Kendra Coulter, Associate Professor of Labour Studies and Chancellor’s Chair for Research Excellence at Brock University, and Peter Sankoff, Professor in the Faculty of Law at the Univeristy of Alberta, had a piece recently published in The Toronto Star about the ongoing neglect of animal welfare in Canada.

They write:

“Imagine a country without national legislation dedicated to animals’ welfare.

 A nation with no federal cabinet member or politician assigned responsibility and resources for promoting animals’ well-being.

 A country that has no national hotline for reporting suspected animal cruelty, or targeted public investment for investigations into crimes against animals.

 Actually, there’s no need to imagine this scenario — you’re living in that country. 

 Two-thirds of Canadian households now include animals, and every community on these lands includes other species. Polling regularly shows that a fierce opposition to animal cruelty is one of the few values that unites Canadians from all backgrounds, provinces and political persuasions. Yet our federal government is not doing enough for animals. In fact, it doesn’t do much to protect animals at all. 

 Canada has long fared poorly in global rankings, earning a D on the World Animal Protection Index, well behind countries like Sweden, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, India and Mexico. And the federal government has shown little interest in changing the status quo.”

Continue reading the full article here.