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NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
The NWT has once again placed near the bottom of the list in a national report on animal protection laws across Canada.

The detailed comparative analysis of the animal protection laws of each province and territory was released on July 9 by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), which is based in California.

The NWT ranked 11th out of the 13 provinces and territories, which is the fifth year in a row the NWT has been near the bottom.

Nicole Spencer, president of the NWT Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals, is not surprised by the territory's ranking in the bottom tier of the annual report, which has been produced for five years.

"We've been in the third tier forever, unfortunately, and it's just because our laws are not up to par with the rest of Canada," Spencer said.

Among other weaknesses noted in the report, the NWT's animal protection laws only cover dogs, but not cats or other domestic animals.

"That's a huge deal," Spencer said. "What they're saying is other animals don't matter. Really? The bottom line is we as the Northwest Territories are not anywhere close to where we should be."

The report also noted one other major deficiency is the NWT does not require mandatory reporting by veterinarians of suspected animal cruelty.

Spencer noted the NWT's continued poor showing in the report has apparently not had any impact on the GNWT, pointing to efforts to get the Dog Act changed a year and a half ago.

"We did successfully make a few changes to it - stricter penalties, a little bit more authority for bylaw - but it hasn't changed greatly and it needs to change a whole lot more," she said.

Ian Lagaree, acting deputy minister for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, said the original Dog Act was created to protect people from dogs, in light of wild dog problems in the North, and was later updated to also protect dogs from people.

He said NWT animal protection laws only cover dogs because issues reported to the department are primarily dog-related, generally not involving other animals.

Lagaree said the current Dog Act is new and the department is still learning from changes made in 2011.

The ALDF report is the only one of its kind in Canada.

"It's something we hope citizens will be able to use to affect change," said Sophie Gaillard, the organization's Canadian spokesperson in Montreal.

Gaillard said the rankings are based on 58 questions in 10 categories, such as protection, penalties and the power of inspectors.

Another category is species covered, she added. "That's where your territory lost a lot of points in our system."

Lagaree said the report had points for consideration but didn't take into account the unique Northern context in which NWT animal protection laws have been made.

Gaillard noted there is some basic protection for animals under the Criminal Code.

However, she said it is very difficult to prove the criminal intent necessary to obtain a conviction for neglect of an animal under the Criminal Code.

Along with the NWT, Nunavut, P.E.I. and Quebec round out the list of what the ALDF calls Canada's "best places to be an animal abuser."

On the other end of the spectrum, Manitoba earned the top spot in the rankings.

"Animals do not vote, but those who love and care about them do," said ALDF executive director Stephen Wells in a news release. "It is our hope that these ongoing reviews continue to garner support for both the strengthening and enforcement of animal protection laws throughout Canada."

The report does not cover animals harvested under wildlife acts.

- with files from Lyndsay Herman

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