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Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Ottawa – By all accounts, it appears that the current session of Parliament is about to die. Along with it will go Bill C-50, the government’s amendments to the animal cruelty sections of the Criminal Code. As stated in House debate earlier in the week by Paul Macklin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice, “ This legislation has a long and notorious history in Parliament.” It was first introduced in 1999 and has gone through extensive debate in both Houses since then. In fact, in 2003, animal industry groups, animal protection groups and all political parties supported the bill. Unfortunately, the Senate prevented its passage at that time.
Now, two years later, animal industry groups have reversed their position on this bill and are now re-raising the same issues that were debated, and resolved, from 1999 – 2003. The number one reason Bill C-50 has made no progress since May is this withdrawal of support from various animal industry groups. A large coalition consisting of mostly farming groups and a few organizations representing trappers and researchers had actively supported the bill until February of this year, but is now lobbying for changes. Another group of hunters and anglers is also lobbying feverishly against Bill C-50.
“It is absolutely outrageous what these groups are now asking for,” stated Shelagh MacDonald, Program Director of the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies (CFHS). “They want to be exempt from the animal cruelty section of the Criminal Code, something that is completely inappropriate and offensive to our judicial system. This would be comparable to exempting police officers or hockey players from assault laws and no-one should be exempt from the Criminal Code.” Ms. MacDonald added, “To put it simply, no-one should be authorized by the Criminal Code to commit criminally cruel acts.”
What industry groups don’t want to understand is that there are two simple words in the Criminal Code that allow them to carry out their activities: ‘lawful excuse’. The term ‘lawful excuse’ permits the pursuit of lawful activities, such as hunting, fishing, trapping and farming. It has been stated over and over by Justice Ministers and officials: everything that is lawful today will continue to be lawful under Bill C-50.
It is very important to note that Bill C-50 is not about new law; it is about improving the current law. The key words that describe the offences are unchanged from the current legislation to Bill C-50. In addition, all of the defences that are available today, such as legal justification and excuse, will continue to be available under Bill C-50. The current legislation has not been used to prosecute standard industry practices, and nothing in Bill C-50 has changed that.
The CFHS is saddened that these industry groups are more interested in pursuing incomprehensible and unreasonable demands than protecting animals from cruelty and abuse. One certainly is left wondering what kind of cruelty they want to inflict on animals for which they are asking for an exemption.
“Amendments have already been made over the years to appease animal industry groups, and now they are asking for more,” stated a frustrated Ms. MacDonald. “It is a disgrace that Canada’s animal protection law remains in the 19th Century, while animal industry groups continue to stand in the way of long-overdue animal welfare legislation, which, we all know, allows heinous crimes against animals to go unpunished.”
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For further information, contact Shelagh MacDonald, Program Director, or Roger Couvrette, Communications Coordinator, CFHS
(613) 224-8072 (business)
1-888-678-2347
rogerc@cfhs.ca
shelaghm@cfhs.ca
