Your Vote is their Voice
Learn more about these important election issues:
Among many other things, Canada’s Criminal Code prohibits “wilfully causing or wilfully permitting unnecessary pain, suffering or injury to be caused to an animal or bird.”
However, the Code needs to be updated to better protect animals and people across Canada by:
Canadians care deeply about animals and are often frustrated when they feel justice is not being served for them.
The majority of Canadians agree that most animals are sentient beings1, and a 2024 federal petition calling for the government to recognize this received over 10,000 signatures. Animal sentience has been formally recognized by many other countries worldwide, including the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Peru, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Chile, and Colombia, and by the province of Quebec.
Important legislation to criminalize coercive control over an intimate partner, including harming or threatening to harm their pets, was passed by the House of Commons and received Second Reading in the Senate in 2024. Sadly, that Bill was lost when the election was called.
1 Research Co. Poll conducted for the BC SPCA October 2-4, 2024 (n=1,000 Canadian residents, margin of error +/- 3.1%, 19 times out of 20)
Canada is one of the only countries in the world that breeds, raises and transports horses overseas by air for slaughter. Since 2013, our country has exported more than 50,000 horses for this cruel industry.
Horses destined for slaughter overseas suffer throughout their entire lives:
Just last year, at least 21 horses died during or immediately after transport and many more suffered painful injuries or health complications.
Before Parliament was prorogued, important legislation to ban this practice was passed by the House of Commons and was being considered in the Senate. Between 2021 and 2024, over 113,000 signatures were gathered on federal petitions and thousands of letters were sent to the government urging them to make this change.
Almost 80% of Canadians want the government to end the live export of horses for slaughter2.
2 Research Co. Poll conducted for the BC SPCA April 3-5, 2024 (n=1,000, margin of error +/- 3.1%, 19 times out of 20)
Hundreds of thousands of animals are farmed and killed for their fur in Canada each year.
Fur farming is inherently inhumane and there are no federal laws to regulate the welfare of animals on fur farms. Wild animals are bred and raised in small, barren, wire cages where they suffer serious psychological and physical distress before being killed by electrocution or asphyxiation. Their furs are then typically shipped overseas for luxury fashion and accessories.
Fur farms also present significant environmental and public health risks. Manure run-off from fur farms can cause soil and water contamination in surrounding ecosystems. Due to the high number of animals kept in close confinement, fur farms can increase the risk of disease emergence and transmission to people and wild animal populations, as highlighted by outbreaks of COVID-19 on mink farms in B.C. and around the world. The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs has declared that this cruel industry “goes against Indigenous values of wildlife stewardship and conservation.”
In 2021, the provincial government announced a landmark, first-in-Canada plan to phase out mink farms in British Columbia and now, in 2025, there are no longer any mink farms operating in the province and no new ones can be opened. However, chinchilla and fox can still be farmed in B.C. and fur farming is legal in the rest of Canada.
A year after the ban, an overwhelming majority of British Columbians agreed with the decision to close mink farm – only 8% disagreed3. Overall, 78% of Canadians are opposed to killing animals for their fur4. A 2024/25 federal petition calling for a national ban on fur farming received over 7,000 signatures, including over 4,600 from British Columbians.
3 Stratcom poll conducted for the BC SPCA July 14-22, 2022 (n=1,000, margin of error +/-3.1%, 19 times out of 20).
Stay up to date and learn about other important BC SPCA advocacy campaigns by subscribing to our Action Alerts.