The Ontario government recently introduced Bill 171, the Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act. Overall, while the bill promises to improve veterinary standards and enhance professional accountability, it unfortunately overlooks critical issues affecting farmed animals. Bill 171 has many strengths, such as a quality assurance program for the College of Veterinarians of Ontario (which regulates the profession), aiming to ensure higher standards within veterinary practices. It establishes a more comprehensive framework for vet licensing, detailed procedures for applications, terminations ..read more

A new investigative report prepared by Animal Justice shows that Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA)—an industry group that accredits nearly two dozen of Canada’s zoos and aquariums—has significant shortcomings. CAZA is riddled with conflicts of interest, is unaccountable, and lacks transparency—all of which lead to a troubling history of inaction when zoos are exposed for animal neglect or abuse.  CAZA’s Shortcomings  CAZA is a group run by the zoo industry that acts as both a lobby organization for zoo interests, and an accreditation organization that gives a stamp of app ..read more

Animal Justice, alongside Wolf Awareness, WeHowl, Humane Society International/Canada and Animal Alliance of Canada and a coalition of 17 animal and environmental protection groups, has filed a Notice of Objection asking the federal government to reverse a decision to continue to allow the use of the cruel predacide, Compound 1080, to violently kill wolves and coyotes in Alberta. Earlier this spring, Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) ended the use of another horrific predacide, strychnine, used also to kill wild predator animals. This huge victory was a direct result of ..read more

Animal Justice is a national animal law advocacy organization, focused on improving laws and policies to protect animals in Canada. Our team works to pass strong new animal laws at all levels of government, ensures industries and corporations are held accountable for abusing animals, and fights for animals in courtrooms across the country.  We seek an enthusiastic and driven articling student to join our team for the 2025-2026 articling term to support our litigation, law enforcement, and law reform work. The ideal candidate will be passionate about enhancing legal protections for animals ..read more

The Ontario government is working to pass legislation it claims will tackle puppy mills, but the toothless legislation would fail to protect dogs from cruelty in commercial breeding. The bill is about to move to committee for further study, and we’re urging lawmakers to strengthen the bill to meaningfully protect dogs from abuse. Fix Ontario’s Broken Puppy Mill Bill In December 2023, Ontario introduced the Preventing Unethical Puppy Sales Act (PUPS Act), which would amend the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act to prohibit some harmful dog breeding practices. But unfortunately, the bill w ..read more

The Ontario Superior Court has issued an order regarding a recent decision that struck down much of the province’s ag gag law, which made it illegal to go undercover at a farm of slaughterhouses to document conditions and expose animal cruelty. Last month, Justice Markus Koehnen of the Superior Court ruled that multiple provisions under the regulation of the ag gag law violate the right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Animal Justice challenged the Ontario government in court to defeat the troubling law, and uphold our right to co ..read more

Another shipment of Canadian horses being sent to Japan for slaughter has exceeded the legal time limit for travel, causing additional suffering to terrified horses in cargo. Animal Justice, the Winnipeg Humane Society, the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition, and Manitoba Animal Save have sent a legal complaint to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), calling for enforcement action over the cruel and unlawful shipment. On January 22, 2024 approximately 99 horses were sent from Winnipeg to Izumisano, Japan, where they would be fattened, slaughtered, and eaten as a raw delicacy. The horses ..read more

The Federal Court of Appeal has granted Animal Justice intervener status in a legal challenge about Canada’s regulation of plastic products under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). The appeal has significant implications for animals – millions of whom are injured and even killed by plastics released into the environment each year – and Animal Justice will work to advance the interests of animals and advocate for strong, coordinated action to tackle our global plastic pollution crisis. Plastic pollution is one of the most critical environmental crises of our time, causing pain, s ..read more

Watch the Video Take Action Shocking new undercover footage from multiple Canadian egg farms shows the alarming conditions hens endure when crammed into tiny wire cages. This is the largest egg industry investigation ever conducted in Canada. Animal Justice gathered the secretly-recorded video gathered from dozens of farms in British Columbia and Quebec, including farms supplying Golden Valley Eggs, which is sold at Loblaw—the country’s largest grocer.  The troubling footage is one of the first opportunities for the public to learn about a troubling trend—the spread of so-called ..read more

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently announced that he would introduce a “Renters’ Bill of Rights” aimed at establishing protections for residential renters across the country. This would create a national standard rental agreement, require landlords to disclose rent histories, and would crack down on “renovictions.” However, left out of this announcement was any move to protect tenants who share their lives with companion animals. These types of protections would prevent landlords from discriminating against potential tenants because they have companion animals, and prevent landlords from p ..read more