Backgrounder

Key Highlights of proposed Amendments to Animal-Cruelty Legislation

Existing laws protecting animals

The amendments proposed today are part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to reform animal cruelty laws, and are consistent with a broader effort to modernize the Criminal Code.

In Canada it is already an offence to:

• Wilfully or recklessly cause unnecessary pain, suffering or injury to an animal by any means;
• Neglect to provide an animal adequate food, water, shelter or care;
• Wilfully and without lawful excuse kill, cattle or other animals that are kept for a lawful purpose;
• Engage in various specific acts, such as baiting an animal, participating in animal fighting, or causing pain to an animal by transporting it in an unsafe manner.

Proposed Amendments

The legislation introduced in the House of Commons today proposes to modernize Canada’s animal protection laws against intentional cruelty and criminal neglect towards animals. Proposed amendments include the following:

• consolidate and more rationally organize a range of existing offences related to cruelty to animals and cease to treat offences as property crimes;
• remove outdated distinctions between different kinds of animals;
• make it illegal to kill an animal with brutal or vicious intent;
• make it clear that it is illegal to train an animal to fight other animals;
• distinguish between intentional and neglectful cruelty in order to better tailor maximum penalties;
• raise the penalty for intentional cruelty to a maximum of five years’ imprisonment for the most serious offences, up from the current six-month penalty;
• remove the cap on fines, from the current maximum of $2,000;
• provide that anyone convicted of animal cruelty can be prohibited from owning an animal for any period of time a judge considers appropriate; and
• give judges the authority to order anyone found guilty of animal cruelty to pay restitution to the animal welfare organization that subsequently cared for the animal.

The proposed legislation does not interfere with lawful and humane practices which can occur in a variety of contexts such as agriculture and scientific research. The proposed legislation also affirms traditional Aboriginal hunting and fishing rights.

Reforming the law – the last 5 years

In September 1998, a Department of Justice consultation paper, Crimes Against Animals, drew hundreds of responses and thousands of signatures calling for more effective criminal legislation to deal with cases of cruelty. In response, proposed amendments were first introduced in Parliament in December 1999, representing the first major overhaul of the cruelty-to-animals sections of the Criminal Code in over a century. Bill C-17 died on the Order Paper (a document that lists all bills that could possibly be debated that day) in 2000, as did the most recently reintroduced version of legislation, Bill C-22 in May 2004.

Strengthened animal-cruelty legislation recognizes this behaviour as a form of violence and underlines the imperative for early intervention. Various studies confirm that animal abusers are often motivated by anger, and a desire to assert power and control. There is a strong link that suggests that individuals who are violent towards animals stand a greater chance of later perpetrating violence towards people, as well as other crimes. The correlation is noted, in particular, in the case of aggressors in domestic violence situations and in serial murders. Animal cruelty in the home is often use as a tool for abusing a spouse, and displays of animal cruelty in front of a child are considered abuse that can have long-term psychological impacts on children.

In response to concerns from animal industry groups representing farmers, animal researchers, trappers, and others who earn a living from various animal industries, revisions have been incorporated in the proposed reforms on a number of occasions. In the summer of 2003, amendments confirmed that all available defences to animal cruelty would remain in place and also narrowed the definition of animal to include only vertebrates. These changes were specifically requested by groups representing animal users, and make it as clear as possible that humane practices that occur in these contexts will remain lawful.

Today, a range of animal industry organizations representing agriculturalists, fur farmers, animal researchers and trappers support this law alongside the animal welfare and veterinary communities.

Animal cruelty offences complement a vast array of federal and provincial legislation respecting the treatment of animals in a variety of different contexts. The Criminal Code does not regulate the use of animals in any special context; rather it provides a basic minimum degree of protection for animals consistent with fundamental values of Canadian society. The proposed amendments strike the appropriate balance between strongly denouncing cruelty as a crime of violence while, at the same time, making it clear that lawful and humane practices in a range of contexts will not be affected. By enhancing this basic protection through Criminal Code amendments, the Government can bring 19 th Century animal cruelty provisions into the 21 st Century.

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