[1] The Criminal Code includes special protections for cattle, horses, mules, donkeys, pigs, sheep, and goats, but excludes chicken and fish,[1] which make up the majority of animals raised and killed for food in Canada.
The law permits electric prods and does not require chickens and domesticated rabbits to be unconscious before slaughter.
In Ontario, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Labrador, Alberta, and Saskatchewan animals used in research are exempt from duty of care and/or prohibitions on causing distress.
[12] According to a 2012 document by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of British Columbia, 80% of Canadian egg-laying hens live in battery cages.
[13] In addition to battery cages, extreme confinement of calves in veal crates is legal in Canada,[14] as is the removal of farm animal body parts (for instance, debeaking and castration) without anesthesia.
[16] 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.
Recent undercover investigations of animal farms in Canada include a 2014 MFA investigation of a dairy farm in British Columbia, in which workers were filmed kicking, beating, and hanging cows;[30] a 2014 MFA investigation of a veal farm in Quebec where workers were filmed kicking, punching, and force-feeding calves, among other abuses;[31] and a 2015 MFA investigation of a Hybrid Turkeys farm in which workers were filmed kicking and throwing turkeys, crushing their spines with bolt cutters, and beating them with shovels and metal rods, leaving them to die slowly.
Following the investigation Hybrid Turkeys was found guilty of animal cruelty and fined 5,600 Canadian dollars.
[34] In 2023, British Columbia passed the Emergency and Disaster Management Act, which includes animals in risk assessments and evacuation plans.