Petition to Government of Canada to Implement Video Surveillance in Federally Regulated Slaughter Facilities
Image by Ulrike Leone from Pixabay
Petition to the Government of Canada
Whereas:
- Undercover videos taken in facilities where animals farmed for food are slaughtered have uncovered extreme animal abuse;
- Numerous polls show that the majority of Canadians want to know more about where their food comes from and that it is important to Canadians that animals raised for food are treated humanely;
- Video surveillance in slaughter facilities would assist in making sure that legal requirements and high animal welfare standards are maintained while providing Canadians with valuable information about how their food is produced;
- The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has limited resources to regulate facilities across Canada and video surveillance would be a cost-effective way of improving compliance with our laws, and ensure animals are treated more humanely;
- Both the CFIA and the Ministry of Agriculture have agreed that they consider video surveillance to be complementary to the live, on-site monitoring that is currently required; and
- Israel, France, England, Scotland, Spain and Wales have passed laws making the use of video surveillance mandatory in all slaughter facilities and it is currently under consideration in other countries.
We, the undersigned, Vancouver Humane Society, Montreal SPCA, Humane Society International/Canada, Canadian Horse Defence Coalition, Mercy for Animals, Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals, and citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to commit to a plan to implement video surveillance in federally regulated slaughter facilities with a feed that can be viewed by both CFIA officials and a third party.
