{"id":231722,"date":"2019-09-20T23:50:31","date_gmt":"2019-09-21T03:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=231722"},"modified":"2019-09-20T23:50:31","modified_gmt":"2019-09-21T03:50:31","slug":"ontario-considers-bill-to-protect-farmers-from-animal-rights-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/09\/20\/ontario-considers-bill-to-protect-farmers-from-animal-rights-activists\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario considers bill to protect farmers from animal rights activists"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Demonstrations from animal rights activists often violate the biosecurity of farms or trucks delivering livestock to a processing plant, putting the province’s food system at risk, Yufest said. (Pexels Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2014 The Ontario government will consider all options including new legislation to shield farmers from animal rights activists, the province’s agriculture ministry said Friday.<\/p>\n

The assurances from Minister Ernie Hardeman’s office come as livestock producers press for action to prosecute those who trespass on their properties and aggressively protest at processing plants.<\/p>\n

Ministry spokesperson Avi Yufest said the government shares the producers’ concerns following a number of high-profile protests in the past year.<\/p>\n

The government is meeting with farmers and other stakeholders to come up with a strategy which could include legislation, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The Minister) is working hard to protect the safety and security of our farmers, our food processors and the sector as a whole so nothing is off the table at this time,\u201d Yufest said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Demonstrations from animal rights activists often violate the biosecurity of farms or trucks delivering livestock to a processing plant, putting the province’s food system at risk, Yufest said.<\/p>\n

The government consultations come after a number of farming groups called on the government to hold animal rights activists who break the law accountable.<\/p>\n

In May, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture \u2014 speaking on behalf of eight livestock producer associations \u2014 expressed disappointment when charges were dropped against an animal rights activist who allegedly trespassed on a Lucan, Ont.and took two animals.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur system of law and order is based on consequences for breaking the law,\u201d Federation spokesman Keith Currie said at the time. \u201cWithout meaningful prosecutions that act as a deterrent to future crimes, activists become bolder in their actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yufest could not immediately provide details of the government’s plan or say how the current laws are falling short.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are questions we’re looking to answer with these consultations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The executive director of animal protection group Animal Justice said Hardeman’s comments are troubling and could result in the government trampling activists’ rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we’ve seen time and time again is that governments are friendly to farmers and willing to crack down and violate the civil liberties of animal advocates,\u201d Camille Labchuk said. \u201cIt helps them hide the reality of what they do to animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Activists are pushing the boundaries of the law more often because the province’s animal protection laws aren’t strong enough, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason that we’re seeing animal advocates going onto farms is because it’s the only way for them to see the conditions animals are kept without any regulations, without any government inspections,\u201d she said. \u201cThe public has no way of understanding what happens on farms so citizens are taking these matters into their own hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ontario Pork Chairman Eric Schwindt said livestock producers across all sectors are subject to strict rules and inspections in order to ensure animals are treated safely and humanely.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have high standards of animal care, food safety, biosecurity and we abide by the Canadian code of practice,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are overseen by veterinarians. We’re in agriculture because we love working with animals so we look after them well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schwindt, who operates a pig farm near Aylmer, Ont., said he’s glad to hear the government is considering taking action but said a balance needs to be achieved between the needs of farmers and activists’ right to free speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand the right to protest,\u201d Eric Schwindt said. \u201cIf you’re on public property that’s fine. But we firmly believe that people shouldn’t be allowed to take our property or harass our families or employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 The Ontario government will consider all options including new legislation to shield farmers from animal rights activists, the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":225712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-shawn-jeffords","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231722"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231723,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231722\/revisions\/231723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}