A Conservative MP is calling for sterner legislation to discourage overzealous animal rights activists from disrupting vital farm operations, according to a story in Blacklock’s Reporter.
“Animal activists have become even more brazen to the point where they’re endangering the lives of animals on farms, but in some cases, the public and the livelihood of our farmers,” said Alberta MP John Barlow, the sponsor of a bill to increase the penalties for protests on farm properties.
The private member’s bill has passed second reading in the House of Commons.
“We’ve seen an animal rights activist hang dead pig carcasses over a Montreal overpass,” Mr. Barlow told the House agriculture committee on Sept. 28.
He also pointed to a case in his own riding of Foothills, Alberta, where a family found dozens of protesters on their farm.
“They woke up one morning to check on their free-range turkey farm and had 40 activists camped out in their barn. It took five to six hours to just de-escalate and have these protestors removed. However, the impact on the family has been long-lasting,” he said.
Bill C-275, to amend the “Health of Animals Act,” would ban unauthorized entry to any “building or other enclosed place in which animals are kept” under threat of $250,000 fines and two years in jail. Animal rights groups that “encourage this unlawful behaviour” would be subject to $500,000 fines, said Mr. Barlow.
“We have to understand these groups are fundraising tens of millions of dollars off these events,” said the MP. “They are filming it; they are fundraising off it. There has to be teeth to this which makes it a deterrent for these groups.”
Mr. Barlow said the other critical factor for farms is biosecurity – protesters could bring diseases onto a farm that would devastate the operation. He said there have already been cases of this.
He was asked by Liberal MP Francis Drouin as to whether the bill goes too far, since there are already provincial laws against trespassing.
“There’s already trespassing laws, so we don’t have jurisdiction on that,“ Mr. Drouin said. ”That bill could be challenged in court and rendered, you know, unconstitutional. So that’s what I’m worried about.”
Mr. Barlow insisted existing penalties for trespassing are not enough of a deterrent.
“The issue with the trespassing laws is … for the most part, they are a couple of hundred-dollar fines,” he said. “There has to be teeth to this.”
Mr. Drouin did not question the intent of the bill.
“I certainly agree with the objective of the bill, I’ve certainly met a lot of farmers with regards to ASF (Asian Swine Flu) we’re spending $23 million just to prepare the pork industry to ASF over two years. That’s a lot of dollars,” said Mr. Drouin, who is also the parliamentary secretary for agriculture.
Mr. Barlow was also questioned the size of the potential fines in the bill.
“A $50,000 to $250,000 fine and possible jail time—does that not seem like awfully tough punishment for documenting instances of animal abuse?” asked NDP MP Gord Johns.
Mr. Barlow assured the committee the bill would not prohibit whistleblowers, or protests on public land.
“This bill does not limit an individual’s rights to peaceful protests on public property,” he said. “This bill also does not prevent whistleblowers from coming forward when they are witnesses to practices which jeopardize our food security, our food safety or the welfare of animals.”
No animal rights groups have testified with respect to the bill, according to Blacklock’s.
In 2018, the group Mercy for Animals had CTV News broadcast video of birds “left to drown in their own excrement or die of thirst or starvation” at a poultry farm in Abbotsford, B.C. The British Columbia Egg Marketing Board later revoked the farm’s licence.
“There are bad apples,” said Mr. Drouin. “I mean, the majority of them are fine but there are bad apples which taint the entire industry, unfortunately.”
Mr. Barlow said the bill would also apply to slaughterhouses, rodeos, and zoos.
