SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A controversial clause outlining exceptions from prosecution under a revised NWT Dog Act has been replaced with new wording.

David Ramsay: Kam Lake MLA expects an amendment to NWT Dog Act to be rejected by Legislative Assembly's Committee of the Whole. - NNSL file photo

However, Kam Lake MLa David Ramsay, the chair of the committee which reviewed proposed changes to the act, doesn't think the new wording will survive scrutiny by the Legislative Assembly's Committee of the Whole.

"It is a loophole and it has to be closed," said Ramsay, who chairs the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure.

The original clause would have exempted a person from animal cruelty charges if a dog was treated in accordance with "generally accepted local or traditional practices" of dog care, use and management.

That has now been replaced by a clause that states the act would not apply if "distress is caused by a treatment, process or condition that occurs in the course of an accepted activity." Those accepted activities include harvesting (gathering, hunting, trapping and fishing), protection of people from wildlife, and any other activity designated as an accepted activity by the regulations.

An accepted activity would not be permitted to cause "undue suffering."

In a Feb. 22 vote, the new wording was supported by three members of the committee – Mackenzie Delta MLA David Krutko, Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya and Nunakput MLA Jackie Jacobson. Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley voted against the wording. As chairperson, Ramsay would have voted only in case of a tie.

Yakeleya called the re-worded amendment a "good compromise" that allows the Dog Act to keep going forward.

"I'm OK with the new wording," he said. "I think it's a compromise for some of the smaller communities that we did not get to hear. The public hearings went to the larger regional centres."

As for whether the amendment will survive the Committee of the Whole, Yakeleya was making no predictions.

"Whatever happens in the Committee of the Whole happens in the Committee of the Whole," he said.

Asked if the amendment would create a loophole in the act, Yakeleya responded that he hopes the "good people of the North" will know the intentions of the Dog Act.

Ramsay said the new wording comes from Manitoba's animal welfare legislation.

The Committee of the Whole, which is made up of the 11 regular MLAs, is expected to debate amendments to the NWT Dog Act this week.

According to Ramsay, the clause on distress caused by an acceptable activity is very much open to interpretation.

"If I can't interpret that or if Joe Public can't interpret that legislation, once a court gets it and lawyers get it, there will be no charges laid," he said. "You can drive a truck through it."

Ramsay said his committee held five hearings around the NWT on amendments to the act and overwhelmingly heard there should be no exceptions for cruelty, neglect and abuse of dogs.

"I agree with that," he said. "I don't think there should be any exception at all."

Hay River's Bonnie Dawson, the founder of Action for the Protection of Northern Animals, condemns the new wording as she did the original clause.

"The deadly loophole still exists and has only been re-worded in an attempt to disguise it," she said in a news release.

She said the new wording will enable unacceptable behaviour to continue without consequence.

Dawson added people should be insulted by the "masked ploy" of the re-wording.

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