Great news!
In May 2011, the Superior Court cancelled the destruction order of Tyson, a dog owned by a Montreal resident. SALDF McGill students were fortunate to have worked on this case by conducting legal research for the defence. Please see the following link for the full decision: Cognyl-Fournier c. Montreal (Ville de)
Congratulations!
In response to a number of highly publicized attacks on people by “pit bull”-type dogs, several provincial and municipal legislatures have enacted Breed Specific Legislation. This legislation ranges from restrictions and conditions on the ownership of certain breeds to outright bans, and often establishes a legal presumption that certain breeds are prima facie “dangerous”. Breed Specific Legislation has been the target of a number of legal challenges, both in Canada and abroad.
On Tuesday, March 15th 2011, the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund at McGill will host an interdisciplinary panel discussion on Breed Specific Legislation. Drawing on their unique expertise, panelists will critically discuss Breed Specific Legislation and the various scientific, policy and legal issues it raises.
Alanna Devine is the Director of Animal Advocacy at the Montreal Society for the 
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). She graduated from McGill University’s Faculty of Law with a B.C.L./LL.B. in 2006, having founded the McGill chapter of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund (SALDF). After clerking at the Supreme Court of Canada, Ms. Devine returned to Montreal and began her work on behalf of animals at the SPCA, where she pushes for improvement in animal welfare and anti-cruelty laws at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels.
Nicholas Gilman is the current Executive Director of the Montreal SPCA. He is also President of Humane Logic, a business consulting firm focusing on the animal welfare field, which he founded in 2006. Mr. Gilman has been working on behalf of animals for over 26 years. His work experience ranges from national disaster relief to cruelty investigation, consulting and shelter design. He worked for three years for the Humane Society of the United States, and for seven years for the American Humane Association where he served as Director of Animal Programs. He was also a founding board member of the National Federation of Humane Societies.
Dr. Enid Stiles graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 2000. Before receiving her veterinary degree, she completed a Bachelor in Science (Conservation Biology) at the University of Ottawa and recently completed a Masters in Clinical Sciences (Behaviour Medicine) at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Montreal. Dr. Stiles is a founding member of Veterinarians Without Borders, Canada, and the Director of its Canine/Feline Programs. She is also a practicing veterinarian at Sherwood Park Animal Hospital in Beaconsfield.
It is with great pleasure that we invite you to attend the panel discussion, which will take place on March 15th at 5:30 pm, in Room 202 of McGill’s Faculty of Law, 3644 Peel Street.
We hope to see you there!
Here’s what we have planned for this semester:
- Petition to reinstate an animal law course at McGill.
- Informal Q&A session with Peter Sankoff, animal law and criminal law professor. After teaching for several years at the Faculty of Law of Auckland University, in New Zealand, Peter is now back in Canada. Last June, he taught the world’s first course in comparative animal welfare law at Lewis & Clark University in Portland, Oregon. This event will take place in early February and is only open to SALDF members.
- Volunteer day at Teja’s Animal Refuge and Refuge RR for Horses.
Two of Refuge RR's happy residents
- Speaker panel on Breed Specific Legislation (BSL), i.e. legislation pertaining to specific dog breeds (e.g. pit bull bans). The goal of the panel is to provide a forum for an interdisciplinary examination of BSL, from legal, sheltering and animal behaviour perspectives. We are currently in the process of contacting potential speakers. The panel will be held in late February/early March depending on speakers’ availabilities.
The most common target of Breed Specific Legislation
- Pro bono legal research.
Stay tuned for more details on these events & activities.
When iconic Global TV anchor Kevin Newman stepped down from the news desk this summer, he turned his attention to producing documentaries and immediately approached a handful of McGill students and graduates for interviews.
Newman was producing and hosting an hour-long feature on animal welfare in Canada and the Faculty’s growing involvement and expertise on the matter drew his attention.
The finished product, Revealed: No Country for Animals, aired on Global Television this summer and features Law alumni Alanna Devine BCL/LLB’06, Mathieu Bouchard BCL’00, LLB’00, and Kurt Johnson BCL’91, LLB’91 discussing the state of animal protection measures in Quebec and in Canada.
“The statement that the Criminal Code is pretty much useless for the protection of animals against cruelty and neglect is very accurate,” Devine says, adding with a wry laugh, “There’s not much distinction between an animal and a chair, unfortunately.”
“[Arguing animal welfare cases in court] has an added difficulty to it because you’re fighting on behalf of animals who cannot come before the court,” Bouchard explains.
Newman also profiles Sophie Gaillard, 3L, and Ashlyn O’Mara, 4L, as members of a “new, young generation dedicated to the fight to improve the lives of animals through legal and educational means.” Gaillard and O’Mara represent a wind of change in legal studies wherein animal law is slowly gaining mainstream acceptance as a viable career, Newman says in the documentary.
“We are where the environmental movement was 25 years ago,” Devine tells Newman. “Twenty five years ago, if anyone said, ‘Yeah, I’m taking a class in environmental law,’ everyone sort of looked at them, rolled their eyes… it certainly wasn’t common. Now we see entire firms dedicated to the practice of environmental law.”
Adds Gaillard, “I definitely think animal rights, animal advocacy, is the next big moral movement.”
On Monday, November 8th, the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund at McGill and Environmental Law McGill will be hosting a panel discussion on the environmental and animal welfare impacts of intensive farming. The panelists will explore the current legal framework surrounding intensive farming, discuss potential avenues for change, and share what they view as the most promising ways to mitigate environmental and animal welfare impacts.
This panel will be bringing together three experts from Canada and the United States.
Kaitlyn Mitchell is a staff lawyer with Ecojustice (formerly Sierra Legal Defence Fund), the nation’s leading non-profit organization using the law to protect and restore the Canadian environment. She received her law degree from Dalhousie University in 2007 with a Certificate of Specialization in Environmental Law. Prior to working at Ecojustice, Ms. Mitchell was employed as counsel at the Canadian Environmental Law Association. She also teaches Development and Environmental Law at Ryerson University in Toronto.
Navin Ramankutty is an Assistant Professor of Geography and Earth System Science at McGill University, where he holds the Tier II Canada Research Chair in Land-Use and Land-Cover Change. He received a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from the University of Wisconsin, based on his examination of the role of human land use changes on terrestrial ecosystem functioning. Professor Ramankutty’s research program at McGill aims to understand how global land use, interacting with climate change, influences ecosystems and the services they provide to human societies. His research team currently addresses questions such as: How are agricultural lands spatially distributed around the world? How are the global patterns of yield influenced by climate and land management and how might this change in the future? Are our land use practices degrading ecosystems in a way that jeopardizes our ability to provide resources such as food and freshwater to future generations?
David Wolfson is a graduate of Duke University, the College of Law, London, and Columbia Law School. He is a member of the New York and Maryland State bars. In addition to being a partner in the Global Corporate Department of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, Mr. Wolfson teaches animal law as a lecturer-in-law at Columbia Law School and as an adjunct professor at New York University Law School. He has also taught animal law at Cardozo Law School, Harvard Law School and Yale Law School. Mr. Wolfson has written extensively on animal law issues, with a particular focus on farmed animal law. In 1999, he authored the book Beyond the Law: Agribusiness and the Systemic Abuse of Animals Raised for Food or Food Production. He has represented animal protection organizations such as the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Farm Sanctuary, the Humane Society of the United States and the Fund for Animals. His practice includes anti-cruelty prosecutions, drafting of legislation and administrative challenges. He has also worked on a number of successful farm animal protection ballot initiatives in the United States, most notably California’s Proposition 2, which banned the use of veal crates, gestation crates and battery cages in the State of California in 2008.
A reception with drinks and vegan appetizers will immediately follow the panel.
This event is open to the public and admission is free.
We hope to see you there!
When: Monday, November 8th 2010 at 5:30 pm, with reception to follow
Where: McGill University Faculty of Law, Moot Court, 3644 Peel Street
We will be using this blog to keep you up to date on our events/activities and, more generally, to share information on animal law.
We have a number of events and activities planned for the 2010-2011 academic year, including:
Halloween coffeehouse which we will be co-hosting with Outlaw McGill on October 28th.
Environmental and Animal Welfare Impacts of Intensive Farming: exploring the legal framework and potential avenues for change, a speaker panel that we will be hosting in collaboration with Environmental Law McGill on November 8th. Panelists include David Wolfson (professor of animal law at NYU Law School and Columbia Law School), Navin Ramankutty (professor at McGill’s Department of Geography and Earth System Science Program) and Kaitlyn Mitchell (staff lawyer at Ecojustice Canada).
A field trip to Fauna Foundation, a local animal sanctuary that rescues and provides a permanent home for animals that have been used, neglected or abused, including a colony of HIV infected chimpanzees rescued from a laboratory.
Pro bono legal research for the Montreal SPCA or other animal protection organization.
If you are interested in any of these, or if you have any ideas of your own, please contact us!
