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Senate passes inadequate animal cruelty bill

Showing an incredible lack of democracy, the Senate quickly passed Bill S-213 on December 7th. Just three days earlier, the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies had testified before the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee to express our very grave concerns about this Bill.

Bill S-213 is a private member’s bill introduced by Senator John Bryden to amend the animal cruelty provisions of the Criminal Code. It makes no changes whatsoever to the current offences which were originally enacted in 1892. It maintains the oxymoronic concept of ‘wilful neglect’. It allows stray or wild animals to be killed for any reason and makes it very difficult to prosecute cases of unnecessary pain and suffering inflicted on stray or wild animals. It continues to treat animal cruelty as a property offence. And it maintains the loopholes that make it difficult to prosecute cases of dog fighting.

On December 4th, the Senate Committee heard from the CFHS…, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters and Dr. Besse Borwein of the University of Western Ontario. Committee members grilled the CFHS… representatives on December 4th and even asked us to provide more information to them. They acknowledged that Bill S-213 does not go far enough; however, they still felt that it was better than nothing and pushed it through with such minimal consultation.

On December 12th the CFHS… released the results of a national public opinion poll clearly showing that the vast majority of Canadians support tougher legislation addressing animal cruelty. The survey was conducted by SES… Research and co-sponsored by the CFHS… and the International Fund for Animal Welfare.