5 days Ago By Danae Tonge
The Liberals promised to ban live horse export. Did they mean it? Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * The Liberals promised to ban live horse export. Did they mean it? Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? Opinion The Liberals promised to ban live horse export.
Did they mean it? Animal advocates rejoiced on that day in 2021. Now we are solemn. It’s been three years of broken promises and dead horses.
On Dec. 16h, 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a mandate letter to the Minister of Agriculture reinforcing the Liberal election commitment: ban the export of horses for slaughter. Now, exactly three years later, on Dec.
16, 2024, we had a horse flight depart from Winnipeg International Airport. Canadians have rallied, protested, signed petitions, made phone calls and sent email after email. Their message has been clear: stop the live horse shipments now.
Yet, the bill that would end these exports is now stalled in the Senate, blocked by a handful of senators. Two-thirds of Canadians oppose these exports. Among First Nations and Indigenous peoples in Canada, 71 per cent agree that live horse export for slaughter should be banned.
Yet that hasn’t slowed the planes. According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canada exported 2,233 live horses from January to June 2024, up 60.2 per cent from 1,394 live horses from the same period the previous year.
Winnipeg is ground zero for many shipments. They happen in the dead of night. Winnipeg International Airport is quiet, then three or four or sometimes five transport trucks will rumble towards the cargo building.
The trucks themselves make all the noise; the horses inside are silent. They are silent until they are unloaded, then you can hear the stomping of their hooves as they exit the truck, one by one into the building. They will return to view in a few minutes, crated with two to three other horses, and sealed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
They will remain in those crates until they land in Japan, with a stopover in Alaska to refuel. You can imagine how heavy the planes are. A recent investigation by Animal Justice and Life Investigation Agency found that all Winnipeg horse shipments exceeded the legal time frame over the past 12 months.
Further findings were released that at least 21 horses died between June 2023 and May 2024 from Canadian shipments to Japan. By contrast, official government statistics report that only five horses have died during export for slaughter since 2013. This is a significant discrepancy that calls into question the rigor of oversight in the horse export industry and exposes a disturbing pattern of illegal horse shipments from our very own airport.
Now, we are close to a ban, but it is at a risky juncture. Bill C-355, The Prohibition of the Export of Horses by Air for Slaughter Act, has been stalled in the Senate since May, and we are running out of time. Live horse shipments have continued as this bill sits in the Senate, with more horses suffering, and slaughtered.
Of course, the government must do their due diligence before closing an industry. There are economic, legal, and stakeholder implications to be considered. Is it a simple process? No.
Should the government have prepared for this when committing in 2021 to ban these exports and further mandating it in a letter to the Minister of Agriculture? Undoubtedly, yes. Certain Senators are using delay tactics and we are running out of time on this bill. If Bill C-355 is not passed before the end of the session, or if an early election is called, it could die on the floor.
Horses would continue to be shipped from our airports, to end up on dinner plates for the elite an ocean away, and we could lose all progress on this bill. Our government is accountable to finish what they committed to start. It is urgent that the Senate give Bill C-355 Second Reading and send it to committee before the winter break, or the bill, and horses, might run out of time.
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