The City of Toronto is seeking public consultation in reviewing the City’s Animal Bylaw. The City is proposing changes to: (i) restrict the feeding of wild animals; (ii) enhance mandatory companion animal licencing; (iii) explore the sale of rabbits and guinea pigs, as well as limits on how many rabbits, guinea pigs, and pigeons can be owned in one household; (iv) switch from a negative list of prohibited animals to a positive list of permitted animals; and (v) examine concerns related to certain cosmetics surgeries, such as declawing and tail docking. A short survey is available and can be completed any time before December 17, 2021 at 11:59 pm. Read more here.
Issue 4: November 13, 2021
Spotlights
Legislative Updates
Litigation Updates
R v Chen (2021 ABCA) Decision Released
For the first time, an appellate court has articulated the sentencing principles for criminal animal cruelty offences. Writing for the unanimous Court, Paperny JA began by highlighting the enforcement gap and the conclusion that sentences in animal cruelty offences often do not reflect the gravity of the offence, and that Parliament’s action of increasing the sentences for animal cruelty in 2008 meant that the courts should give harsher penalties than were given before the amendment. Concluding that animal cruelty is a crime of violence, Paperny JA stated “I agree that animals, sentient beings that experience pain and suffering, must be treated as living victims and not chattels. Smashing a pet through a window is not the same as smashing a window” (para 27). The Court found that deterrence and denunciation are primary considerations in sentences in animal cruelty because “[a]nimals feel pain and suffer, they are not merely property” (para 39). The Court continued: “All animals not living in the wild, including companion animals, livestock, and animals in industrialized production settings, are under the complete dominion of human caretakers and are extremely vulnerable to mistreatment and exploitation at the hands of those caretakers. They are at the mercy of those who are expected to care for them and, unlike some other victims of crime, are incapable of communicating their suffering” (para 39). Read more here, including a link to the decision.
Enforcement Updates
Ontario Auditor General Criticizes Government’s Failure to Protect Endangered Species
Ontario Auditor General, Bonnie Lysyk, released an annual report “Protecting and Recovering Species at Risk.” Within the Report, she scrutinizes Ontario’s practice of automatically approving development plans without consideration of the Endangered Species Act. Lysyk states “The Ministry is essentially facilitating development rather than protecting species at risk.” Read the news release here.
Legislative Updates
British Columbia Closes Public Survey on Wolf Cull
From September 15 to November 15, the government of British Columbia held a “predator reduction survey” asking respondents to review information about caribou protection and predatory reduction before taking a public survey. The feedback gathered will be reported to the Statutory Decision Maker for consideration. See the survey here.
City of Toronto Considering Animal Bylaw Review with Public Survey
The City of Toronto is seeking public consultation in reviewing the City’s Animal Bylaw. The City is proposing changes to: (i) restrict the feeding of wild animals; (ii) enhance mandatory companion animal licensing; (iii) explore the sale of rabbits and guinea pigs, as well as limits on how many rabbits, guinea pigs, and pigeons can be owned in one household; (iv) switch from a negative list of prohibited animals to a positive list of permitted animals; and (v) examine concerns related to certain cosmetics surgeries, such as declawing and tail docking. A short survey is available and can be completed any time before December 17, 2021 at 11:59 pm. Read more here.
Animal Justice Calls for Farmed Animal Reform Amid Mass Deaths in British Columbia
The massive flooding in British Columbia in November 2021 has forced farmers to abandon their farmed animals, leaving thousands of animals to die. In response, Animal Justice urges action to limit the number of animals on a farm and to require farmers to develop an evacuation plan for the animals for situations of extreme weather, e.g. fire, extreme heat, and flood. Read more here.
“Food Day in Canada” Bill Introduced in Canadian Senate
Senator Diane F. Griffin has introduced a bill on behalf of sponsor Senator Rob Black titled the “Food Day in Canada Bill.” Bill S-227 is brief in text, and proposes to designate the Saturday before the Federal August Civic Holiday Monday as “Food Day in Canada.” Within the preamble to Bill S-227 is the claim that “strengthening connections from farms to tables of Canadian cuisine contributes to our nation’s social, environmental and economic well-being.” During second reading on November 30th, Senator Black recounted how “Food Day In Canada” began as a promotion for Canada’s beef industry following the 2003 bovine spongiform encephalopathy (also known as Mad Cow Disease) crisis. Read the text of the proposed Bill S-227 here, and see the progress of Bill S-227 here.
Litigation Updates
R v Yurkiw (ongoing 2021 NSPC) Pleads Not Guilty to Animal Abuse Charges
Anna Yurkiw was arrested last May for causing four cats to be in distress following abandonment. Following an investigation from the Nova Scotia SPCA in conjunction with the Halifax Regional Police, Yurkiw was charged under the provincial Animal Protection Act with two counts of permitting an animal to be in distress by abandonment and one count of causing an animal to be in distress. Read more here.
R v Chen (2021 ABCA) Decision Released
For the first time, an appellate court has articulated the sentencing principles for criminal animal cruelty offences. Writing for the unanimous Court, Paperny JA began by highlighting the enforcement gap and the conclusion that sentences in animal cruelty offences often do not reflect the gravity of the offence, and that Parliment’s action of increasing the sentences for animal cruelty in 2008 meant that the courts should give harsher penalties than were given before the amendment. Concluding that animal cruelty is a crime of violence, Paperny JA stated “I agree that animals, sentient beings that experience pain and suffering, must be treated as living victims and not chattels. Smashing a pet through a window is not the same as smashing a window” (para 27). The Court found that deterrence and decunciation are primary considerations in sentences in animal cruelty because “[a]nimals feel pain and suffer, they are not merely property” (para 39). The Court continued: “All animals not living in the wild, including companion animals, livestock, and animals in industrialized production settings, are under the complete dominion of human caretakers and are extremely vulnerable to mistreatment and exploitation at the hands of those caretakers. They are at the mercy of those who are expected to care for them and, unlike some other victims of crime, are incapable of communicating their suffering” (para 39). Read more here, including a link to the decision.
Enforcement Updates
Family Operators of Windrift Adventures Fighting Seizure of 239 Sled Dogs
Following the seizure of 239 sled dogs in late September 2021, the family operators of Windrift Adventures are now challenging the seizure by Ontario’s Provincial Animal Welfare Services. Since the seizure, two of the dogs have died due to bacterial infection, and a third has died of liver cancer. An appeal to the Animal Care Review Board will proceed. Read more here.
CFIA Takes No Action Following Abuse Caught on Video in Saskatchewan
Animal Justice had filed a complaint to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) following the release of footage from the Regina Save Movement which shows a truck driver striking pigs on a truck with a paddle. The CFIA responded on November 4th that the actions were unintentional and unlikely to cause injury, and that no enforcement measures would be taken. In response, the Thunder Creek Port slaughterhouse has installed tarps on their fences to obscure vision from public areas. Read more here.
Ontario Auditor General Criticizes Government’s Failure to Protect Endangered Species
Ontario Auditor General, Bonnie Lysyk, released an annual report “Protecting and Recovering Species at Risk.” Within the Report, she scrutinizes Ontario’s practice of automatically approving development plans without consideration of the Endangered Species Act. Lysyk states “The Ministry is essentially facilitating development rather than protecting species at risk.” Read the news release here.
Edmonton Police Sercive Launches Animal Cruelty Investigation Unit in Alberta
The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) has launched Canada’s first animal cruelty investigation unit, which includes two dedicated EPS officers. The unit will work with the Animal Care and Control Centre, as well as respond to 911 calls. Read more here.
British Columbia Launches Online Training on The Link for Police
The Policing and Security Branch of the BC Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General has launched a new online training course for BC police officers on “The Link,” i.e. the understanding that all forms of violence, including domestic and animal abuse, are interconnected. The course is designed to help the officers identify risk in intimate partner violence by including a perpetrator’s behaviour towards animals. Read more here.
Academic Updates
Paper and Video Presentation
Animals as Property, Quasi-Property or Quasi-Person
Angela Fernandez, “Animals as Property, Quasi-Property or Quasi-Person,” paper and accompanying video presentation (with trailer) has been made available in the Brooks U series Animal Law Fundamentals. See here.
Abstract: It is often said that there are only two available legal categories for nonhuman animals, property or person. Faced with this stark choice, judges, legislators, and members of the public will likely place them in the property category. This paper proposes an in between quasi-hood status – quasi-property/quasi-personhood – that can be used to downplay the property-like qualities of nonhuman animals and augment their personhood-like ones. This status can be used for a large number of nonhuman animals, both as individuals and at a species level, as a kind of sliding scale, as human understanding and views of nonhuman animals and what we owe them change over time.
Chapter in Book
A Single Black Bean: Discrimination and the Protection of Ethical Vegans in Canada
Krystal-Anne Roussel & Camille Labchuk, “A Single Black Bean: Discrimination and the Protection of Ethical Vegans in Canada” (2022) being Chapter 2 in Jeanette Rowley & Carlo Prisco (Eds), Law & Veganism: International Perspectives on the Human Right to Freedom of Consciousness, 27. Available here.
Abstract: Focusing on Ethical Veganism, this chapter illustrates how federal and provincial laws can be used to protect vegans in Canada. The chapter examines how case law, principles of statutory construction and interpretation, and academic scholarship provide the legal basis for an expansive interpretation of human rights legislation that encompasses protections for Ethical Veganism. Using a recent case study from Ontario, the authors demonstrate how Ethical Veganism could be considered a protected “creed”––specifically in the workplace context. With more and more people identifying as Ethical Vegans, claims of discrimination related to a person’s veganism are likely to arise more often. This chapter emphasizes the need for clarity that human rights law would protect these individuals in Canada.
LLM Thesis
Doomed to Fail: Ag-gag and the Canadian Charter
Samantha Skinner, Doomed to Fail: Ag-gag and the Canadian Charter, (LLM Thesis, 2021) Available online here.
Abstract: In late 2019, ag-gag laws began being introduced in Canada. Ag-gag laws are named for their intended effect of gagging activists from exposing the realities of the animal agriculture industry. Animal activists seek to gather and publicly disseminate information using means of bearing witness, undercover investigations, and civil disobedience. Ag-gag laws originated in the US in the 1990s, but saw a revival in the 2010s. In the US, animal law organizations such as the Animal Legal Defense Fund have been successfully challenging the constitutionality of ag-gag laws, with courts in six states finding ag-gag laws to violate the First Amendment right to free speech. Despite the failures of ag-gag laws in US courts, various governments in Canada began introducing ag-gag laws to shield the animal agriculture industry from the growing activism in Canada. In drawing parallels between the US right to free speech and the Canadian Charter’s s. 2(b) freedom of expression, this thesis argues that Canadian ag-gag laws must also be found to unconstitutionally violate the Charter. To be sure, ag-gag laws suppress important activist expression in a way that cannot be justified in a free and democratic society. This thesis seeks to capture the current picture of ag-gag laws in Canada as of June 2021 in anticipation of the impending Charter challenges by Animal Justice et al.
Academic Comic Strip
Petroglyph Comics
Professor Jodi Lazare, Schulich School of Law, teamed up with a social justice comic studio named Petroglyph Comics to turn her ag-gag research into a comic. The resulting comic is based on two research papers, the first published in the Alberta Law Review and the second forthcoming in the Osgoode Hall Law Journal. Read the comic here.
International Updates
France Bans Fur Farming, Wild Animals in Circuses, and Live Dolphin Shows
The French Senate has voted in favor of legislation that ends the farming of wild animals for their fur. The ban immediately goes into effect and the last two mink fur farms in France will stop farming the mink. The legislation follows the release of an undercover exposé by One Voice in 2020. The French Parliament also voted to end the use of wild animals such as lions, tigers, or bears. This ban will take effect in two years. Read more here.
United Kingdom to Recognize Lobsters, Octopuses, and Crabs as Sentient Beings
An amendment to the United Kingdom’s Animal Welfare (Sentience) BIll will add lobsters, octopuses, crabs and all other decapod crustaceans and cephalopod molluscs to the list of sentient beings. The amendment follows extensive research by the London School of Economics and Political Science which concluded strong scientific support that the mentioned sealife are sentient. Read more here.
The Canada Edition of the Animal Law Digest is published twice monthly in collaboration with the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.