Justice committee  Sure. In the United States, the majority of animal cruelty cases are done at the state level. However, dog fighting is a crime at a federal level. But when we looked at legislation, it was all state to state. I can tell you that the state legislation I looked at far outranks Can

Justice committee  We would still be low. We'd still be one of the lowest on the comparison.... We would have slightly higher penalties. But again, our conviction rates and our ability to convict people who are committing acts of cruelty against animals—people who could be convicted under other int

Justice committee  That's an excellent question. I'd like to point out that the Bill C-50 legislation, prior to Mark's introduction, had been passed by this House twice by all of the parties at the time. I think at one point there were five. So that was passed, and it was stopped by an unelected Se

Justice committee  I just want to make a quick comment on Mr. Bagnell's case. I know the case you're talking about from the Yukon, with the dogs that were stacked up. When the RCMP arrived, they were about to confiscate the animals and the individual who had killed them beforehand. Because of the

Justice committee  The maximum prison rates?

Justice committee  In Austria, you can have indefinite maximum life sentences, as well as in Great Britain, which has just passed its Animal Welfare Act in 2006. They are looking at a potential....

Justice committee  I'll make a quick comment and pass it on to the others. I think the concern we all have right now is that we have been trying for so long, for 10 years, to update this bill. We look at this as our first chance since the legislation was enacted in 1892, which was 116 years ago. I

Justice committee  I think we have to look at what Canadians want and at what is best for animals. I know it can be alluring and seductive to want to increase penalties, but when we look at how low those conviction rates are and how long it has taken us to get here, what are we really improving?

Justice committee  Thank you. My name is Kim Elmslie and I'm the anti-cruelty campaigner for IFAW. We're here today because almost every day there are horrific acts of cruelty to animals. Within the first two weeks of January, there were three high-profile cases, including a house cat that was ki