Letter to Premier Doug Ford re: Animals in research

Dear Premier Ford,

On behalf of the Ontario SPCA and Humane Society, I am writing to express our support for your recent promise of legislative action to address the use of dogs and cats in medical research. We would welcome the opportunity to help shape that legislation and believe the opinions and expertise of many organizations in the animal welfare sector would be valuable in crafting meaningful legislation. We strongly recommend you involve the animal welfare sector in every stage of action on this issue. However, due to your government’s recent track record of unkept promises on similar animal welfare issues, we are skeptical of your commitment.

The Solicitor General announced in December 2023 the government intended to hold
consultations on banning Unnecessary Veterinary Procedures such as feline declawing, and canine ear-cropping, tail-docking, and devocalization for convenience or aesthetic purposes. This ban would bring Ontario in line with other Canadian provinces. Yet, in the almost two years since the commitment was made, no further action towards a consultation, much less a ban on these procedures, has taken place.

Your government passed the PUPS Act in June of 2024, which was meant to address puppy mills and unethical dog breeding. The Ontario SPCA has repeatedly told the government detailed regulations on the care, health, and sales of dogs are necessary to make the PUPS Act effective, and the legislation included provisions for the creation of regulations. Despite the PUPS Act passing over a year ago, the province never moved past consultations on a very limited list of regulations, with no regulations adopted.

For nearly two years, the Ontario SPCA has been engaging with your government on these
issues, offering to help identify practical and effective policies that would have a real impact, and pushing it to follow through on these commitments. We have not met with success, and these issues seem to no longer be a priority.

Therefore, we are very concerned that your recent commitment of legislative action on animals in research will be added to the existing list of unkept animal welfare promises announced by your government.

We appreciate your passion and interest in animal welfare and your immediate, heartfelt reaction to the situation at the Lawson Research Institute. We share your passion for protecting the welfare of animals. It is that passion that leads us to urge you to immediately follow through on your commitments for legislative action on animals in research and on the outstanding issues of Unnecessary Veterinary Procedures and PUPS Act regulations.

As always, the Ontario SPCA would welcome any opportunity to contribute our expertise to
finding solutions to these issues.

Sincerely,

Drew Woodley
Director, Government Relations
Ontario SPCA and Humane Societ