrain it.

[glen owen] one of the beluga
whales, peanut, was not taking
well to the scenario

And, uh,
she started freaking out.

And, um, started thrashing
her tail against the ground.

And then the vet will come in
and give it an injection.

While it's happening,
peanut is, uh,
gushing out blood.

The water will turn red.

At which point,
chunks are coming off her tail

And through it all
we are getting covered in blood.

While all this is happening,
the head vet who was
looking over the procedure,

Shouted up to john,
who was up above to call it off.

We're not doing this anymore.
And john said, "no, keep going."

So we did, right?

You find out other things like
seaworld has them trained

To just come in and present
their tail without any need
for restraint or anything

And the vet can just inject them
and they swim away,

But at marineland being the
wild, wild west that it was that
was how we had to do it.

[man 9] now we have asked
marineland and its owner
to come on today's show

And tell their side
of the story.

They replied that there is,
"no other side to this story.

There is no story."

[upbeat music playing]

Four or five dolphins
passed away when I was there.

A walrus passed away when
I was there, lots of belugas
passed away when I worked there.

[man 10] where do marineland's
animals go when they die?

A published report says,
thousands of bodies from
deer to whales are buried

In mass graves here,
on the park property.

[angel] kandu, nootka, athena
and hudson are all killer whales
that passed away.

It was shocking, like, you just
don't think that they'd die,
especially the young ones.

[man 10] in response,
marineland's head veterinarian
gave global news a tour

Of their facilities
insisting the animals there
are well taken care of.

That was really the first
inside look that the public got

On what someone's perception
of the inside was.

[doug] they turned a local story
into a national, if not
international, news story.

You go from the niagara action
for animals people
doing their protest,

Where there'd be maybe
50 of them to the whole front
of the park being full.

[applauding]

Uh, there's a walrus back there.
Her name is smooshi.

She's the one
that I think about...

And I gotta get her
out of there.

[catherine] at that time
there was no fence around the
perimeter of the parking lot.

There was a lot of energy
that day.

People just got carried away
in the moment.

Shut it down!
Shut it down!
Shut it down!

[woman 3] hundreds of protesters
plowed their way
through the gates

Chasing down marineland owner
john holer who was behind
the wheel of that gray truck.

[all] arrest, arrest,
arrest john holer!

Arrest, arrest,
arrest john holer!

-Arrest, arrest--
-leave the property now please.

[all] shut it down!
Shut it down!
Shut it down!

-Shut it down!
-It's a bit of a shock,
but in a way that you think,

"yes, animal liberation
is around the corner."

[soft music playing]

If by virtue of perfect timing
johnny doesn't see me
rejected at the gate

And personally escort me
into the park that day,

I don't see smooshi
in the condition she's in.

[all] shut it down!
Shut it down!

None of this happens.

[soft music playing]

And, uh, I think johnny was
made to feel the guilt for that.

[indistinct chatter]

I had the greatest hope
for a change with john jr.

Uh, I know he had his issues,

But he was always getting
a... A stonewall from his father

And one of the saddest things
I ever heard was the day that
I heard he had passed away.

It was a... It was a loss
for the... For marineland.

[phil] I remember the last
message johnny sent me.

He said, "I got in a lot of
trouble for letting you
into the park.

Come visit me."

And I didn't reply to the
message, and so it would prove
to be our last words.

[soft music playing]

Eventually, there would be
an excess of 15
whistleblowers speaking out

[tranquil music playing]

And that's when marineland
had decided they'd had enough

And they were going to start
suing people in an effort
to try to stop the bleeding.

They had to make people
scared to speak.

[tranquil music playing]

Yeah, heh, it's still insane,
every time I see that.

In February of 2013,
phil was sued for 1.5 million
dollars by marineland.

[tense music playing]

Mr. Demers and others agreed on
or about October 7, 2012,

To unlawfully gain entry
into marineland in order to
steal smooshi the walrus.

[upbeat music playing]

Phil's case is one where he's
been sued and accused of,

Essentially trespassing
on marineland's property

And interfering with
the economic relations

Between marineland
and its customers.

And this all seems to be drawn
from a particular protest
in October of 2012

That they took issue with
and they say that... That phil
was trespassing on that day.

Phil disagrees with that
and denies it,

But, um, it's not a
particularly complicated set of
facts to get to the bottom of.

[phil] I come from a place
called welland, ontario,
and I'm frenchman.

I mean, it's probably
another thing to stress,

But I don't know any other way
to deal with things
other than sort of fight it out.

I'm weaponizing marineland's
intent to ruin my life.

I took the sword, I put my hands
on it as they tried to do this,
too... I cut myself, right?

I pulled it from them,
turned it around. [zaps]

[joe rogan] what's the correct
pronunciation
of your last name demers?

-[phil] demers.
-[joe] demers.

[phil] demers works.

You're known as the
walrus whisperer.

That's you... Your handle
on twitter.

[phil]
a person like me can launch
a crowd-sourcing campaign

And raise monies
to fight this lawsuit.

I have a lot of supporters,
an army almost.

[upbeat music playing]

[joe rogan] I think you opened
up a lot of people's eyes to it.

I got a lot of tweets
from people, um,
and facebook messages

That said they would never go
to marineland again.

[upbeat music playing]

[phil] basically, they want to
take away my right
to, uh, free expression

-And they have my walrus.
-[joe rogan] and they have
your walrus.

[phil] that's their bargaining
chip. That's what they got.

Marineland will threaten
to sue you if you talk to me
or if you publish my words.

It's libel chill.
It's a strategy.

[dan] what have you gotten me
into, phil?

Phil lives just across
the river behind me.

[phil] get a lawyer.

[laughs]

He said, "get a lawyer."
it's not what I want to hear.

[upbeat music playing]

[carolynn] I think
it's very hard to go up
against the goliath.

I hate to see somebody ruined
over their beliefs.

[water gushing]

[soft music playing]

[phil] I couldn't be convinced
that marineland would be
without consequence.

[crickets chirping]

[soft music playing]

[tranquil music playing]

It's funny because marineland
alleges that I
plotted to steal a walrus

Which cannot be further
from the truth, of course,

But we did steal this cat, mama,
from marineland because she...

Because she was really,
really, really old.

Lived exclusively outdoors and
we just knew that she would not
live another winter out there.

I guess you call it stealing,
but I would prefer to say
we rescued her.

But now she's a loving kitty
who loves the snugglies.

And she... I mean it sounds
nuts, but she sort of filled
this void that I have now

In being separated from smooshi.

It's okay, mama.
There you go, my mama, okay.

[scraping]

The niagara region is a really
economically depressed place.

I mean, aside from tourism, um,
you know,

It's still trying to figure out
its place in the world.

[tapping]

Since leaving marineland,
it's been bounce job to job,
do whatever you got to do

Just to make sure that you don't
go bankrupt because really,

Bankruptcy to me doesn't
just mean like financial ruin,

It... It means taking away
my voice.

[whirring]

[powers down]

I hate to admit that in a lot
of ways but I do like to fight.

I don't go looking for fights
but fights have always
found a way to find me.

Even as a child, especially,
being a very small child.

Forget the fact that I was
always bullied
or constantly bullied,

But I was also the idiot
that would stick up to bullies
for others

And I lost teeth because of it.

Part of what I do now is I share
videos that people send to me
that they take inside the park.

[woman 4] jesus christ!

[phil] in the case of zeus,
pictures and videos,

On occasion they go viral
and we bring a lot of attention
to, uh, the animals.

He's very skinny.
He's... He's obviously
lethargic.

You see his air sac
is protruding from his chest
and he's got these wrinkles,

You could see his ribs
and behind his shoulder blades.

And, you know, we've been
crying foul since 2012
about zeus. This is not new.

This animal needs rescuing
or it's going to die.

[soft music playing]

Bibeau, I've known since
probably four years old,
like maybe four.

-I guess.
-Did you go to--

[foreign language]

When you guys came to my school,
I was already at vanier
and then you guys came.

-Transferred over.
-Yeah, I was...
I was at vanier, too.

-Yeah. That's right.
-I was with you the whole time.

I worked at marineland for one
summer as a surveyor and I did
that for about three months.

I don't know it was very
depressing seeing the... The
whales in the tanks and stuff.

That's why I quit.

[phil] shit the fuck out of
here. Get this guy out of here,
right now.

[laughing]

[grill sizzling]

Three more minutos.

[foreign language]

On account of the fact that I am
a voice for animals,

I get, uh, grief on account that
I don't... That I'm not a vegan

And that I don't live
the vegan lifestyle.

And I hate it. It's the topic
that I hate the most

Because, uh, I am guilty of
eating and enjoying meat.

Would you become a vegan
for like 10,000 more followers
or something?

You know, I... I'm the...
I'll be the first guy in line
to try the synthetic steak

And if it hits the nail...

There's something about
eating steak

That makes me feel
really, really good.

[man 11] and they say you're a
hypocrite, I guess?

[phil] yes. And I am.

There's hypocrisy in it.
I'm comfortable in that.

[man 11] see, the truth will
set you free.

[men laughing]

[traffic noises]

[woman 5]
leaning against that with signs,
obviously, they've taped it off.

Yeah, we had it taped
last year as well.

-It was a little closer
to the fence last year but--
-[woman 6] okay.

[woman 5]
it was too close, people were
still touching the fence.

Now this is my natural habitat.
[laughs]

[woman 7] hey, marineland,
what do you say?

How many animals die today?

Walrus, supporting a good cause.

[car horn honks]

[women screaming]

[woman 8] so we're like fourth
generations at this protest,
which is very sad.

Um, our grandmother used to
do it, then my mom,
now myself and my son.

[car horn honking]

-That's so cute. He just went
and kissed the whale.
-Yeah.

[man 12] they're gonna laugh.
I'm telling you.

Initially, when he first came on
the scene we were all excited
about it, but then I went vegan.

Phil still consumes animals.

-Where am I looking?
-[woman 9] over there.

And I would really like to
see him evolve beyond that.

-Oh, beautiful.
-Awesome. Thank you.

-Thank you, my pleasure, guys.
-[woman 10] do you want one
with them in the back?

[all] there's no excuse
for animal abuse!

[girl] animals die here.

You see the old man here?
He's around.

Good to see you, man.

Thank you for everything.

-Thanks for exposing everything.
-Thanks for coming.

-It's so important.
It's amazing.
-Thanks so much for being here.

[woman 11]
free the [inaudible]!

[woman 12]
free! Free the whales!

-[woman 13] [inaudible].
-Hey!

[carolynn] I think the
relationship between phil demers
and john holer is beyond toxic.

It must be hard to have your
whole life in one business

To see people shift their
attitude on something they loved

To something now that makes them
so angry they protest.

[car horn honking]

[soft music playing]

[naomi] any public display
facility like marineland,

They didn't try to adapt
to the new reality.

They didn't even know
there was a new reality.

They lost control
of the narrative.

[all]
your ticket, you're a cause!

Your money, you're a cause!

Your ticket, you're a cause!

[tranquil music playing]

[wilfred moore] we have to move
with the times.

Public opinion has shifted
and with this bill,

We have the opportunity
to get on the right side
of the issue

At the earliest stage.

It is not a local issue,
honorable senators,
it is a moral issue.

In canada, two facilities
keep whales and dolphins
in captivity,

Marineland, an amusement park
in niagara falls, ontario,

And the vancouver aquarium.

[holly lake] bill s-203 aims to
ban the captivity of whales and
dolphins and porpoises in canada

And also to ban the import
and export and breeding.

[man 13] we have with us this
evening here at the table
mr. Andrew burns,

Legal counsel to marineland.

[andrew burns] there is no
apparent need for this bill.

This bill is about
advancing an agenda.

In the early years
of this debate, the arguments
were largely ethical,

But now we know so much more
about them

That we can formulate
science-based arguments.

The science is not unanimous.
There are differing opinions.

[naomi] they have certain
biological and ecological
characteristics

That make it very difficult
for them to thrive in captivity.

[john nightingale] laws like
this one can impact our ability
to engage the public

To learn through science
and to help nature.

There is no compelling evidence
to support the educational value

Of marine mammal displays
claimed by aquariums
and marine parks.

These are extremely acoustic
animals. That is how they sense
their world and communicate.

Concrete tanks are debilitating
echo chambers.

Here in canada I've observed
cetaceans with self-mutilation
behavior, wounds, scars

And damage to their teeth.

Kiska has birthed five calves
at marineland
and all five are now dead.

It's perceived harm.

There is no inherent harm
to this animal,
no matter what you've heard,

An animal is not suffering
and I can tell you
our animals are happy.

Uh, mr. Burns, marineland has
been the subject of a
toronto star exposé

And multiple investigations.

Can you tell us what happened
and what the outcome were
of those investigations?

When those allegations were
made, uh, marineland was
subject immediately

To a thorough investigation
that no agency

Under the criminal code
or the ospca act

Believed it had reasonable
or probable grounds that a
marine mammal at marineland

Was or is being abused.

-Mr. Demers.
-[phil] [foreign language]

Since speaking of my experiences
at marineland,

I myself have become the target
of relentless attacks.

In an effort to stifle public
debate, marineland launched
nearly a dozen slapp lawsuits

Of which I am the recipient
of a most peculiar one,

As they allege I plotted to
steal smooshi the walrus.

This guy was doing it
day to day.

He lived it, so he was like
our leading main witness

In terms of having been there
and validated
what we were putting into words

In terms of legislation
and the need for it.

You, sir, admitted under oath,
to personally consuming
controlled drugs

Meant for marine mammals
at marineland.

You, sir, wished marineland well
when you, uh, in your letter
of resignation,

After pitching to them
the walrus...
Walrus whisperer reality show

That they didn't want to be
part of.

Uh, senator plett, again...
Once again you're great at...
At... At... Uh, at quoting

Marineland's baseless
lawsuits verbatim.

-Uh, again--
-[donald] answer the questions
please, sir.

-This is not about--
-oh, I'd like to.
You gave me a comment...

You're the one that's
muddying the waters--

[fabian manning] answer.
If the questions are opposed,

We'll just ask and answer them
and send--

Well, you made a comment...
You made comment to me,

So the idea that marineland is,
uh, is and... And, again,

They're utilizing you to
attack me personally,
as a means to muddy the water

-Just as their playbook
with the illegal lawsuits.
-[man 14] chair... Order please.

Nobody is utilizing me.
Nobody is utilizing me.

We are independent. Senator,
we are independent senators.

He's saying... He's saying
somebody is utilizing me.

[fabian manning]
order! Okay. Order, order!

I understand this is an
emotional issue on our sides,

Uh, but we need to get
to the point.

Uh, my name is john holer.

I've been starting my business
way back in 1961

With 2,000 dollars in my pocket
with the big idea

And I am hoping that I would be
able to

Complete the part

And that was going to make it,
uh, a definitely an
outstanding...

Outstanding facility
in anywhere in the world.

[donald] mr. Holer,
uh, pleasure to see you again,

You're looking well and the last
time we talked,

You said you wanted to be
in this business
till you were 90 years old,

And, uh, so, certainly looking
forward to visiting you on your
90th birthday at marineland.

I mean, for me one of the really
big issues here

Is how did marineland get the
conservative senators
in captivity?

[woman 14] senator don plett,
to name one,

Who has been consistently, in
his twitter and facebook feeds,

Talking about how great
marineland is and how much
he loves marineland.

Uh, I also filed a complaint
with the lobbying commissioner,

Because it's pretty clear that
marineland that hasn't
registered itself as a lobbyist

Has been lobbying
pretty effectively.

[tranquil music playing]

[man 15] here comes john holer.

[phil] I mean, he even sought to
intimidate us by driving by
our house and stalking us on.

John holer's most effective at
silencing those without a voice.

Let's see. Oh, there's a siren
on here, too.

[phil] don't push it.

[man 16] did you find out you
got sued in the newspapers

Or did you actually physically
get served?

[phil] oh, no. We found out
in the newspapers

-Because I had to call you
and tell you--
-you told me... At work...

-I was at work.
-[phil] yeah, so the intention
of marineland

In... In suing all of us,
really, was to try to
hijack the headlines.

Ultimately, christine's lawsuit
had to be settled.

She had to be silenced.

Oh, they've just, uh...
They just...
Marineland just issued a blog.

"what's really happening
at marineland?" it's entitled.

They just released it.

"radical animal rights activists
have relentlessly and viciously

Attacked marineland on social
media year after year,
bullying and lying about us,

Falsely accusing us of abusing
our marine and land animals,

While pocketing donations
for their own personal use."
really?

"a self-proclaimed activist who
relentlessly trolls marineland
on the internet

With false allegations of abuse
says he will stop...

Says he will stop and go away
if he is paid.

We think the public should know
what is happening. This is what
phil demers has to say."

"I should mention,
I do have a price.
Marineland should know this.

If they'd like, I'm all ears.
Maybe something can be done."

Do they want to know
what I mean by that?
I don't want money.

I want the fucking walrus.

"a former animal care worker
made false allegations of animal
abuse related to kiska,

The killer whale,
in the toronto star.
This is what she admits now.

I'm not a veterinarian
and, therefore,

I do not have any personal
or expert knowledge of the
conditions at marineland

Or in relation to any animals.

-Yours truly, christine santos."
-oh, they said my name.

This is the type of thing that
really aggravates,
gets my blood boiling

Is that they... That they're
continuously using an abusive
system to further abuse people.

Christine's silence because she
couldn't afford to...
To continue

To be in this litigation,
not because
she retracts anything.

She was forced to retract.

I sound like an asshole.
I look like an asshole.

I know the vein in my forehead
is bulging.

There are people
on the right side of history.

There are people
in marineland's parking lot.
It's as simple as that.

These people have names.
I've got a pen.

Marineland's veterinarians,
former employees, uh,
marineland's owner,

Albeit, this is not a personal
vendetta,

I'm not going after him in any
capacity that is illegal,

I'm just merely reminding him
that he gets away with nothing,
nobody does.

You don't endure what I've done
for as long as I've done for as
many years as I have

With people hiding behind money
to try to crush me.

Why is it that only john holer
has the opportunity to impose
hardships on people?

I'm free to do that as well.

And if definition of imposing
hardships on others means
defending the vulnerable,

I'll never stop.

Remember I was thinking of
putting a picture
of the bullhorn?

That's gonna piss them off.

[ren] one of the first things
that people will compromise in
some lawsuits is, uh, you know,

Their ability to speak freely
and it's sort of, you know,

Easy to imagine why
because it's cheap.

It doesn't cost you anything to,
essentially, to agree
to a gag order

But that's something not
as attractive to phil.

[phil] I know that marineland's
lawyer made promises
to insulate john holer.

He wants to launch lawsuits.
He wants to impose his will
on people.

We've been in litigation now
for years and we haven't even
gotten to discoveries yet.

I'm countersuing them for
defamation and abusive process.

[dramatic music playing]

You... You get a sense of
feeling powerless in it really.

From the... The... The piece of
this that I'm involved in which
is the legal piece,

Like I say, we've got a path
forward and I think that
the important thing is

To not get distracted by too
much of the other elements
of the history.

And I know it's hard to do that
because it's what you've lived
over the last, uh, six years.

We sort of war game out how
we think things are going to go
and we do a lot of reading,

We do a lot of writing,
things we forget about is that
the practical difficulty

Of getting through
15 volumes of material.

That's just substantial
and so... But it's exciting.

The reality in our system
is that 97% of cases settle

Before you ever get to an
adjudication of the merits

And, usually, parties can come
to some sort of resolution

That may not make
everybody happy,

In fact, it probably shouldn't
if it's going to be
a fair resolution,

But somebody has to give, uh,
a little bit in order to have
the thing, uh, go away.

My lawyer, in fact, and this is
where it gets kind of weird
because,

Listen, I don't understand.
He's supposed to be
representing me.

The answer is no to everything.
Fight, fight, fight.
I want a trial.

He instead is coming with,
"listen, this is not how
litigation ends, phil.

Like you don't seem to
understand how this ends.

You don't have a grip
of how litigation works."

And I'm just, like, I'm glad
that I don't because my guess is

I'm representative of about
90% of the population
that don't know.

And it's important
that we find out.

I was promised a trial because
they said I was this,
this, this, this, this, this.

Well, let's get to that
fucking trial.
This is what I've been doing.

This doesn't end
with negotiations.
I want the trial.

-[man 17] yeah.
-I don't understand. Like,
what... Why would you sue me

Unless you want the trial?

Oh, because it's a
bullshit lawsuit.

Well, then I want the trial
because I need to show that.

It's a dirty secret about the
legal business, right?

-[phil] that's a--
-that this is a loophole,

This is something people can do
to people to silence them

Just to drag them through hell
for six years.

[tranquil music playing]

[phone dings]

[tranquil music playing]

[phil] smooshi.

Smooshi.

Smooshi.

I'm in here, my moosh.
Good girl, moosh. Right here.

What do you want?

[soft music playing]

I would love to get her.
It would be insane.

Not get her. I mean, you know,
and I'm not going to strap her
to my back

And, you know, go over the falls
and... And... And, you know,

Hope to land in some arctic,
uh, estuary somewhere
or whatever.

Okay, mama, here's your shower.

Oh, my goodness! Look at this.

Oh, raindrops,
raindrops for mama.
Oh, that's a happy mama.

[soft music playing]

-[woman 15] didn't one
or two walruses pass?
-[phil] sonja passed away.

[woman 16] yeah. Was there
a buttercup ever?

-[phil] buttercup's dead?
-[woman 16]
there's no buttercup.

-[phil] serious?
-[woman 16] yeah,
was buttercup a walrus?

-[phil] yes.
-[woman 16] no, she's not there.

-[phil] she's dead?
-[woman 16] yeah, there's three.

There's smooshi,
apollo and zeus.

-Oh, my god!
-[woman 16] that's it.

There's five sea lions,
five dolphins, the two belugas.

[phil]
that was smooshi's best friend.

[phil] fuck them!

[woman 16] yeah, she's...
Yeah, just the three.
Apollo, smooshi, and zeus.

[phil] every single time
I leave my home,
I have one of two choices...

To pass by marineland or not.

That's how close
I live to marineland.

I guess, if I'm going back
in time
or back to where I grew up,

It's this way or any other way
I have to physically
face marineland.

It's hardest when I drive by
the facility and I can point to
exactly where she is staying,

You know, she's 30 meters
inside that wall.

[soft music playing]

It's a very small town.

On occasion, I will drive by
john holer's home to see,

You know, whether or not
he's, uh, out and about.

Someone had to keep him
accountable.

You know, he was...
He was avoiding my lawsuit.

There's a reason he hid,
so I would go look for him.

I don't believe it and I'm stil
waiting to find out
that it's not true.

And if it is true,
not processing.

The light is on but I've been
in that bedroom, top right of
the house, that's his bedroom.

He's in there. He's dead.
He's in a bed dead right now.

[tranquil music playing]

Like I saw his park today,
he won't... I saw...

Like the flags are at
half-mast.

Like, I saw it, but he won't.
It's strange.

[sniffles] that's fucked up.

I don't know a lot of people
that mourn their abuser,
but I do feel loss.

Like I pursued a...
Like I pursued a dying man.

Okay, I'm imagining his par...
Uh, his family. [sniffles]

I don't think anyone believed
he could die.

[sniffles]

[soft music playing]

[church bells ringing]

I don't remember myself
without him.

His stubbornness is only matched
by the stubbornness
of one individual, me.

[chuckles]

Neither my or john being the two
assholes in the story,

I guess neither one of us
will get...

Will get our just, uh...
Our just due.

[woman 17] john holer founded
marineland in 1961.

Then called marine wonderland,
it was an amusement park and zo

Featuring both land
and marine animals.

It's a hobby.

[laughs]

I enjoy it.

[phil]
the last time I saw him was
at the... Was at the demo.

He was, uh, driving by
licking ice cream or something.

He leaves behind his wife, um,
his adopted son,

Uh, two grandkids,

And as well
a... Already, uh, deceased son.

I don't doubt for a second that
john blames me for johnny's
death, not for a second.

I guess, if I was challenged
as to whether or not

I would take back that moment
to... To spare johnny's life,

Like, I don't know that
it would have.

I can't say that it would have,
but I can with a surety say
that it saved smooshi's,

So, no, I don't feel no guilt.

When john holer passed,
we all joked about...

John was trying to figure out
how he was going to
take marineland with him.

And uh, of course, his wife now
is left as a survivor

And as the ceo,
she's continuing on the legacy.

[phil] I've known john now
for the better part of 20 years.

For the last six years,
I've been looking
over my shoulder

With a great deal of anxiety

And now I'm finding an entirely
new sort of perspective
to, uh... To absorb.

And, yet, here I am feeling
a strange sense of loss

And really more than anything,
sympathy for the family

Who, uh, obviously, have some
difficult decisions
to make moving forward.

[woman 18] for sure.
Well, thank you, phillip,
for your time. I appreciate it.

Thank you, my pleasure.

[soft music playing]

I wish that marie holer and I
could have a meeting of sorts

Because I think all these
hostilities are unnecessary

And she's getting a
misrepresented version of what
I want and what I've been doing.

[splashing]

[indistinct chatter]

What this bill would do...
If this bill passed what it
would do to marineland--

In our view, it would, uh,
essentially destroy
marineland's future.

[phil] we've been chasing this
bill now for three years.

It's been hurdle after hurdle
after hurdle after hurdle
after hurdle.

This may be the finish line.

[woman 19] other business.
[foreign language].

Senate public bill's
third reading.
[foreign language].

Number one, s-203.

[claps]

[man 18] s-203.

[woman 20] senators,
it is time for a vote

For this bill's many thousands
and thousands of supporters

In canada and around the world
and, most importantly,
for the whales and dolphins.

I now call for a vote on s-203.
Thank you.

[clapping]

[man 18] on debate.

Our senators ready
for the question on debate?
Senator plett.

[senator plett] I met
with people on both sides
of this issue

And it became very clear to me
that this was a battle between
activists and scientists.

Colleagues,
these are radical activists,

An activist who testified
at committee calling himself
the marineland whistleblower

Has admitted in court
to taking drugs
intended for marine mammals

For his own
personal consumption.

The credibility of these
star witnesses certainly needs
to be considered

When we weigh the evidence.

If this flawed legislation is o
move forward, I believe
it would be irresponsible

And simply wrong to proceed
without an exemption
for marineland.

[man 18] senators ready
for the question.
Senator martin.

[woman 21]
chairman to the debate.

[man 18] senator smith that
further debate be adjourned

Till the next sitting of the
senate.

The vote will take place
at 8:25. Call in the senators.

What the fuck just happened?

Is this a process where you
can still amend the bill?

I thought that we went
through this process.

The senate is a bit of...
I kind of call it the wild west

Because you can never really
tell when things are
going to happen,

Um, if they're going to happen,
or how they're going to happen.

Uh, I'm still kind of
getting my head around
how things operate there.

There are rules that have been
put in place in the senate

That allow the combined forces
of members of the opposition

To be able to delay and use
delay tactics to keep a bill
from coming to a vote

And to that I... I say
that makes no sense.

We could debate this endlessly.

And we end up debating until
there's nothing to vote on.

I can't hear shit.

[man 18] all those in favor
of the motion,
will please say, yay.

-[all] yay!
-[man 18] all those oppose, nay.

-[man 19] on division.
-[man 20] on division.

[man 18] accordingly,
the motion is adopted.

The senate now...
Is now adjourned.

Return to the order of the
honorable house.

It's utter chaos.

It's absolutely... It's an
absolute shit show in there.

It's so surreal and so now
just another delay.

They're taking longer to study
the bill and fight the bill, uh,

To... To prohibit
keeping whales in captivity

Than they did to look
at medical assistance in dying.

[birds chirping]

[holly lake] there's been a lot
of moving parts as this bill
has progressed.

The vancouver aquarium has been
involved in its own battles
with the park board.

We have a 50-year history of
rescuing animals and we don't
want it to stop tonight.

[crowd cheering]

[man 21] it's not every day that
people turn out to support
keeping whales in captivity,

But that's exactly what's
happening here.

Science first. Science--

The park board has said, "no,
you're not going to be allowed
to keep cetaceans there."

The vancouver aquarium was
going to challenge that,

But has since,
just a short while ago,

Announced that they're no longer
going to keep cetaceans
in captivity.

So, all of this time and money
has now been spent
dealing with an issue

That pertains to one facility
in canada and that's marineland.

[tranquil music playing]

♪ twelve steps
in to your backyard ♪

♪ through tall green grass
and into the world ♪

♪ ain't it feel right ♪

♪ ain't it feel nice ♪

♪ in your own backyard ♪

[phil] come on, smooshi.

Come on, my moosh.

[wind gusting]

It's too slick. Yeah.

[tranquil music playing]

What are you doing?
What are you doing,
my mooshky?

[tranquil music playing]

[christine]
okay, I'll try that now.

[grunts]

[phil] she wants to pee.

Come on, ma.

-Is she squatting?
-[christine] no, she's--

-[phil] she's complaining.
-[christine] she knows
something's rushed like, uh...

[phil] poor mama.

-You saw blood in mama's pee?
-In the litter box,

Then I saw it in the litter box
in the urine.

-Yeah, it was bad.
-So we should bring her--

[phil] to the vet, yeah.

I'm waiting for my lawyer
to call this morning.

-Hello.
-[ren] hello, phil.

Hey, ren. How you doing?

It's such an absurd thing that
this corporation was able to
buy their way

To be able to put me
in this situation. It's insane.

[ren] all right, look, phil,
it's the legal system.

So, then our best course of
action would be, I guess,
to continue.

[ren]
you know that's... That's sort
of door number one

Because that's sort of what's..
What was the path that we're o.

-[phil] yeah.
-[ren] door number two
is to continue to

See if there's anything
reasonable here to say,

"look, you're not moving out
of this for less than
a hundred thousand dollars."

And I realize that that's a
premium on the costs.

[phil] I'm less inclined
to accept, really,
any monetary resolution.

Sounds crazy, they know
what the fuck I want.

Just move the fucking walrus
to another facility

And this thing ends
all together.

[ren] would you accept a
resolution where there was no
money changing hands at all?

-[phil] yes.
-[ren] but they move the walrus?

[phil] yes.

[ren] um...

From a financial basis
this is going to be
very difficult to resolve,

But if they just want to send
the walrus over, I'm done.
I'm done.

[ren] yeah, okay.
Let me... Let me raise that.

Um, all right, phil, I'll...
I'll let you know if I have
any updates later today

-And we'll talk to you soon,
okay?
-Okay, thanks, ren.

-[ren]
all right, take care. Bye-bye.
-Bye. Bye, ren.

When I say I want a walrus,
they say,
"well, that's crazy talk."

I don't know.
I'm excited for the first time
in a long time.

The time is now to focus on
trying to get smooshi.

This is the window,
this is the time. That's it.

[phone rings]

[christine] hello. Hi.

Hundred and eighty dollars
for the culture? That's fine.

-It was already 200 bucks?
-[christine] basically.

So we're at 400 bucks.
We'll be at 400 bucks?

They've already got it
on their mind. They're like--

-It's for mama.
-[phil] I know, I get it, like--

[wind blowing]

[soft music playing]

[soft, dramatic music playing]

[phil] you go and you give
this animal a name like zeus

Because he is meant to be
this big majestic powerhouse.

There's two walruses left.

Before this became this big,
massive, crazy, like story
with lots of eyes on it,

This was me curled up
in that room on a bedroom floor

Trying to figure out how it is
that I can get the walrus back.

So, suddenly when the
proposition of that
comes around,

You know, you can't not
give it a lot of consideration.

Marineland wants to silence me
at any cost

And at this point they're
considering silencing me
with the walrus

And it's, obviously,
very conflicting.

They want to take
my twitter account.

I mean, my twitter account is
the most valuable asset I have.

One of the concessions
marineland would like to impose
upon me is that I, uh,

No longer participate in the
filming of this documentary.

You know I have to really
carefully think about this,
but I have to...

I have to look at what life
would look like for me

If I couldn't speak of the
injustices, and this isn't just
about animals anymore.

There's a great deal of
injustice going on
all around this whole thing.

John holer's in the ground.

We could change this narrative.

[gavel bangs]

[indistinct chatter]

Mr., uh,chair, we offer that
s-203 and clause 2 be amended

By replacing line 18 on page 2
with the following:

"everyone commits an offense
who knowingly promotes,

Arranges, conducts, assists in."

So we are inserting one word,
"knowingly."

[mr. Chair] all those in favor
of the proposed amendment.
Countermanded.

Amendment is defeated.

Shall the bill carry?

[man 22] on division.

[mr. Chair] okay. And shall
the chair report
the bill to the house?

[man 23] yes. Yes.

[mr. Chair]
all right, thank you.

[phil] holy shit! We won.

[applause]

The bill passed.

[camille] good afternoon,
it's camille labchuk
here with animal justice.

I'm coming to you live
to give you
the really good news

That the committee just passed
bill s-203 through committee
with making zero amendments.

-May I now introduce you--
-oh, what's happening? Is there
something going on here?

-Oh, hello.
-This is phil demers.

[phil] what does it feel like to
win something against all odds?

[woman 22] okay, right here.
One, two, three.

-Yay!
-Cetaceans, cetaceans.

[all laughing]

[indistinct chatter]

I am very grateful.
It's kind of a combination
of relief and joy here

Because it's been four
and a half years since I
started in on this project.

Hats off to everybody.
I am still in disbelief, almost
speechless, but, uh, thank you.

[serene music playing]

I guess, you know,
you're supposed to pack up
and go home and be, like, done.

It's just strange.
It's strange to have like been
involved so heavily in something

And have invested so much in it,
to have it be finished
like that.

I... So I watched the vote.
It happened like this.
[snaps fingers]

And I looked around like,
"that's it, we're done?"
"yeah. We win."

[phone whistles]

No, no, the bill does nothing
for smooshi.

It's funny because as soon as
the bill passed people are just
like, "oh, what, no walruses?"

[chuckles]

When marineland opened
this season, unbeknownst to us,

They opened with only one walrus

Because apollo, uh,
had passed away.

That makes the fourth walrus
to die in... In 24 months,
leaving only smooshi now.

She's alone.

[crowd clapping]

[woman 23] ladies
and gentlemen, phil demers.

[applause]

I don't have a phd.
I'm not a scientist.

I'm not a public speaker,
but I'm a fighter.

We're gonna free whales,
we gotta free walruses, and
seals, and sea lions as well.

[crowd cheering]

[ren over phone]
the pressure, the "pressure"
that they're trying to apply.

So, it's not like... It's like
they're treating it like they
have leverage when they don't.

I almost want to tell them
just fucking tell these guys,
"save the fucking headache.

Give me the fucking walrus
and that's it."

No one else is gonna save
smooshi, not without me.

This relationship is necessary
for the world to see.

It will provide for people
greater perspective
on the emotional capacity

Of these animals
and the... And the hell
that they go through.

I'm smooshi's mom.

Everyone talks about
reuniting animals to nature

And bringing them back
to their natural environment.

What's more natural than
reuniting a baby
with its mother?

[ominous music playing]

I feel like everything's around
the corner from disaster,

Like everything.

I can't smoke enough weed;
it's not helping me.

I don't even want to tweet.

Everything feels weirdly done

And then I'll be left
to face myself with that.

[gloomy music playing]

I don't... I don't, uh... Given
how... How long it's taken
to change

What we have changed,

When you start to win on an
issue, uh, if it's an important
issue to the "government,"

Or to people that make money
from it,
they'll change the goal posts.

And so you have to fight harder
and differently.

[woman 24] one, two, three.

[all]
no walls for walruses!

No walls for walruses!

For years, nobody thought about
the compassion and empathy
of the animals

Until it became an issue
of compassion and empathy,

And now that's what kids are
being taught.

It doesn't make you a radical,

It just makes you someone
who loves animals

And think that they should be
able to live their lives
under their rules,

Not forced
under somebody else's.

[soft music playing]

We just mauled her.
We just squished
the hell out of her.

[phil] the vet was checking her
and stuff.

She was up and then she wanted
to lay down

And then they gave her
the needle, you know,

There had to be kidney failure
into congenital heart failure
into...

-I mean, that's what happens
when you live forever, right?
-[christine] yeah.

The only thing I have left
connected to marineland is kiska

Because now that mama's gone,
she was a connection.

Mama. Well, we were very lucky
to have her.

[serene music playing]

-[christine] sexy!
-[phil] yeah.

[laughing]

[serene music playing]

[announcer] smooshi is a female
weighing typically between
1,300 and 1,900 pounds

And grew up to 8 feet long.

[phil] I would put my hands
on her face.
I would let her know it's me.

Like I want to make it subtle
that she finds me.

I don't want to find her.
I want her to find me.

I want to just be there and I
want her to do what she does.

So, she'll check the environment
out and I want her to sort of
stumble upon me

And I want to just see naturally
what that reaction is.

I don't want to solicit
a reaction.
I want to see what happens.

I just want to blow into her
nose because that's how
we would communicate.

And if I can do that, if I can
just have that face right here
and then blow into that nose

And, you know, just to see
those eyes glow again.

Oh, my god!
Oh, it's impossible.

It's like, uh...
It's the impossible.

[serene music playing]

♪ would you rather be more
than he things that you say ♪

♪ or just be the words ♪

♪ that you sing to yourself
in your head ♪

♪ when nobody's around ♪

♪ or would you rather be
a part of the crowd ♪

♪ or just a single sound ♪

♪ waiting to be heard ♪

♪ do you know what I mean? ♪

♪ well, you could be one
of the lovers or liars ♪

♪ hiding all the things they do
on the back of their hands ♪

♪ well, it's just you and me ♪

[policeman] okay, so the reason
I'm here is because, uh, police
got a call from marineland,

Uh, expressing some concern.

So there was a twitter message
saying, "life is short.
Steal a walrus."

[phil] [chuckles] I'm sorry.

["quiet crowd" playing]

[bicycle bell rings]

♪ dear, mr. Quiet
who's got so much to say ♪

♪ so much more than
all of the sleeping parade ♪

♪ if I could tie up a string ♪

♪ to your mouths
and make you scream ♪

♪ all of the things
that you keep to your self ♪

♪ I'd love to get to
know you better ♪

♪ dear, mr. Quiet ♪

♪ I'd love to get to
know you better ♪

♪ when nobody's around ♪

♪ while we're all staring
at the end of the world ♪

♪ will everybody
have their hands on their head♪

♪ while they say ♪

♪ well, I told you so
oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ while everybody's walking
their own way ♪

♪ through the quiet crowd ♪

♪ all thinking
the same old things ♪

♪ if they only knew ♪