Canadians must make MPs hear their concerns about animal cruelty laws
By Mark Holland
MP Ajax-Pickering
(This article was published in the September 2007 issue of Canadian Pets & Animals Magazine, which supports Bill C-373)
In recent months, a number of high-profile animal abuse cases across the country has made many Canadians aware of how woefully inadequate and outdated Canada’s laws against animal cruelty are.
In Windsor, a German Shepherd-Rottweiller named AK was found whimpering and bleeding after his ears were cut off to make him look more fierce. In Niagara Falls, a dog later named “Queen Waldorf” was found abandoned with two five-pound dumbbells tied to her neck. In Edmonton, at least a dozen cats have been found mutilated to death recently. When a Toronto Humane Society investigator saved the life of Cyrus, a Rottweiller left baking in a vehicle, and was suspended from his work for handcuffing the dog’s owner, thousands came to his defence.
These well-publicized incidents have prompted thousands of Canadians to sign petitions and write letters to Members of Parliament demanding reform of our animal cruelty laws, which have changed very little since 1892.
There are currently two private members’ bills before Parliament to reform the Criminal Code sections on animal cruelty.
My Bill C-373 is a comprehensive bill that not only increases penalties, but also closes off the many loopholes that allow animal abusers to walk away scot-free. There’s little sense increasing penalties if you can’t convict people. In fact, currently only one quarter of 1 % of animal cruelty complaints actually result in conviction!
C-373 is identical to the former Bill C-50 introduced by the previous Liberal government. My bill has the support of such major animal welfare organizations as the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies (CFHS), the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA).
My bill, however, has consistently been opposed by several hunting organizations that fear, incorrectly, that it will interfere with their activities. In particular, they object to part of C-373 that would make it an offence to kill an animal, or allow it to be killed, “brutally or viciously.” Nothing in my bill would interfere with responsible hunters who use guns or bows in a lawful manner, so it’s a mystery to me why these groups feel the need to kill animals “brutally or viciously.”
The hunting groups and some animal industry groups are supporting a rival bill, S-213, introduced by Senator John Bryden, which is opposed by the major animal welfare organizations. The tougher penalties in S-213 are almost identical to my C-373, but in all other substantial respects, S-213 keeps in place the 1892 laws – leaving wide open the loopholes that allow animal abusers to walk free.
To give just one of many examples, the current laws and S-213 say it is an offence to “willfully neglect” an animal – something that is almost impossible to prove. My bill, instead defines “negligence” as “departing markedly from the standard of care that a reasonable person would use.” Abusers can no longer get off by claiming they didn’t intend to neglect their animals.
Unfortunately, S-213 is much further through the legislative process than C-373. This is not because it is a better bill, but because the rules of Parliament favour private members’ bills introduced in the unelected Senate. S-213 moved quickly through the Senate, and was then fast tracked into the House of Commons, while C-373 remains stuck in a long queue of bills introduced by MPs. As a result, S-213 was debated and passed at second reading in the House in late spring. Due to prorogation of Parliament, it will need to be passed again by the Senate and will receive a new bill number, but this may go quickly as the bill has already been debated. Once it returns to the House, it will resume where it left off, being reviewed by the House of Commons Justice Committee.
Making matters worse, the Conservative government is supporting S-213. Although many in the Bloc Québécois support my bill, they have unfortunately taken the position that they will support S-213 as an interim measure. The NDP supports my bill, and Liberals are divided between the two bills, with a number of rural Liberals siding with the hunting groups. This means, unless support changes, or unless there is an election, Bill S-213 has a good chance of being passed in the fall or next spring.
I don’t accept the view S-213 is an interim measure, and the major animal welfare organizations reject this argument too. Senator Bryden introduced his bill only when many animal industries such as farming organizations were moving to support an earlier version of my bill. It was a diversionary tactic pure and simple, and it’s a placebo bill that does virtually nothing to protect animals. If S-213 is passed though, I fear that Parliamentarians will put a checkmark beside the animal cruelty issue, and consider it dealt with.
Only if animal welfare advocates across the country make themselves loudly heard by MPs of all parties as the House returns this fall can we hope to see effective animal cruelty legislation in Canada.
