OP/ED: BC SPCA urges public to support bill protecting animals
By Contributor
The BC SPCA is encouraging members of the public to show their support for Bill C-84, which broadens the definition of bestiality and expands provisions against animals used for fighting.
Bill C-84 was introduced by former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and includes amendments to section 445.1(1)(b) and 447 of the Criminal Code. The amendments would cover promoting, arranging and profiting from animal fighting as well as breeding, training or transporting an animal to fight. The bill would also ban the keeping of an arena for the purposes of animal fighting.
The legislation would also amend the definition of bestiality in section 160 of the Criminal Code to clarify that it involves any contact for a sexual purpose between a person and an animal. This effectively closes a legal loophole discovered in a case that went to the Supreme Court in 2016. Judges would also be able to ban anyone convicted of bestiality from having animals in their custody. Another amendment would require those convicted of bestiality to be registered on Canada’s National Sex Offender Registry.
Bill C-84 is before the House of Commons for third reading after it passed committee. Join thousands of Canadians in calling on their federal Member of Parliament to support Bill-C-84 at https://spca.bc.ca/ways-to-help/take-action/pass-bill-c-84.
