This month, an Ontario Superior Court judge deemed a major section of the province’s Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act. The case against the province was brought by the Canadian animal law organization Animal Justice, animal advocate Louise Jorgenson, and me, a journalist covering animal issues.
Generally speaking, “ag-gag” laws refer to any legislation working to deter anyone from exposing the treatment of animals on farms, in slaughterhouses and/or on transport trucks, often under the guise of food safety and/or animal protection. The laws do this by making it an offence to go undercover on agricultural properties, and with steep penalties. Depending on the jurisdiction, anyone found breaking these laws can face major fines and possible jail time.
“Many Canadians don’t realize that our animal protection laws are already among the worst in the world,” Thompson Rivers University law professor Katie Sykes saida public lecture on ag-gag laws she gave in February. She added that with this type of legislation, “We are creating a kind of law-free and accountability-free zone for animal agriculture. That should concern everyone who cares about constitutional rights and the rule of law, whether or not they’re interested in animal protection.