Hearings Begin at Queen's Park into the flawed Bill 50
On Monday July 21st, The Toronto Humane Society made it's submission, Here's what we said:
To read the transcript of the THS's submission, please click here for the official hansard transcripts.
SUBMISSION TO THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE POLICY
BILL 50: PROVINCIAL ANIMAL WELFARE ACT, 2008
QUEEN’S PARK, JULY 21, 2008
CHAIR, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to explain why we have requested the removal of section 6 from Bill 50.
We believe that if section 6 of Bill 50 were to become law and The Toronto Humane Society stripped of its name and identity, people needing shelter or hospitalization for animals might not know where to find it. We also believe that our revenue, which comes 100% from donations, would plummet because it is based on name recognition and public faith in our history of community service.
People nowadays may not realize that in 1887 The Toronto Humane Society was the first organization in Canada to call itself “humane society”. All others chose “society for the prevention of cruelty to animals”. We have never been known by any other name. (Animal Welfare and Human Values, Preece & Chamberlain, 1995, Wilfred Laurier University Press, p. 35).
Possible fraud or public confusion over policing are concerns that have led to the inclusion of section 6 in Bill 50. We don’t share these concerns. Were we to be outside the Ontario SPCA, we would not then be delivering policing or other Government programs from which confusion could arise. Inside or outside the Ontario SPCA, given our 121 year record, no one could ever suggest that our fundraising might become dishonest.
Fortunately, together we can all be assured because Minister Kwinter commissioned the management consultants Grant, Thornton in 2005 and 2006 to study the present and future of the Ontario SPCA. These studies found no issues of fraud or confusion.
Please vote to remove section 6 from Bill 50. It is superfluous to the animal protection provisions that are contained in the Bill and poses unnecessary risk to The Toronto Humane Society.
Thank you.
Tim Trow,
President
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| Tim Trow, President |
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Bill 50, Provincial Animal Welfare Act, 2008, must be changed because section 6 is likely to lead to our being stripped of our name and identity of 121 years.
Fortunately, section 6 is superfluous to animal protection, the real intent of the Bill. Nothing will be lost if it is gone from the Bill and I urge you to ask your MPP to vote to remove it when it receives a Third Reading in September.
The Legislature debated Bill 50 for about a week in June and has now prorogued for the summer. The good news is that our letters and emails have led to Bill 50 being referred to legislative committee for review. The eventual third reading and final vote will be in September.
The upcoming committee hearing is only a reprieve and as of today section 6 remains. But the hearing presents an opportunity to avert the injustice of having our name and identity stripped from us.
People nowadays may not realize that in 1887 The Toronto Humane Society was the first organization in Canada to call itself “humane society”. All others chose “society for the protection of animals”. (Animal Welfare and Human Values, Preece & Chamberlain, 1995, Wilfred Laurier University Press, p. 35)
We are told the reason for section 6 is possible confusion, but for 121 years we have been known as The Toronto Humane Society headquartered in Toronto as distinct from the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals headquartered in Newmarket. In all that time, we have never been confused with one another.
There won't be confusion, but there will be certain loss of opportunities for animals if section 6 becomes law and our name is stripped away.
Animals will be at risk because people needing shelter or hospitalization for animals won’t know where to find it. Our income, dependent 100% on donations, will plummet because it comes from name recognition and faith in our strong history of community service. If we must cut staff and services we will become smaller and weaker, less influential, and less able to speak out powerfully against animal abuse.
The government doesn’t want to hurt animals or leave them with nowhere to go. But the risk is real.
Because of section 6 + the changes it will bring, it seems that section 6 will force The Toronto Humane Society to choose between either being stripped of our name, or abandoning our Victoria Park Adoption Centre and stopping our cruelty police, veterinarians, adoption staff, rescue officers, and volunteers from serving Etobicoke, North York, or Scarborough.
It's a Catch 22 the animals can't afford.
Here’s how to speak for those who
cannot speak for themselves. Please:
Click here to email, (or phone) your MPP at Queen’s Park
and copy Premier McGuinty, Minister Bartolucci and
The Toronto Humane Society. Both phone numbers + email addresses can be found on the THS website at www.torontohumanesociety.com
Thank you for your love of animals and your support of the Toronto Humane Society!
For more information: See our website, or call the THS at 416-392-2273 ext 2117, 2123 or 2765
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| Here's what they are saying at Queen's Park... |
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 The NDP’s Cheri DiNovo:
“It means that a venerable institution
of over 100 years like The Toronto
Humane Society would not be able
to use the word “humane” anymore,
as well as 235 other charities that
look after and protect our animals. I
don’t understand why this section
[section 6] is even in this bill. What
is the purpose of it? It needs to be stricken from the Bill, and
I’d like the Committee to look at that”. - Hansard, May 5, 2008 |
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 Peter Kormos NDP Justice Critic:
“Why would this Government want to effectively shut down The Toronto Humane Society with its century-plus history of looking out
for the welfare of animals?” “New Democrats are being very clear that they will not support section 6. We stand with Tim Trow, The
Toronto Humane Society, and other humane societies that are not associated with OSPCA.” - Hansard, May 6, 2008 |
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 The Progressive Conservatives’ Garfield Dunlop:
“Another major flaw in this Bill is the inclusion of section 6. Humane societies across Ontario believe that, if enacted, - section 6 will strip them of
their names. As The Toronto Humane Society says and that’s an institution that’s over 120 years old – ‘It’s like
losing your name; it’s like losing your identity’. Minister, will you stand today in this House and commit to either removing or making major amendments to
section 6 of Bill 50?”. - Hansard, May 7, 2008 |
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 Monte Kwinter (Lib. MPP York Centre, former Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services):
"...the Toronto Humane Society does its welfare-and does it very well. I have nothing but praise for them. They do a wonderful job
and are a wonderful facility..."
- Hansard, May 12, 2008 |
The following article regarding the Bill 50 issue, written by Peter Worthington, appeared in the Toronto Sun on May 03, 2008:
 Largely unnoticed in Bill 50 is the revision of Section 10 in the old act that says no society, association or group"established after the 30th day of May, 1955," shall function as an animal welfare or cruelty prevention organization"unless it is ncorporated and becomes affiliated" with what then was the Ontario Humane Society and is now
renamed the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA).
Thus, animal welfare bodies in business prior to 1955, seemed to escape domination by the OSPCA, which has
been rent asunder in recent years by controversy, weak finances, mass resignations, internal feuds, etc.
Section 10 in the new act is revised to say only groups affiliated with the OSPCA shall "use the name 'humane
society' ... or 'spca' or the equivalent of any of those names ..."
Giving the OSPCA control over the name "humane society" (which it has dropped and no longer uses) has caused
alarm among some, who believe it gives the OSPCA undue power to threaten and intimidate.
The Toronto Humane Society (THS) has feuded over the years with the OSPCA. Although it has been in existence
for 121 years and is a beloved Toronto institution, the THS feels vulnerable with this amended clause.
"It means that if we break our affiliation with the OSPCA, or they kick us out for any reason, by this new law we
could lose our name -- a name that has meant goodwill and trust for generations, and is essential to our fundraising,"
says Tim Trow, president of the THS.
"Donations from the public and gifts are our only source of funds. We get no grants, no handouts from government."
Last week Trow wrote to Rick Bartolucci, Ontario's minister of community safety, urging the removal of the
inflammatory section from Bill 50. He called it "an insurmountable conflict of interest because the Ontario SPCA will
become both regulator and fundraising competitor to its 32 affiliates."
He said Bill 50 will "upon enactment, strip the names and identities of other charities amongst the 235 Ontario animal
protection charities registered with the Canadian Revenue Agency."
The THS depends on the OSPCA for inspectors in animal abuse cases. Other than the police, they are the only ones
licensed to carry out investigations and lay charges. There's rarely disagreement when abuses are found. But Trow
accuses the OSPCA leadership of hiring private detectives to check up on the THS, including surreptitious interviews of staff.
Largely unnoticed in Bill 50 is the revision of Section 10 in the old act that says no society, association or group "established after the 30th day of May, 1955," shall function as an animal welfare or cruelty prevention organization "unless it is incorporated and becomes affiliated" with what then was the Ontario Humane Society and is now renamed the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA).
Thus, animal welfare bodies in business prior to 1955, seemed to escape domination by the OSPCA, which has been rent asunder in recent years by controversy, weak finances, mass resignations, internal feuds, etc.
Section 10 in the new act is revised to say only groups affiliated with the OSPCA shall "use the name 'humane society' ... or 'spca' or the equivalent of any of those names ..."
Giving the OSPCA control over the name "humane society" (which it has dropped and no longer uses) has caused alarm among some, who believe it gives the OSPCA undue power to threaten and intimidate.
The Toronto Humane Society (THS) has feuded over the years with the OSPCA. Although it has been in existence for 121 years and is a beloved Toronto institution, the THS feels vulnerable with this amended clause.
"It means that if we break our affiliation with the OSPCA, or they kick us out for any reason, by this new law we could lose our name -- a name that has meant goodwill and trust for generations, and is essential to our fundraising," says Tim Trow, president of the THS.
"Donations from the public and gifts are our only source of funds. We get no grants, no handouts from government."
Last week Trow wrote to Rick Bartolucci, Ontario's minister of community safety, urging the removal of the inflammatory section from Bill 50. He called it "an insurmountable conflict of interest because the Ontario SPCA will become both regulator and fundraising competitor to its 32 affiliates."
He said Bill 50 will "upon enactment, strip the names and identities of other charities amongst the 235 Ontario animal protection charities registered with the Canadian Revenue Agency."
The THS depends on the OSPCA for inspectors in animal abuse cases. Other than the police, they are the only ones licensed to carry out investigations and lay charges. There's rarely disagreement when abuses are found. But Trow accuses the OSPCA leadership of hiring private detectives to check up on the THS, including surreptitious interviews of staff.
"The OSPCA has a poor record with saving animals, and always needs money, and would love to get its hands on THS fundraising abilities," says Trow.
"Put bluntly, our name is our greatest asset. If we had to change our name after 121 years, it would be devastating.
"Last year we had an enviable record for saving animals - 75% of our dogs and cats were adopted; our euthanasia rate was 6 %. The OSPCA won't tell how many it adopts and how many it kills." (The euthanasia rate at the Toronto Animal Services -- the pound, in other words -- is roughly 50%, a far cry from the THS' s 6%).
Those who think the OSPCA would never move against the THS might consider what's happening in Burlington. In 1974 Animal Aid was formed after the Burlington Humane Society (affiliated with what is now the OSPCA) quit in 1970 over a dispute with the city's animal shelter program to sell animals for research.
Animal Aid took over the role, and the name, of humane society and ever since has functioned as such. In 1999, the Hamilton SPCA decided to include Burlington, to form a joint SPCA, even though it has no shelter in Burlington. Local people still depend on the present BHS.
The Hamilton-Burlington SPCA has threatened to sue the BHS, but until the new OSPCA Act, there was nothing to prevent Burlington using the "humane society" name.
Jolene Regan, president of the all-volunteer BHS, says the membership approved, and "Burlington Humane Society" became their legal name, filed with Industry Canada and incorporated in 2006.
"We have good working relations with the city and with the city's animal control shelter," says Regan. "Hamilton's interest in Burlington is because we're a relatively affluent community for fundraising."
Like Burlington, the Mississauga Humane Society is volunteer-based, and unaffiliated with the OSPCA, which has a reputation of being dogmatic and dysfunctional, a view shared by the THS leadership.
Regan is concerned the Hamilton SPCA has a "zero-kill" policy -- it will not put down any animal. This means it will not accept most sick or injured animals but directs them to the city's Animal Control Services, which shares the same building with the HSPCA.
It's cruel to keep some animals alive, says Regan. "You try to help them all, but some can't be saved."
In other words, the HSPCA accepts healthy animals for adoption, while sick or unwanted animals go to Animal Control for execution.
Like the THS, Regan worries that the wording on the new SPCA Act gives the OSPCA a weapon to prevent the use of the name "humane society."
A spokesman for Bartolucci says the controversial wording in Bill 50 is mere "modernizing of the language and not intended to change the existing situation." The intent is to have better control over cruelty and abuse of animals, and not to prevent people caring for animals.
He didn't think banning organizations from using the word "humane society" unless they were affiliated with the OSPCA, posed a danger to, say, the Mississauga and Burlington humane societies, which are independent (as are the Marathon, Collingwood and Picton humane societies). Or Toronto, which is affiliated but which the OSPCA envies and resents.
If the ministry believes this, it doesn't understand the issue.
To avoid a snakepit of future controversy, before the next reading of Bill 50, the words "humane society" should be removed from the sentence that says the OSPCA has sole disposition on who can use that name.
It's ludicrous, when one thinks about it. Both the OSPCA and Hamilton have abandoned the "humane society" identification for themselves, but want to prevent any except those affiliated with them from using it.
Bartolucci is to be commended for updating the act, but he should familiarize himself with the OSPCA's turmoiled history, and that in the past it has proved unreliable in dealing judiciously with power.
Below is THS President Tim Trow's letter to Minister Rick Bartolucci regarding the removal of section 6 from Bill 50:
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April 29, 2008
The Hon. Rick Bartolucci
Minister of Community Safety & Correctional Services
Government of Ontario
Queen’s Park, 25 Grosvenor Street, 18th Floor
Toronto, Ontario
M7A 1Y6
Dear Minister Bartolucci:
Re: An Open Letter to Ontarians Concerning
Bill 50 – Provincial Animal Welfare Act, 2008
We write to ask you to remove section 6 from Bill 50. Section 6 provides that community-built shelters that either don’t want to be affiliates of the Ontario SPCA, or shelters that the Ontario SPCA itself does not want as affiliates, will be stripped automatically of their names by the Legislature.
Historically in Ontario, the many voices of the Province’s animal welfare movement have been its strength. If the result of Bill 50 is but one voice, Bill 50 will have stifled debate and diversity and will have weakened what has been built up in communities over generations.
Bill 50’s role for the Ontario SPCA appears to be one of insurmountable conflict of interest because the Ontario SPCA will become both regulator and fundraising competitor to its 32 affiliates.
In addition, Ontario’s animal welfare movement is wider than the Ontario SPCA or its affiliates. Bill 50 will instantly, upon enactment, strip the names and identities of other charities amongst the 235 Ontario animal protection charities registered with the Canada Revenue Agency.
Bill 50 provides for no decision-making process and no appeal to the courts. It provides no explanation as to why it is necessary for the Legislature to take away the identities of any charities.
Sanctions against holding out or infringing a corporate name already exist in Ontario law. In the case of The Toronto Humane Society, there can be no confusion because there is no similarity between “The Toronto Humane Society” and the “Ontario SPCA”.
The Toronto Humane Society is a well-known Ontario landmark, a hospital and a shelter, caring for both wild and domestic animals. We employ 150 care-givers, and, at any time, 500 volunteers provide recuperative or palliative care as foster parents, feed orphan kittens in the nursery, groom cats, or walk dogs.
We serve Province-wide, one-third of our clients coming to us from beyond our Toronto area.
The Toronto Humane Society has grown and prospered since 1887 because of the generous support of financial contributors and members. We do not receive, and never have received, government funding or funding from the Ontario SPCA.
Our name is how we have been identified for 121 years. It has been entrusted to us by successive Provincial Governments and it represents the goodwill and trust of generations.
Our name is how we speak to supporters and donors, and it is how they identify us in their wills or in other giving. It is how volunteers and animal care-givers find us and it is how clients access our services - rescuing animals, re-uniting lost animals, saving injured wildlife, providing veterinary care, extending shelter and providing homes.
Take away our name and identity and you jeopardize our ability to provide essential animal care to citizens when they are desperate and in need.
Please remove section 6 from Bill 50.
Thank you.
Yours truly,
Tim Trow,
President
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On Tuesday May 12, 2008, The National ran an in depth expose of how Canada is becoming a world horse slaughter capital.
The City of Toronto has hired up summer students to demand cash for licenses, even for cats that live their whole lives in apartments and are no cost to the city at all. The pack is going door to door demanding people license their animals and throwing fines at those who don’t comply.
New Shelter adoption hours are: