Update Canada's Animal Cruelty Laws
Almost all Canadians (95 percent) agree that animal pain and suffering should be limited as much as possible, but we still use animal cruelty legislation enacted in 1892. Our views on animal welfare have changed dramatically in the last 119 years, yet our laws have stayed essentially the same. Canada lags behind many other countries
Help us send a message to our Members of Parliament that animals matter to Canadians.
75 percent of Canadians support an amendment that recognizes animals are more than property. Such an amendment could have prevented a New Brunswick man from being acquitted on multiple counts of animal cruelty for killing five small dogs with a hammer as under the law these animals did not suffer and were considered property.
Canada needs to modernize the animal cruelty provisions in the Criminal Code, close the loopholes and effectively protect all animals from acts of cruelty.
WHEREAS the vast majority of Canadians support modern and enforceable legislation that protects all animals from deliberate and reckless acts of cruelty;
WHEREAS animal cruelty is considered a property offence under provisions in the Criminal Code which have not been significantly revised since they were first enacted in 1892;
WHEREAS the amendments to these provisions which Parliament passed in April 2008 merely raised the potential penalties for the few accused who can be convicted and did not materially improve protection for animals;
WHEREAS further amendments to the Criminal Code are still required to close the loopholes that allow perpetrators of animal cruelty to avoid conviction;
WHEREAS Canada still has weaker legislation than the Philippines, Ukraine and many other countries around the world;
WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to modernize the animal cruelty provisions in the Criminal Code to effectively protect all animals from deliberate acts of cruelty.
