Bill to end import and sale of cat and dog fur in Canada to be debated in House

A private member's bill that would make the importing and sale of cat and dog fur in Canada illegal will be debated in the House of Commons today.

Most Canadians are not aware it's currently legal to import and and sell cat and dog fur into Canada.

"Most people are shocked and appalled when they learn that fact," said Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice. "The European Union and the United States banned cat and dog fur a long time ago."

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Bill C-246, the Modernizing Animal Protection Act,  was introduced as a private member's bill by Beaches-East York MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, 31, who was elected to Parliament for the first time in October.

"I have always been concerned about animal welfare issues and am very interested in issues that cut across the political spectrum and I don't think any party has a monopoly on the issue of animal welfare," he said.

The bill not only would ban the importing and sale of cat and dog fur but also would require that all fur in Canada is properly labelled so that consumers know what they are getting.

Shark finning

The bill would also put an end to the importing of shark fins that were not attached to the rest of the shark carcass, and make the finning of a shark (cutting off its fins and throwing the rest of the shark into the sea) illegal.

Erskine-Smith said there isn't currently a market for cat and dog fur in Canada. But according to Animal Justice, the fur is imported and turned into the trim on gloves, jackets and even used in stuffed toys and Christmas decorations.

"It's people that buy it unknowingly and would never want to buy it, it's just making sure that we put a law on the books that says we are going to ban it but, more importantly, we require fur to be labelled so consumers aren't going to unknowingly purchase something," Erskine-Smith said.

The bill would also strengthen animal protection laws, updating the Criminal Code to make it illegal to "brutally or viciously" kill an animal regardless of whether it dies immediately.

Cracking down on animal fighting rings

The bill would make it illegal to profit from animal fighting. Currently it is illegal to engage in animal fighting, but Erskine-Smith said police have told him it is very difficult to catch people in the act of running a dog or other animal fight. Making profiteering from such an act illegal would make it easier for police to prosecute people involved in animal fighting, he said.

These provisions, among others that would amend the Criminal Code, have fishers and hunters worried they could be unfairly prosecuted.

Greg Farrant, manager of government affairs and policy for the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, said the bill risks criminalizing legal hunting and fishing, lowers the standards for criminal charges, ignores provincial laws already on the books and leaves terms such as "brutally" and  "viciously" for the courts to interpret.

"If Mr Erskine-Smith wanted to introduce a bill that dealt with the shark fin issue, puppy mills, cat and dog fur, we wouldn't be having this discussion, we would have been strongly supportive and wouldn't be making any comment about it," said Farrant.

Anglers and hunters oppose bill

"I don't think it's possible at committee to fix this bill. But that is not going to stop us from appearing and offering up what we believe to be reasonable, rational, sensible amendments to the bill," he added.

Labchuck said the bill is not as radical or groundbreaking as Farrant suggests, and will help Canada "move past our status as the country in the Western world with the worst animal protection laws and help us take a first step in the right direction."

Erskine-Smith said it is not his intention to prosecute people who are hunting or fishing but rather just to update the law and deal with two outstanding issues that have wide support in the Commons — banning of cat and dog fur and shark finning.

"Let's get this bill to committee, let's have expert criminal lawyers testify as to its possible effects, and if there is any chance of this bill affecting general use animal activities, let's change the bill so that it doesn't," said Erskine-Smith.

Bill C-246 will be debated today and then again in the fall when MPs vote whether to send it to committee.

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