The farming industry has been pushing for dangerous agricultural gag laws in recent years (known as “ag gag laws”). These are laws designed to keep the suffering of farmed animals hidden from public view by punishing people who try to document and expose abuse and neglect. Some ag gag laws, like those passed in Ontario and Alberta, target journalists, animal advocates, and employee whistleblowers who work undercover to film and release footage of animal cruelty inside farms and slaughterhouses.
Animal Justice is committed to challenging ag gag laws in court, and in the first constitutional challenge to an ag gag law in Canada, we recently succeeded in striking down the ban on undercover investigations in Ontario, because it violated the right to freedom of expression guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
With that important victory under our belt, Animal Justice is now turning our attention next door to Manitoba. Under the previous Conservative government, Manitoba passed an ag gag law in 2021—despite widespread public opposition, warnings from legal experts that the law is likely unconstitutional, and vigorous objections by NDP MLAs who were then in opposition.
Fast forward three years later, and Manitoba’s new NDP government has an important opportunity to make things right by repealing the most problematic and unconstitutional parts of the law.
Manitoba’s Ag Gag Law Conceals Cruelty in Transport
Unlike ag gag laws in Ontario and Alberta, Manitoba’s law does not target undercover investigations. Instead, it targets people who film sick, injured, and dead farmed animals arriving in trucks at slaughterhouses. This important evidence is often used to file animal cruelty reports with authorities, and inform the public about routine animal suffering in farming and transport. The law does this by making it an offence to “interact” with farmed animals in transport.
In this way, Manitoba’s law actually goes further than Ontario’s, which similarly prohibits “interaction or interference” with animals in transport, but it does describe what type of conduct does and does not run afoul of the law. In Manitoba, it’s unclear what unlawful “interaction” with animals in transport means. This has cast a chill on protests throughout the province.
Canada already has some of the worst animal transport laws in the Western world, and ag gag laws make the situation even more dire. Because of a complete failure on the part of the government to tackle this crisis, over 1.5 million farmed animals are either injured or suffer long, agonizing deaths every year while being trucked to slaughter.
Together, we can help turn the tide on ag gag laws across Canada. Please take a moment to let the new Manitoba government know that you appreciate their opposition to Manitoba’s ag gag law Bill 62 back in 2021, and that it’s time to repeal ag gag laws and to ensure the province respects Manitobans’ Charter-protected rights to free expression and peaceful protest.
Banner: Louise Jorgensen | Animal Sentience Project | We Animals Media
