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Please review the information below from the BC SPCA and take a moment to send a quick letter to help protect animals from abuse by those involving them in the coercive control of others. It is a time sensitive action, but at the time of this posting, the federal government’s Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights is still considering Bill C-332 to amend the criminal code with regard to coercive control.

From the BC SPCA:

This is a time-sensitive request! The federal government’s Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights is currently considering Bill C-332 to amend the Criminal Code with regard to coercive control.

Coercive control is a pattern of behaviours intended to isolate, humiliate, exploit or dominate a person. These behaviours can extend beyond intimate partner and family violence, but that is where they are most often seen.

We are grateful that Bill C-332 seeks to criminalize coercive and controlling behaviour; however, it does not explicitly mention animals being used as tools of coercive control in its initial draft.

Please join the BC SPCA and our partners at Humane Canada as we call on the federal government to recognize that the love a victim has for their pet can be used to control them. Perpetrators commonly use threats of violence against an animal, actual violence to an animal and withholding food or veterinary care to force their victims to stay silent, submit to further abuse, prevent them from leaving or force them to return to an unsafe home.

Victims of intimate partner and family violence and the pets they love need your support, and government needs to criminalize using animals as tools of coercive control.

Please sign the pre-written letter to your MP and the members of The Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

Kindly,

Sarah Herring
Government Relations Officer, BC SPCA

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From BC SPCA