Canada: New animal-cruelty bill in the works

~~~~ cross post & BEWARE!~~~

DO NOT INTERPRET FROM THIS ARTICLE, THAT BILL C22
(or any other name/number replacing it) is being reintroduced. Clearly,
this is a NEW bill. BEWARE!

This clearly states that it is a NEW anticruelty bill. Relevant parties are
meeting tomorrow to discuss possible strategies and will alert concerned
Canadians just as soon as we SEE the bill. We have ABSOLUTELY
NO IDEA what it will involve; i.e. include, rewrite, or exclude. We are
in a 'wait and see' mode until we read exactly what this new government
proposes before determining if this NEW BILL is worthy of our support.

TORONTO COALITION FOR ANTICRUELTY LEGISLATION
Http://www.anticruelty.ca
C15.RemoveThis@anticruelty.ca

By KIRK MAKIN
>From Saturday's Globe and Mail (Oct. 10/04)

The federal government is set to make another attempt to pass legislation
to prevent cruelty to animals, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said yesterday.

He said the new bill ­ the fifth such document ­ will be vastly improved over
the last attempt, which died when the Senate refused to pass it based largely
on concerns about the unfair prosecution of hunters and aboriginals.

"We haven't done anything about that since 1892," Mr. Cotler said. "It's a
scandal. You know, in the last five years we have got some 65,000 letters
and communications on that issue alone ­ more than any other issue. There
is a real concern out there on that issue."

To the dismay of animal-rights activists, last year's Bill C-22 was the fourth
incarnation of animal-cruelty legislation tabled since 1999. It had called for
tougher fines and jail sentences for animal abusers.

At one point, animal-rights activists brought their pets to Parliament Hill to
join demonstrations encouraging the government to pass the amendments.

The maximum penalty for animal cruelty is currently a $2,000 fine and six
months in jail. Bill C-22 would have amended the Criminal Code to
increase the penalty to a $10,000 fine and a jail term of up to five years.

"We have to understand where it died," Mr. Cotler said. "It died in the
Senate. The House of Commons has consistently passed this legislation.
And the Senate has frankly blocked this legislation."

The Justice Minister went back to the drawing board and tried to clear up
the problems ­ including provisions that he believes will protect legitimate
hunters and certain religions that use ritual slaughter and could potentially
run afoul of a cruelty law.

"Now we're saying: 'Look guys, we have come up with legislation which
has sought to be responsive to you and the Senate,'." Mr. Cotler said.
"We respect the Senate and take the Senate seriously, but the Senate also
has to respect the overall parliamentary process.

"When the elected members of this country, time and again, demonstrate
to all parties and all the stakeholders that this is an imperative for this country,
at some point they have to say, 'Okay, maybe we can't get that particular
amendment that we would like, but this legislation as matter of principle and
policy deserves to be enacted.'

"I'm going to share that message with them and I hope that in this Parliament,
we will get that into law," Mr. Cotler said.