Canada

Proposed Tory legislation threatens jail time for animal rights protesters who break into farms

Federal conservatives are proposing legislation that threatens jail time for animal rights protesters who trespass on farmers’ private property and endanger the health of their animals.

Account C-275or “An Act Amending the Health of Animals Act (Biosecurity on Farms)”, was passed on second reading in the House of Commons on 21 June after MPs voted almost unanimously in favor by a to vote of 313 to 3, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.

Only Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith and the two Green Party MPs – Elizabeth May and Mike Morrice – voted against the bill, which is now moving to the next stage. considered by the Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Speaking to his bill during Commons debate on May 1, sponsor Conservative MP and agricultural critic John Barlow said: “There have been numerous actions by protesters on farms. It’s getting more daring and reckless.”

Barlow introduced Bill C-275 in November 2022 after previously introducing similar legislation that fell due to the 2021 general election.

His previous Account C-205 passed both second reading in the House and consideration by the Agriculture Committee of the House of Commons between March and June 2021.

Its new legislation aims to amend the Health of Animals Act to make it a federal offense to “enter without lawful permission or excuse a place where animals are kept if doing so could result in the exposure of the animals to a disease or toxic substance that is able to influence or contaminate them.”

The bill threatens a fine of up to $250,000 or up to two years in prison or both for individuals. Animal rights groups organizing farm protests risk a fine of up to $500,000.

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During the day debate on May 1, Barlow commented that it would “in no way prohibit protesters from protesting on public land about the issues they are passionate about and important to them.”

“They can keep those rallies and protests out of the farm gate, but there has to be a line in the sand,” Barlow said.

“If they cross that line into private property and endanger the health of animals and the mental health of our farming families, there has to be a line there. There must be strict rules to deter that action.”

Animal diseases

During the day debate in the June 15 bill, Barlow said animal diseases have spread in recent years as a result of the protesters.

“There was an outbreak of rotavirus in Quebec when protesters were found at a pig operation in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec,” Barlow said. “Ontario mink farms had a distemper outbreak when protesters were at the farms.”

Farming groups, including the Chicken Farmers of Canada (CFC), previously expressed support for Barlow’s similar Bill C-205 during committee hearings in 2021, while animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has urged Canadian lawmakers to reject Barlow’s new Bill C-275.

“This law is harmful to animals because it is designed to stop people from reporting animal cruelty,” PETA writes on its website.

Nick de Graaf, then Vice President of the CFC, told the Agriculture Committee of the House of Commons on June 3, 2021, that Canadian farmers have for years “feared the possibility of activists encroaching on our properties and our chicken sheds”.

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“Biosecurity is critical to preventing disease in flocks,” he said. “On my farm, I track visitors and know who is on the property to reduce the risks of introducing a domestic, notifiable, or emerging disease to the farm.”

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