Honourable senators, I am pleased to rise today to add my voice in support of Bill C-84.

I would like to thank the sponsor, Senator Boyer; the critic, Senator White; and the members of the Social Affairs Committee for their work on this bill.

Bill C-84 will fill a gap in the Criminal Code by providing a definition of bestiality that will broaden the offence to include all sexual contact with an animal. This became necessary after a Supreme Court decision in June 2016 that narrowed the offence of bestiality to a degree that did not capture the vast majority of depraved acts involving animals. The bill will also make it much easier to prosecute those involved in animal fighting.

According to the evidence we heard in committee, this bill fills a legal gap, but it does not bring Canada up to the standards of other developed countries. As witness Camille Labchuk, Executive Director of Animal Justice, told the committee, Canada’s animal protection laws are outdated and do not reflect our values or what we have learned about the cognitive, social and emotional capacity of animals.

The most shocking evidence we heard involves the link between child abuse and bestiality. Data gathered by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection found that more than 80 per cent of the cases of bestiality examined also involved sexual abuse of one or more children.

The Justice Committee in the other place, which spent more time on this bill than we did, heard significant evidence that animal abuse is a strong indicator of future sexual abuse. This is why that committee amended the bill to ensure that those convicted of bestiality will be placed on the Sex Offender Registry. And that linkage is the reasoning behind our committee’s observation that there should be cross-reporting between animal and child protection agencies. Such information sharing would make it easier to prevent or detect abuse of both animals and children.

There are clearly federal-provincial jurisdictional issues to sort out, but I urge the next government to waste no time in acting on this observation and, indeed, in further strengthening Canada’s animal protection laws. For now, though, it is imperative that we pass this bill without delay. Thank you.

Honourable senators, I am pleased to rise today to briefly speak on this final stage of Bill C-84, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (bestiality and animal fighting).

I want to thank the Chair of the Social Affairs Committee and the deputy chairs, as well as the committee itself and, of course, the sponsor, Senator Boyer, for bringing this bill forward.

This bill amends the Criminal Code, as we heard, to broaden the scope of three criminal offences in order to prohibit certain activities related to bestiality and animal fighting. The first is to define “bestiality,” and the other is to broaden the scope of prohibited activities pertaining to violence and cruelty toward animals and animal fighting.

The Criminal Code includes a number of offences to address animal cruelty, particularly in the context of animal fighting. The proposed amendments will expand the existing provisions in order to protect all animals and capture all activities related to animal fighting. The changes will also prohibit promoting, arranging, assisting, taking part in, or receiving money for the fighting or baiting of animals; breeding, training or transporting an animal to fight another animal; building or maintaining any arena for animal fighting, as current prohibitions are limited to building or maintaining a cockpit, which is a place used for cockfighting.

Bill C-84 aims to protect children and animals from cruelty and abuse, while ensuring the law does not interfere with legitimate and traditional farming, hunting and trapping practices, including Indigenous harvesting rights.

The failure to fix this law is not without consequence. Last year, there was at least one bestiality charge that was thrown out because it did not meet the limited definition that currently exists. In this case, a man had been accused of creating bestiality pornography and distributing child pornography, the latter of which earned him a one-year jail sentence, with the former being stayed. There is legitimate concern that other cases could be affected by our currently ill-defined law.

Canada’s criminal animal cruelty provisions are a century out of date, regularly resulting in animal abusers escaping criminal prosecution for sadistic cruelty. Although Bill C-84 is a step in the right direction, it is quite narrow in scope and is only a small effort toward improving Canada’s outdated animal cruelty laws.

Minister Lametti has stated publicly in the committee that this bill is but a start, and I quote:

— the bill doesn’t go far enough. It addresses two very specific problems, challenges, which need to be addressed. So this was something we could feasibly do in this Parliament with all-party support, so we’ve chosen this as a first step.

The majority of witnesses who appeared in both places are saying the same: This legislation is modest, but it is a step in the right direction. We hope for more comprehensive reform in the future.

During the debate that preceded the House of Commons vote, representatives from all parties repeatedly highlighted the importance of protecting animals, improving Canada’s legal protections for animals, and advancing animal rights more generally. Although I believe this bill does not go far enough, it is a step in the right direction, which I support.

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank organizations such as Humane Canada that have stood up for years to help legislators build legislation that would help combat the challenges we’re facing. I want to congratulate them and the sponsor and ask you to support this bill.

Yes, I would.

I would welcome the opportunity, briefly. Thank you very much.

The connection and link analysis that has been done between animal cruelty, in particular, and child abuse, specifically, has been well-known not only in Canada but around the world.

Training that is being done for police officers in Canada today specifically targets the opportunity for police officers to identify where animal cruelty becomes domestic violence or child abuse.

I can use the case in Norway as an example where an individual was under investigation multiple times as a youth for animal cruelty and then went to an island and killed over 70 teenagers. The investigation found a direct link between his behaviour as a youth involving animal cruelty and his behaviour on that island, murdering young people.

That’s one case. We can look to many cases in the United States, Dahmer and many others, who have been involved in animal cruelty as young people, who found themselves involved in cruel, serious criminal acts as an adult.

Would Senator White agree to answer a question?

Yes, it would be my pleasure.

Based on your experience, could you tell us about the connection between child pornography and pornography involving bestiality? You said that this bill is a step in the right direction even though it doesn’t go far enough. Do you believe that a further step would be to better regulate social media and other digital platforms when it comes to the use of child pornography or pornography involving bestiality?

That’s a longer question than I’m willing to answer. There is a direct connection. We’ve seen those connections when it comes to bestiality, in particular, and child pornography.

In fact, the case I referred to tonight, and the one that brought this forward where a case was thrown out as a result of a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada, specifically related to bestiality and child pornography. I think there is a direct connection, and the analysis and training being done by police agencies will find that same link.

A second piece around social media platforms, I think that Canadians have to become more aware of what’s out there. We have to decide whether we’re going to better regulate. To be fair, there are a number of pieces of legislation in the past decade that have tried and failed to pass in the House of Commons or here that would have better regulated the Internet providers as to what they’re allowing to occur on their websites.

A perfect example was in New Zealand with the number of people who were murdered in March, and the fact that social media allowed that video to be shown for days, and only some countries have now taken the steps of making that illegal — New Zealand and now Australia. That’s what we should react to more quickly.

Are honourable senators ready for the question?

Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?

Hon. Senators: Agreed.

(Motion agreed to and bill read third time and passed.)