Passed in the Canadian House of Commons in February by Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, a Liberal MP in Toronto, Bill C-246, or The Modernizing Animal Protections Act has great potential to be harmful for those in the animal-use community.
The bill was tabled originally by Erskine-Smith in an attempt to bring Canada’s animal welfare laws “into the 21st century.” Its first point of attack was on the shark finning industry – in which live sharks are captured, their fins severed and their body discarded back into the ocean.
The shark fin industry accounts for an estimated 100 million shark deaths each year and many countries across the globe have gotten behind this movement with full or partial bans on shark finning or fishing.
While these common sense approaches to animal welfare are entirely necessary, there is troubling verbiage within this proposed bill. Robert Sopuck, a Conservative MP in Manitoba, who is also the Official Opposition Critic for Wildlife Conservation and Parks Canada, has expressed his concern with a bill that would drastically change the status of animals in Canada.
“This bill is fundamentally flawed and dangerous for several reasons,” Sopuck said in a statement on his website. “This bill has drastic implications for farmers, ranchers, hunters, anglers, the fur industry, aboriginal communities, pet owners, and the medical research community.
This bill proposes to move animals out of the property section of the Criminal Code and place them in the public morals section,” said Sopuck. “Its terms are so broad that they could place all animal use in legal jeopardy.”
After sitting down with Sopuck, Erskin-Smith explained to the Conservative MP how the bill will not affect farmers, hunters or medical researchers.
“This bill is designed to prevent and target animal abuse, not legitimate animal use,” he said, adding that farmers and hunters who abide by all the current regulations should have no concerns if this bill becomes law.
From where I sit and where many of us who enjoy hunting, fishing and trapping sit, the bill is just missing a few key points. Clearly stating, “Everyone commits an offence who, wilfully or recklessly, b) kills an animal, or being the owner, permits an animal to be killed, brutally or viciously, regardless of whether the animal dies immediately” is just too much of a blanket statement for me to swallow.
The trouble with the bill is the lack of definitions within it. Nowhere in the bill does it either define or provide exemptions for hunting, trapping and fishing. While I can certainly understand the underlying goal of the piece of legislation, for me and many others in the outdoor community, the current bill leaves us all liable.
While support is mounting by animal rights activists getting behind the bill, organizations such as the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters and the Canadian Sportfishing Industry Association are preparing to face it down.
OFAH manager of government affairs, Greg Farrant has stated he is behind common-sense animal rights legislation, but fears the impact Bill C-246 could have on the animal-use community.
“The OFAH and its colleagues in the animal-use community across the country have long been advocates of legislation and regulations that support the humane use of animals, and we are willing to support further change,” Farrant told Ontario Out of Doors. “However, the introduction of Bill C-246 jeopardizes the future of the animal-use community, with little regard for the economic and cultural impact that action may cause.”
I’m sure there are some that will read this and think we are over-reacting. I simply fear the day when we risk facing criminal prosecution for reeling in a bass. Or even worse, for baiting the hook.