Animal welfare and rights in Canada is about the laws concerning and treatment of nonhuman animals in Canada. Canada has been considered to have weak animal welfare protections by the organization World Animal Protection. The vast majority of Canadians are for further animal protections, according to a poll conducted on behalf of Mercy for Animals.
Legislation
Sections 444 to 447 of Canada's Criminal Code constitute Canada's primary federal animal protection legislation. The Code prohibits causing "unnecessary pain, suffering or injury to an animal or bird" and "causing damage or injury by wilful neglect".
The Criminal Code includes special protections for cattle, horses, mules, donkeys, pigs, sheep, and goats, but excludes chicken and fish, which make up the majority of animals raised and killed for food in Canada. The federal Health of Animals Act concerns the welfare of animals during transport and loading. This law prohibits overcrowding and sets a maximum amount of time that an animal can be transported without food, water, or rest: 52 hours for ruminants, 36 hours for monogastric animals. The federal Meat Inspection Act sets down regulations on inspections and slaughter. The law permits electric prods and does not require chickens and domesticated rabbits to be unconscious before slaughter. In 2014, Canada enacted a ban on gestation crates.
Canadian provinces vary in their provisions for farm animal welfare. However, animal agriculture is generally exempt from anti-cruelty and duty of care provisions of provincial animal welfare legislation.
There is no federal legislation specifically regulating animal testing. In Ontario, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Labrador, Alberta, and Saskatchewan animals used in research are exempt from duty of care and/or prohibitions on causing distress.
In 2014 and again in 2020, Canada received a D out of possible grades A,B,C,D,E,F,G on World Animal Protection's Animal Protection Index.
Animals used for food
Animal agriculture
In 2015, Canada slaughtered 660.96 million chickens, a steady increase from 621.82 million in 2007; 2.48 million cattle (on federally inspected farms), down from 3.61 million in 2004; and 20.41 million hogs. Statistics on the number of aquatic animals raised and killed are not forthcoming, but in 2010 Canadian aquaculture produced 160,924 tons of aquatic animals.
In 2014 Canada had 1.4 million head of dairy cattle. In 2014, there were 1007 registered egg farms in Canada with an average of 20,192 hens each, for a total of 20.33 million egg-laying hens. According to a 2012 document by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of British Columbia, over 90% of Canadian egg-laying hens live in battery cages.
In addition to battery cages, extreme confinement of calves in veal crates is legal in Canada, as is the removal of farm animal body parts (for instance, debeaking and castration) without anesthesia.
Vegetarianism and veganism
In a 2015 poll commissioned by the Vancouver Humane Society, 8% of 1507 respondents identified as vegetarian or mostly vegetarian and 25% said they are trying to eat less meat. 12% of respondents 18-34 identified as vegetarian or mostly pesco-vegetarian, as opposed to 5% of those 55 and up. The study did not measure the number of vegans. In 2018, A Dalhousie University study led by Sylvain Charlebois revealed that over 6.4 million Canadians limit the amount of meat they eat, and number will likely grow.
Animal testing
According to the Canadian Council for Animal 2015 Animal Data Report, 3.57 million animals were used in experiments. 76,646 of these animals experienced "severe pain near, at, or above the pain tolerance threshold of unanesthetized conscious animals"
Testing cosmetics on animals is legal in Canada. However, in December 2015 a bill to ban testing cosmetics on animals as well as the sale of cosmetics tested on animals was introduced to the Canadian Senate.
Animals used for clothing
In 2014, over 3 million animals were raised on 230 mink and 50 fox fur farms. No federal laws regulate fur farms specifically, and only Newfoundland and Labrador have enacted the National Farm Animal Care Council's codes of practice for mink and fox farming.