A Canadian animal rights group argued in a Toronto courtroom on Monday that an Ontario law that bans undercover investigations of animal cruelty on farms should be declared unconstitutional.
Dozens of people gathered outside the Superior Court of Justice on University Avenue on Monday, as the opening arguments of the case were being delivered, to draw attention to the law, the case and what they say are the dangers of agricultural gag laws. "In recent years, animal protection groups and individuals have used undercover investigations to expose to the public the grim, dark realities of animal suffering caused by abuse in agricultural facilities, in transport and in slaughter, and suffering caused by generally accepted practices that are standards in the industry," she continued.
"This regime makes it illegal for animal rights advocates to gather the material to show the public what happens behind the closed doors, gates and fences of locations where farmed animals are raised, transported and slaughtered," she said. According to Animal Justice, the group is challenging the ban on going undercover at a farm to record cruelty with a hidden camera, due to a provision that makes it an offence to get a job at a farm under false pretences, and the restrictions on peaceful protests outside slaughterhouses, due to provision that bans interacting with animals in transport trucks.Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice, said the law enables agricultural facilities to cover up animal abuse.
"These exposes have tremendous value to the public and it should not be the case that you cannot expose this abuse."