Fears overblown on animal cruelty bill (Bill C-246)

A Private Members Bill that received Second Reading in Ottawa on March 3 has raised a firestorm of criticism from opponents fearing it would interfere with their hunting and fishing activities.

Bill C-246, the Modernizing Animal Protections Act, was brought forward by backbench Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (Beaches—East York, Ontario).

Wide-ranging in scope, the Act would amend the Criminal Code, the Fisheries Act, the Textile Labelling Act, the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act and the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act.

At face value, the bill is intended to impose a ban on the import of dog and cat fur and the practice of shark-finning. There are also provisions for increased penalties for those engaged in illegal dog-fighting activity and a specific penalty for killing or injuring a police dog. The bill would also ban the use of live animals in target shooting.

Opposition to the Bill was immediate and furious. In a post titled “GO FISHING, GO TO JAIL – There’s something’s fishy about Bill C-246,” the Keep Canada Fishing website warns that the importation of shark fins is “only the tip of the fin.”

According to Keep Canada Fishing, the bill has received support from “an activist coalition of Canadian and U.S. animal rights organizations with a decades-long history of sustained attacks on anglers and farmers.”

These groups, it warns, support legislation [not specifically Bill C-246] “which threatens a criminal charge, up to a $10,000 fine and five years jail time for anglers who harvest a few fish for dinner.”

Pointing to the wording of the Bill, which includes terms such as “unnecessary cruelty,” they warn that even baiting a hook with a worm would be considered an act of cruelty.

The Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals is one high-profile organization that supports Bill C-246, posting that “It looks good for the animals,” along with the full text of the Bill.

Communications Director Adrian Nelson said from his organization’s point of view, the Bill mainly closes up a number of loopholes in the importation of animal products.

“The most important is the import and sale of dog and cat fur from China. Most of the world, especially the U.S. and Europe, has banned it. Canada is one of the few countries that still accepts it as a product. Most people don’t know about that.”

Nelson said currently, consumers have no idea where fur is coming from – either the source country or, for that matter, the species of animal it is taken from.

“Fur falls through a loophole in the Labelling and Textile Act. It doesn’t actually need to be labeled. So closing that loophole allows the consumer to know where that animal comes from and how it is derived.”

Noting the immediate negative response to the Bill, Nelson was asked if the animal protection movement was looking to extend the restrictions into the realm of aboriginal hunting and trapping.
Absolutely not (on this Bill), Nelson said. The immediate goal is to shut down the market for dog and cat fur and give consumers better information.

Better labelling would actually give furs harvested by Indigenous Canadians a more prominent position in the market, he said.

“From a First Nations perspective, there is such a rich cultural heritage and an identity with the fur industry. To see fur labelled as having been caught by traditional methods by Aboriginal Canadians would give added value to the product,” he said.

Bill C-246 also contains specific protections for Aboriginal rights and title, in Section 182.5:

“For greater certainty, nothing in this Part shall be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from the protection provided for existing aboriginal or treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada by the recognition and affirmation of those rights in section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982.”

Ernie Crey, recently elected chief councillor of Cheam First Nation, has kept a close eye on Ottawa for decades. In 2012, as fisheries manager for the Sto:lo Nations on the Fraser River, he blasted then-Environment Minister Peter Kent for failing to include Aboriginal organizations in a proposed Hunting and Fishing Advisory Panel.

Crey said other than seeing some mention of Bill C-246 in the media, it has not been raised as a concern.

“I don’t believe it has even gone to Committee [stage] yet,” Crey said.
Noting Section 182.5, he said, “There it is: the reassurance people are looking for.”

Crey said legislators are well aware that Canada’s First Nations, Metis and Inuit Peoples are extremely diligent about protecting their constitutionally-enshrined rights.

“I am not surprised that they are being vigilant, but to me, this doesn’t look like anything that should cause alarm to Aboriginal people,” Crey said.

However, Crey noted, there is always the potential for new legislation to open a “back door” for other parties with a hidden agenda.

That was a concern raised by Conservative MP Robert Sopchuk when the bill received First Reading on Feb. 26.

“This bill is fundamentally flawed and dangerous for several reasons,” Sopuck said.

Calling it “poorly drafted,” Sopchuk suggested the scattergun approach to the legislation, which would make changes in a multitude of federal departments, could create that back door cited by Ernie Crey.

“Its terms are so broad that they could place all animal use in legal jeopardy,” the MP suggested. “Animal use” could even be construed to include medical research, Sopchuk noted.

“And medical research has allowed Canadians to live longer, healthier lives. This bill places all of this at risk.”

For a legal opinion, Windspeaker turned to Tseshaht First Nation Chief Councillor Hugh Braker QC. As a practicing attorney, Braker handled Aboriginal Charter rights cases right through to the Supreme Court of Canada.

In a brief email, Braker advised he would review the Bill, but noted that Private Member’s Bills rarely make it past the Committee Stage in any case. He suggested that the incoming government already has a full agenda, “and I rather doubt that it has time for a private members Bill for Parliament's agenda. The government's own agenda is going to gobble up Parliament's time.”

Since the election of the Trudeau Liberal Government, Crey has proven himself an equal-opportunity critic of Ottawa. Most recently, he blasted the government for excluding the Congress of Aboriginal People and the Native Women’s Association of Canada from the recent First Minister’s meeting. But in general, he said, the change of tone in Ottawa has been encouraging.

“I really did try to work with the previous [Conservative] government, and I took some criticism for it,” he said. “Really, it’s been like moving from night into day. I am hoping [the Trudeau Government] can sustain it with the First Nations, Metis and Inuit Peoples.”