Canada has some of the worst animal protection laws in the Western world. Most Canadians are shocked to learn that there are no laws regulating the welfare of animals on farms. Instead, the on-farm treatment of hundreds of millions of animals raised and killed for food each year is largely governed by voluntary Codes of Practice developed by the National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC)—an industry-dominated body with no law-making or enforcement power.
These Codes are not laws. They are non-binding guidelines shaped primarily by industry representatives, allowing painful confinement systems and horrifying practices—including slicing off chicks’ beaks and castrating piglets without anesthetic, confining pigs, chickens and calves in tiny cages, and keeping cows tied inside for the majority of their lives.
With no comprehensive legislation and no consistent enforcement, farmed animals are left without meaningful legal protection.
It’s time for the federal government to step up. Add your voice today and urge decision-makers to adopt meaningful legal protections for animals on farms.
Photo: Balvik C | We Animals