By Barbara Cartwright | CEO
With every hour that ticks by and day that passes, we grow closer and closer to Parliament shutting down and animals lives hang in the balance.
We are racing against the clock to ensure a critical pieces of animal welfare legislation doesn’t fall by the wayside; Bill C-84 which will strengthen protections against bestiality and animal fighting.
In a tumultuous political time, it is all too easy for animal welfare to be pushed lower and lower down the legislative agenda. We need you to help us ensure that doesn’t happen… And I can promise we will fight until the very last second to get these important bills made into law.
Animals cannot advocate for themselves. So we must advocate for them.
Bill C-84 seeks to strengthen the bestiality and animal fighting sections of the Criminal Code, removing loopholes that have benefited violent offenders.
This is a vital piece of legislation I have personally been working on for many years. I was devastated to see these proposed protections removed from government consideration a number of years ago, and I will be devastated if history repeats itself now when parliament prorogues.
The link between violence towards animals and violence towards children is well-documented and deeply troubling. We know now that there are high rates of concurrent animal and child sexual abuse – a phenomenon known as the “Violence Link”.
When the Supreme Court effectively reduced bestiality to an act of penetration in 2016, they left some of the most vulnerable members of our society at risk: animals and children. When sex crimes towards animals cannot be prosecuted despite video proof based on a technicality of the law, we know something has to change.
On May 8th, we were thrilled when the House of Commons unanimously accepted Bill C-84’s passage. It’s now headed to the Senate and we look forward to keeping you updated. After all, it’s your support that has brought the Bill this far!
The upcoming election has taken over the Parliamentary agenda, and we are often fighting an uphill battle to get the attention and focus animal rights legislation needs.
You might recall Quanto’s Law, which amended the Criminal Code to protect law enforcement animals, military animals and service animals and to ensure offenders who harm those animals or assault peace officers are held fully accountable.
I can promise you we are more committed than ever to making Bill C-84 a reality.
Together, we will amplify our voices until the urgent need for this law is heard by the decision-makers in parliament.
To follow the developments on these and other bills follow us on social media @humanecanada
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