Looking back on 2024, we see a mountain of work that we have done for animals.
We see twelve months of diligent effort to save the lives of as many animals as possible, and to constantly push our nation toward a more humane and ethical way of viewing non-human animals.
We have been able to do all of this because of you – our donors, supporters and allies. It is because of the financial generosity of people like you who care deeply for animals, and who share our vision of a kinder, more just nation, that we are able to keep working hard for animals. Our successes and progress are your successes and progress!
We are deeply grateful to all of you. And we invite you to maintain your resolve, to embrace optimism, and to pledge as we do, to never give up, even in the face of challenges. We are confident that we will reach our goal of better animal protection laws and policies, and the elimination of animal abuse and exploitation, though we can’t predict when our ultimate goals will be achieved. But we know we will win, because we know we won’t give up.
Ever onward. That’s our New Year’s resolution to all of you, and for our entire movement. For the animals we will continue to push ever onward!
We may tire, and indeed we do. We may become discouraged. But we are comforted in knowing that our remarkable movement to bring better protection to all animals, and to end their routine exploitation, is resilient. Each win is yet another step in our journey. Win by win, we are changing the world for animals.
Looking Back on 2024
With your help and generosity, here is an update on some of our work and successes and you can read them in greater detail on our website.
Non-Human Primates imported from Cambodia to Canada for exploitation in research: In 2024, Animal Alliance of Canada and the Animal Protection Party of Canada partnered to work towards a ban on the importation of all monkeys from Cambodia into Canada.
Twyla Francois, our Manager of Research and Education, has been working with an international coalition to stop the importation of long-tailed macaques for use in research. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service banned importation of monkeys from Cambodia due to concerns about falsified paperwork to hide the possibility that these endangered monkeys are being illegally caught from the wild and instead listed as captive-bred. To Canada’s shame, our nation has not followed suit, and the numbers of these monkeys being shipped into Canada has increased dramatically.
We issued an action alert, wrote press releases, and Twyla was interviewed by the Canadian Press for an article in October.
Our international coalition, which has expanded to include concerned scientists and veterinarians, continues to press Canadian politicians to do their part to protect this endangered species.
Animals in Research: Our campaign to end the use of live piglets to train military medics, titled “Defenceless”, continued to make progress. Twyla Francois created an online petition that has resulted in thousands of letters being sent to MPs, asking them to “urge the Minister of National Defence to do what most NATO allies have already done: End the use of animals in military medical training.”
Member of Parliament Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP Critic for National Defence, has been very supportive on the issue. MP Mathyssen has read 3 paper petitions in the House of Commons, urging the Minister of National Defence to ban the use of live animals in military trauma training. The response from government to these petitions was lackluster, to say the least. We need to provide Canadian military medics with more human-relevant simulators that are readily available.
We continue to seek information and reports to gain as much insight into all aspects of the exploitation of animals in military personnel training.
Replacing, reducing and refining the use of animals in research and testing is a goal that the research community is supposed to be working toward. But there is little if any indication that this goal is being seriously embraced, as use of animals is still widespread. We look for every possible avenue to influence governments to eliminate or reduce the exploitation of animals in testing, research and training. To address this, Twyla submitted our comments regarding the government’s draft strategy to replace, reduce or refine vertebrate animal testing for assessing chemicals under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
Farmed Animals: Animal Alliance of Canada acted as interveners in a court challenge of Ontario’s Ag-Gag legislation. This involved hiring a legal firm that specializes in constitutional law, a considerable expense that we were able to take on, thanks to our donors. The addition of interveners in court cases adds to the strength of legal challenges. The first court case resulted in a partial win on this bill. Now the government of Ontario is appealing, and we will continue to act as interveners. Our continued participation demonstrates to the court that this case is important to Ontario citizens, and provides an additional, strong voice fighting for farmed animals.
Companion Animals: As part of our “No Pets in Research” campaign, Project Jessie (PJ) is a special program that is dedicated to saving the lives of animals who may otherwise end up in a research lab. Our PJ program reaches animals in remote and under-serviced regions of Canada through grants that we provide to local organizations doing the hands-on work. By reducing the numbers of stray, unprotected dogs and cats, Project Jessie also reduces the number of companion animals who could be acquired by those who would sell them to researchers. And suffering is reduced and prevented as more dogs and cats are spayed or neutered, and many find adoptive homes.
Animal Alliance of Canada is a partner in the Toronto Feral Cat Coalition, a coalition of groups that provide education, adoption and Trap/Neuter/Return (TNR) services to abandoned cats in the Toronto region. In 2024, we continued to provide services and support to help this coalition save as many cats as possible, and to reduce the numbers of feral and stray cats through coordinated TNR programs. So successful is the Coalition that we are considering expanding to include member groups from Ottawa, Pickering and Hamilton/Burlington.
Wild Animals: Parks Canada’s Sidney Island Deer Cull: At the beginning of November 2024, Parks Canada ‘paused’ Phase 2 of their deer cull on Sidney Island, British Columbia. Parks Canada claims that the deer are having a detrimental impact on the ecosystem, namely the plant life. Their total budget is over $12 million of taxpayer dollars to ‘restore’ the ecosystem. Part of that budget was used to hire sharpshooters to kill deer from a helicopter. In Phase 2 they planned to use dogs to harass and drive the deer to designated areas to kill them. Many residents have spoken out against this cull and Animal Alliance continued to encourage a humane approach – immunocontraception – which has proven effective in other jurisdictions. Parks Canada ignored it all. We created a petition online, sent press releases, and engaged with supporters on this issue, while Wildlife Campaigner, Liz White, provided direct support to the residents of the island. The residents were able to create enough pressure to make Parks Canada retreat for the time being.
The province of Nova Scotia considered establishing a Spring Bear Hunt. We oppose all forms of bear hunting, at any time of year, but know that killing bears in the spring when cubs are still dependent on their mothers for survival is uniquely unethical. Unfortunately, spring bear hunts have been established in various Canadian provinces, and orphaned cubs are being found in poor condition and needing rescue. Our resident naturalist and wildlife expert, Barry Kent MacKay, wrote letters and provided materials to vigorously oppose the establishment of a spring hunt in that province. We are happy to report, that along with the engagement of other wild animal protection advocates, no such spring bear hunt was established in Nova Scotia.
Poisons: We won a ban on the use of strychnine, a poison used to kill predators. This will spare animals, like wolves and coyotes, an agonizing death. But in May 2024 we had to file a Notice of Objection with the Pest Management Regulatory Agency and sent a copy to the Minister of Health. Our Notice was a joint effort with our colleagues at Humane Society International/Canada, WeHowl, Animal Justice and Wolf Awareness. We objected to the agency’s continued approval of ‘Compound 1080’, typically used to kill predators to protect farmed animals. We still await their response.
Fighting for Proportional Representation: In previous years, the Animal Protection Party contributed $20,000 to the efforts of Fair Voting BC and Springtide to bring forward a Charter challenge against the government for its continued use of the undemocratic First-Past-the-Post electoral system in Canada. As has been argued since the 1970s and earlier, a proportional representation electoral system would ensure fairer representation based on the preferences of voters in elections. In many cases, the vast majority of votes are wasted because a candidate wins as long as they have a simple majority over all other candidates. This means most voters effectively have no representation despite being part of the majority.
The court ruled in November 2023 dismissing the application. With Fair Voting BC and Springtide filing their appeal, we decided to take the opportunity to apply as Interveners. Surprisingly and unfortunately, the court did not grant us standing. We will continue to monitor the case as it proceeds through the courts.
This, in addition to the email and phone inquiries we receive daily from concerned citizens who are trying to help animals in their own communities, is our mission.
Once again, in the coming year, stand with us. Stand with animals.
Keep pressing on. Ever onward!
With gratitude,
Lia, Twyla, Liz, Barry, Nicole, Vicki and the entire Animal Alliance & Animal Protection Party family
