Working for better laws

Since 1895, the BC SPCA has been working for better laws to improve the treatment, care and quality of life for animals in British Columbia.

Back then, the biggest concern was conditions for working horses. Today, we work to enhance local, provincial and federal laws to ensure all animals are provided, at a minimum, the Five Freedoms.

In recent years, our efforts have helped to:

• Introduce federal bills to end the live export of horses for slaughter
• Ban cosmetic and toxicity testing on animals in Canada
• Require that animals be included in provincial emergency management
• Publish a new national Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Goats
• Phase out the industrial farming of mink for fur in B.C.
• Prohibit almost all use of the most deadly rodenticides in B.C.
• Enact local bylaws to remove breed-specific legislation (BSL) for dogs, restrict wildlife feeding and prohibit the keeping of exotic and wild-domestic hybrid pets

 

We have also:

• Advocated for a ban on the importation, breeding, and keeping of exotic cat species used in creating hybrid cats (not hybrid cats) under the provincial Controlled Alien Species Regulation of the Wildlife Act
• Created a Bylaw Search Tool to help municipalities, regional districts and First Nations adopt more progressive animal bylaws
• Informed newly elected local government officials about their constituents’ priorities for animal welfare
• Participated in the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and Food’s review of the farmed animal welfare framework
• Continued to advocate to increase the availability and affordability of pet-friendly housing for all British Columbians
• Raised awareness of and called for an end to cruel rodeo events
• Created voluntary companion animal service standards
• Advocated for the Canadian government to recognize animal sentience in our legislation

 

Although not all our efforts have been successful yet, we have also mobilized our dedicated supporters and other British Columbians to speak out about:

• Fur farming in Canada
• The international and domestic exotic animal trade
• Video surveillance in slaughterhouses
• Wildlife poisoning to control predators like wolves, coyotes and bears
• Unscientific and inhumane wolf culls
• Consumer use of fireworks

For more details, please read our annual Advocacy Year in Review reports.

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