Ottawa Humane Society shines light on animals ahead of 2025 election

Come election day, voters typically choose a leader based on who will make life the best for them. But the Ottawa Humane Society (OHS) is encouraging Canadians to consider who will best serve their furry companion, both wild and domesticated.

“Canada is approaching a federal election in 2025. The last election was historic for animals with major parties including promises to improve animal welfare on their platforms,” OHS wrote. “Thanks to the support of animal advocates, Canada made some progress over the last few years, but there is still much room for improvement.”

When re-elected in 2021, the Liberals promised to improve protections for animals with platform policies such as working with partners to curb illegal wildlife trade and end elephant and rhinoceros tusk trade in Canada, introducing legislation to protect animals in captivity, banning the live export of horses for slaughter, and introducing legislation to end cosmetic testing on animals as soon as 2023 and phase out toxicity testing on animals by 2035.

For some of these protections, Canadians are still fighting.

A July report from Animal Justice and Life Investigation Agency, a Japan-based animal protection group, determined from January to July all shipments of horses from Winnipeg exceeded the legal time limit, while 60 per cent of shipments from Edmonton exceeded the time limit as well.

Bill C-355, an act to ban exporting horses by air for slaughter, is currently under review by the Senate but could die without immense support. Between 2013 and 2023, nearly 45,000 horses endured trips as long as 28 hours overseas without food or water, all while crammed in small crates.

In 2023, the Canadian government passed Bill S-5 to phase out chemical toxicity experiments on animals. But the government has since failed to fund the research centre capable of putting the laws into action. The Canadian Centre for Alternatives to Animal Methods (CCAAM) in Windsor closed its doors in May.

Building off of calls for an end to animal testing, the OHS is advocating for the establishment of an Animal Welfare Legislation Review committee to strengthen existing measures in the Criminal Code, the Food and Drugs Act, Fisheries Act and Species at Risk Act. The committee would establish and enforce a standardized baseline level of protection for animals across the country.

The OHS is also calling for pressure from the federal government to make Ontario fall in line with all the other provinces that have banned the training of hunting dogs in live pens.

The practice of letting dogs loose in pens to hunt down with animals was being phased out in the province following legislation passed in 1997 that outlawed new pens. The number of pens was on the decline, dropping from 60 to 24.

But recently, lobbyists pressured the Doug Ford government to reverse this process, claiming no animals are harmed in the process.

In 2023, an investigation by Animal Justice revealed that dogs frequently catch, maim, and kill coyotes and other animal during training and competitions held in these pens, citing immense suffering for the animal victims.

“There were many promises last election, but people who care must raise their voice to see more results,” the OHS said. “Now is the time to continue pushing for more.”