Wildlife Conservation Canada Project #9826

Animal Cruelty Legislation

by Humane Canada

Project Report | Nov 9, 2026
Your November Animal Cruelty Legislation Update

By Kerri Thomson | Manager, Justice and Legal Affairs

Hello,

Thank you for your support and interest for animal cruelty legislation in Canada. We are pleased to update you on the latest news and developments since your last update.

The violence link: Animal maltreatment and family violence often happen together

A detailed article by Humane Canada board member, Dr. Shane Bateman, forensic veterinary scientist and professor in Clinical Studies at the University of Guelph’s Veterinary College, demonstrates the growing recognition of animal harm as a public safety issue and how different agencies responding to relationship violence and coercive control should work together so that issues can be identified and addressed sooner. This move could result in better outcomes for both people and animals.

It begins by explaining that decades of research show that animal maltreatment is often connected to family violence, including intimate partner violence, child abuse, and coercive control, where animal abuse can be used to intimidate, manipulate, or punish, which makes it an important indicator of broader safety concerns. It highlights Canadian studies that have found that survivors of domestic violence may delay leaving abusive relationships due to concerns for their pets' safety, while children who witness animal abuse are frequently exposed to other forms of violence or neglect.

The key takeaway is that animal cruelty is not always an isolated issue. It can provide critical insight into household safety and should be considered as part of broader violence prevention and risk assessment efforts.

Read the article at The Conversation website here.

New initiative supports human trafficking survivors and their pets

CVLC Steering Committee member organization Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking has partnered with Alberta SPCA to provide temporary shelter and care for the pets of human trafficking survivors. The program helps remove a critical barrier to seeking safety by ensuring companion animals are cared for while individuals access support services.

An extension of the Alberta SPCA's Pet Safekeeping Program, the initiative recognizes that concerns for their animal's well-being can prevent people from leaving abusive or trafficking situations. By providing safe temporary housing for animals, the partnership supports both human and animal welfare and helps survivors focus on their recovery.

This partnership is another example that protecting pets is an essential part of protecting people and will help ensure that survivors of human trafficking do not have to choose between their own safety and the safety of a beloved companion animal.

Landmark Supreme Court decision recognizes intimate partner violence

Marking a significant development in Canadian law, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized a new tort (which is civil cause of action) of intimate partner violence in Ahluwalia v Ahluwalia.

The case involved a woman who had experienced years of physical and emotional abuse during her marriage. Mr.Ahluwalia started divorce proceedings. Ms.Ahluwalia agreed to the divorce and asked for several things relating to custody of the children and sale of the home, as well as compensation in the form of damages for the abuse she had suffered. The trial judge recognized a new tort of family violence and awarded Ms.Ahluwalia damages in the amount of $150,000.

Mr. Ahluwalia appealed. The Appeal Court reduced the damages awarded by the judge to Ms.Ahluwalia to $50,000. Ms. Ahluwalia sought to appeal to the Supreme Court, which was granted and the court overturned the Ontario Court of Appeal decision that rejected the trial judge’s ruling.

In its decision, the Court held that intimate partner violence is not limited to isolated incidents of physical violence but could include a pattern of coercive control. That pattern could involve isolation, humiliation, surveillance, intimidation, financial control, and other behaviours that diminish a person's autonomy, dignity, and equality within a relationship.

Why this matters for animal abuse cases: This decision is particularly significant for efforts to address the Violence Link between animal abuse and family violence.

For animal welfare and violence prevention advocates, this decision provides legal recognition that behaviours such as threatening or harming pets may form part of a larger pattern of abuse, helping courts better understand and respond to the interconnected harms experienced by both people and animals.

We look forward to providing you more animal cruelty legislation news in our next report. As always, thank you for your continued kindness and support of Humane Canada and animal welfare in Canada.

Links:

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Jul 10, 2026
Bill C-16 Receives Royal Assent

By Kerri Thomson | Manager, Justice and Legislative Affairs

Hi there,

We are so happy to share with you that in June, Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act, has received Royal Assent.

This bill criminalizes the distribution of animal sexual abuse images, material that has been used to groom, manipulate, and exploit vulnerable individuals, including children and youth. It also expands protections for people whose animals are harmed or threatened as a form of coercive control, a tactic widely used in intimate partner violence and criminal harassment.

For years, Humane Canada has worked alongside our members and supporters to raise awareness of the link between animal abuse and human violence. Now, Bill C-16 will strengthen protections for animals harmed or threatened as part of family violence and criminalize the distribution of animal sexual abuse material.

This victory belongs to supporters like you. Thank you for speaking up. Your support helped make this change possible. We could not be more grateful.

This win is worth celebrating, but there is still more work ahead.

Online harms bill introduced in Parliament, falls short in animal protection

On June 10th, Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, was introduced in the House of Commons. Bill C-34 aims to tackle harmful online content, but it still does not explicitly include animal harm. Experience tells us that when animal abuse is left out of legislation, it can be overlooked in practice.

This bill comes at a time when the need for regulating harmful content online has never been more necessary. Humane Canada’s latest research, Beyond Promising Practices: Examining Root Causes of Online Radicalization, highlights animal abuse as a warning sign in the online radicalization of youth, with violent online spaces using cruelty to normalize harm.

Some of the key findings are that 80% of survey respondents reported that rhetoric from boys and young men has become more violent and aggressive over the past five years. However, it is not only boys: 73% of respondents indicated that girls and young women are also exhibiting violent behaviour online. This research points to the rising use of animal abuse content in online misogyny, nihilism, and extreme violence in digital spaces that is often intensified by algorithms that push users toward more harmful material.

Humane Canada will continue pushing forward to include animals in policies. Every contribution helps Humane Canada influence public policy, advance animal welfare, and create lasting change for animals.

Thank you for your continued support.

Links:

Beyond Promising Practices

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Mar 13, 2026
Record animal cruelty sentence and Update on Bill C16

By Kerri Thomson | Manager, Justice and Legislative Affairs

Hello,

Thank you for your continued support of Humane Canada. We’re pleased to share an update on the latest developments in animal cruelty legislation. Please note that this report contains some mildly graphic content that some readers may find difficult.

On February 11, a Winnipeg couple responsible for the torture and deaths of more than 90 animals were sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on animal cruelty charges, with a lifetime prohibition order against being around animals. It is the highest sentence in Canadian court history for an animal cruelty offence.

In delivering his decision, the judge read from Winnipeg Humane Society's Community Impact Statement. Humane Canada was proud to support this member organization in crafting this statement, which included important context on the trauma and emotional damage that their staff underwent in fielding calls from the community about the horrific details that emerged during and after the investigation in the media.

Please note there is some mildly graphic content to follow:

The couple created a business selling videos of animals being crushed to death on the dark web that they marketed to a Telegram group with more than 100 members.

While animal cruelty is an offence under the Criminal Code, there are currently no sufficient charges that address this issue of possessing and sharing animal torture content which is becoming an increasingly urgent issue. This content has links to violent online extremism that targets children and vulnerable youth to desensitize them to violence.

The United States adopted federal legislation specific to the act of animal crushing and related videos in 2010. Humane Canada will be asking the government to adopt similar measures in Bill C-16 that would include appropriate provisions and penalties for this violence to better protect potential animal victims.

In other news, on December 9, the federal government introduced Bill C16, the Protecting Victims Act—a major step toward recognizing the Violence Link. The bill would criminalize animal sexual abuse images and modernize definitions of illicit material in the Criminal Code.

A new offence targets the publication or distribution of bestiality representations, with penalties of up to five years. Updates would group these materials with other forms of child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Bill C16 also creates a new coercive control offence that explicitly includes harming, threatening, or controlling the care of an intimate partner’s animals, using language similar to the previous government private member’s bill C-332, which received unanimous support in the House of Commons. Criminal harassment provisions would also be amended to cover threats directed at a person’s animals.

The Criminal Code update on the criminalization of animal sexual abuse images is something that Humane Canada has been fighting for since before Bill C-84, which updated the definition of bestiality to include any contact for a sexual purpose with an animal in 2019. Closing that loophole will better protect not only animal victims, but also children who are subjected to these images which are too often used as a grooming tool by perpetrators of sexual abuse.

Perpetrators of abuse often use animal abuse, and threats of it, to coerce, control, and intimidate partners, children, and elders into staying silent about their abuse. They use the same approach to prevent people from leaving or to force them to return. Animals are often overlooked in cases involving broader human harm unless explicitly included in legislation.

Bill C16 was deemed read a second time on February 2 and sent to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights for further study. You can track the bill’s progress here.

We thank you fo your continued kindness for animals and support of animal cruelty legislation in Canada. We look forward to keeping you updated on progress made.

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