Honourable senators, I rise today to speak in support of Bill C-355, An Act to prohibit the export by air of horses for slaughter and to make related amendments to certain Acts. This will be a brief speech. I am happy to address this legislation, which not only concerns the welfare of horses but reflects our collective values as a society with respect to a certain degree of care for all living things, especially sentient creatures.

Each year, horses are shipped from Canada to Japan for slaughter. This is not the case with a number of other developed countries, which prohibit this practice. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, or CFIA, since 2013, approximately 50,000 horses have been sent to be slaughtered and eaten in Japan. Other organizations quote similar numbers, perhaps as many as 20,000 per year. The actual numbers are not so important, but they are large.

These horses endure long transport times, often departing from Edmonton or Winnipeg, with flights lasting a minimum of 12 hours. When factoring in the time for loading, unloading and travel to and from airports, the total travel time can easily double. Indeed, the maximum allowable time is 28 hours, including loading and unloading. This can be a period of time when horses are not required to be fed or watered. Nevertheless, it is a gruelling experience.

Looking beyond transport time, transport conditions for these horses are what many would consider inhumane and unacceptable. Reports of horses suffering injuries or deaths paint a grim picture of transit. While the CFIA recently reported five deaths since 2013, newly released access-to-information documents from the Japanese government show that at least 21 horses died during or in the days after being flown from Canada for slaughter between 2023 and 2024, a single year.

Needless to say, I have some concerns about the quality of oversight of these practices. I note the Canadian Food Inspection Agency now claims their numbers are “under review.”

Senators, it appears to me the status quo is insufficient when it comes to air transportation of horses. Whether we lack the necessary enforcement mechanisms or oversight can be debated, but what is certain is that we are collectively treating horses in ways that anyone would describe as mistreatment.

Bill C-355 will help rectify this situation by prohibiting air exports of horses for slaughter, bringing our practices in line with the ethical standards that Canadians expect and deserve, and that have been adopted in other neighbouring countries.

Public sentiment on this issue is overwhelmingly in favour of change with over 36,000 Canadians signing a petition to ban horse exports for slaughter. Additionally, the government committed to prohibiting this practice in 2021, yet no action had been taken until this bill was introduced despite this being in the Minister of Agriculture’s mandate letter that year. In that respect, I congratulate Senator Dalphond for sponsoring this bill in this place.

I am personally not much of an animal lover, but on this issue, I am fully committed. Horses, unlike many other domestic animals, give their lives in service to humans. In many ways, they deserve an honourable life and an honourable death. In particular, they deserve not to be farmed as many are and then ill‑treated in service of high-end meals for people in other countries.

A long and gruelling flight to their deaths is cruel, and to what end?

In conclusion, I urge all my fellow senators to support this bill. Let us seize this opportunity to stand up for the humane treatment of horses. By prohibiting the air export of horses for slaughter, we can take a significant step toward ending unnecessary suffering and aligning our practices with our collective values.

Thank you.

Will you take a question, Senator Cotter? Thank you.

I mentioned this to a previous speaker: This is a $20-million business annually in Canada. What do we tell our producers that farm horses if we say they can’t farm horses anymore? This is their livelihood. How do we explain that?

We say that, in many areas — and off the top, I say farm cows.

What if we said to all the lawyers who practise: Be a teacher? Same thing — can we do that? That’s a question.

It’s a question of — I was going to say “apples and oranges” — but horses and cows, perhaps. I don’t know that we have declared that the behaviour of all lawyers is unethical by any measure. Admittedly, we could find some whom meet that criterion, but we tend not to make that decision collectively with respect to the whole area. I would say, with respect to some lawyers, maybe they should become teachers. I did. Thank you.

I agree with the point of the ill-treatment of horses by that kind of transport for any purpose.

I don’t have to experience everything personally to believe that it might be true, Senator Plett. I don’t think that you have actually stood in an airplane for 16 hours non-stop without a break to do whatever you might do. It’s the same case with respect to horses. If that were the case, they would just keep driving across the country in those trucks because they like to stand. You and I both know that there are ways of trying to be humane toward horses, and I take it as a matter of principle that this is an inhumane way to treat horses. It is the transport that concerns me.

Thank you for your speech, Senator Cotter. Some people seem to be saying that banning horse meat farming in favour of exporting live animals to Japan is like forbidding lawyers from practising law. There’s nothing in the law that prohibits the sale of horses for slaughter in Canada. That’s entirely permissible. There’s nothing preventing people from slaughtering them and then shipping the frozen or canned meat to Japan for consumption there. What’s being eliminated is stressful transportation that causes the animals suffering. When Quebec lawyers were told they could no longer do auto insurance—

Senator Dalphond, do you have a question?

Yes. I’m getting to it, and I promise it won’t be as long as Senator Plett’s. In Quebec, when lawyers stopped being allowed to argue car accident cases, it didn’t become illegal. Lawyers simply did other things. Isn’t it true that farmers who raise horses can still make money off those horses by selling them to Canadian abattoirs?

I feel as though my small intervention has provided the opportunity for some of my colleagues to give little speeches and then ask a small question. I agree with Senator Dalphond.

Your Honour, I’m not sure of the Rules. Do I have to give a speech, or can I go directly to a question? I will skip the speech.

I was not aware of this horse issue until it came up here. As an Atlantic Canadian, I’m very concerned about our lobster industry, which is valued at over $3 billion as of two years ago. We ship to Asia. As you know, Senator Cotter, in China, fresh lobsters are important; they don’t want frozen lobsters. How is this bill going to impact that when they’re also shipped live in airplanes to Asia, a similar distance, obviously, and under similar conditions?

I think it’s sort of a slippery slope question that you’re asking, senator. If I may say, the most legitimate part of your question regards where in the continuum one draws a line. I don’t entirely know the answer to that, but it must be somewhere between horses and lobsters.

If I may continue on this point, just to be clear, I’m supportive of lobsters being shipped live.