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Legislation and Standards for Farm Animal Care and Handling in Ontario

Government and industry standards control the production, marketing, transportation and processing of livestock and poultry. Some standards are federally or provincially legislated. Federal legislation includes the Meat Inspection Act, the Health of Animals Act, and Animal-protection provisions of the Canadian Criminal Code (section 446). Provincial legislation includes the Meat Inspection Act, the Livestock and Livestock Products Act, the Livestock Community Sales Act, the Milk Act, the Livestock and Livestock Medicines Act and the Ontario Society for the Prevention of the Cruelty to Animals Act. Other standards are voluntary such as the Recommended Codes of Practice and On-Farm Quality Assurance programs.

Federal Legislation:

The Health of Animals Act:
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is responsible for enforcing the regulations of the Health of Animals Act. Subsection 64 (1) of the Health of Animals Act provides for the Governor in Council to make regulations for protecting human and animal health. This is through the control or elimination of diseases and toxic substances and generally for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act, including regulations for the humane treatment of animal and generally:

  1. governing the care, handling and disposition of animals,
  2. governing the manner in which animals are transported within, into or out of Canada, and
  3. providing for the treatment or disposal of animals that are not cared for, handled or transported in a humane manner;

In some cases, provincial meat inspectors and inspectors with the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) may also refer to the federal statuettes.

Part XII of the regulations of the Health of Animals Act applies to the transportation of animals entering or leaving Canada and the movement of livestock within Canada. If you are trucking livestock, you must comply with the regulations.

For a complete listing of the Act and its regulations you can contact the Canadian Food Inspection Agency or the Department of Justice.

Some specific transportation examples from Part XII of the Regulations of the Health of Animals Act include:

Section 138 [2(a)] - "no Person shall load, cause to be loaded, transport, or continue to transport an animal that by reason of infirmity, illness, injury, fatigue, or any other cause cannot be transported without undue suffering during the expected journey."

Section 138 [2(c)] - "you must not transport a sick or injured animals where undue suffering will result or when the animal is liable to give birth."

Section 141 - "Segregate animals that are incompatible. Do not mix animals of different size or in any way that may injure an animal in the group."

The Criminal Code of Canada:
In Part XI Wilful and Forbidden Acts in Respect of Certain Property Section 446-1 of the Criminal Code states that it is a federal offence to "wilfully cause or permit to be caused, being the owner, unnecessary pain, suffering or injury to an animal or by wilful neglect, cause damage or injury to animals while they are being driven or conveyed." In Ontario, Inspectors and agents of the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) www.ospca.on.ca can and do lay charges under the Criminal Code in cases of severe cruelty or neglect.

The Meat Inspection Act - Federal:
The Meat Inspection Act is an act respecting the trade in meat products, the inspection of animals and meat products, the standards for establishments and for animals slaughtered and meat products prepared in those establishments. Part III of the Federal Meat Inspection Regulations governs the care, handling and humane slaughter of livestock at federally inspected plants. Every operator and every person engaged in the handling and slaughtering of a food animal in a registered establishment are required to comply with sections 61.1 to 80. With regards to transportation, although most situations involving livestock on trucks would be dealt with under the Health of Animals Regulations, the Meat Inspection Regulations do require that plant operators provide adequate accommodations for animals that are held, and that staff handle animals in a humane manner.

Provincial Legislation:

The Meat Inspection Act - Ontario:
In Ontario, abattoirs are licensed and inspected under the regulations of the Meat Inspection Act by the Food Industry Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Products from provincially regulated abattoirs can only be sold/distributed within the province. The Meat Inspection Act regulates the care and handling of animals in the abattoir until slaughter through Section 48 to Section 64 (2).

The Livestock and Livestock Products Act:
Regulation 732/94 of the Livestock and Livestock Products Act provides special care for non-ambulatory animals. Specifically, all non-ambulatory animals require a veterinary certificate. A non-ambulatory animal is defined as "any animal that due to age, injury, metabolic or systemic disease, etc., is unable to raise itself without assistance to a standing and walking state", as defined by the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association. "Downer" and "downed animal" are terms used in reference to a non-ambulatory animal.

Information on proper handling of non-ambulatory livestock can be found in the Recommended Code of Practice of the Care and Handling of Farm Animals – Transportation, or through OFAC’s "Preventing and Handling Non-Ambulatory Livestock on the Farm" brochure.

The Livestock Community Sales Act:
The HYPERLINK "http://192.75.156.68/DBLaws/Statutes/English/90l22_e.htm" Livestock Community Sales Act states that animals must be inspected before sale. Lay inspectors attend each sale and are aware of the recommendations in the current Recommended Codes of Practice, as well as the new Transport Code. Inspectors conduct the initial screening and hold suspicious animals for veterinary examination by veterinarians appointed under the Livestock Community Sales Act.

The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act:
In Ontario, animal cruelty investigations by the Ontario SPCA are governed by provincial legislation called the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Inspectors and agents appointed under the Act have the authority of police officers when enforcing laws pertaining to the welfare of animals. The Ontario SPCA operates on a complaint basis and may be reached at 1-888-ONT-SPCA.

Livestock Medicines Act:
The Livestock Medicines Act states that a designated committee shall review all legislation and regulations pertaining to livestock medicines and report to and advise the Minister (OMAFRA) on matters relating to the control and regulation of livestock medicines. The committee also evaluates and recommends procedures relating to the sale of livestock medicines, proper standards for the maintenance, handling and storage of livestock medicines. The committee makes recommendations respecting, the designation of drugs or classes of drugs as livestock medicines, and the designation of livestock medicines for sale under a licence or any class of licence.

Milk Act
The purpose and intent of the Milk Act is to stimulate, increase and improve the producing of milk within Ontario. It includes regulations to provide for the control and regulation in any or all respects of the producing or marketing within Ontario of any milk product, and to provide for the control and regulation in any or all respects of the quality of milk, milk products and fluid milk products within Ontario.

Standards:
The Recommended Codes of Practice for the Care and Handling of Livestock
The Recommended Codes of Practice are nationally developed guidelines for the care and handling of different types of farm animals. The Codes contain recommendations to help farmers and others in the agriculture and food sector compare and improve their own management practices. Producers, owners, transporters and receivers are all responsible for the care and handling of animals on farm as well as during transportation and processing. If you would like to find out more about care and handling of livestock and poultry, you can access the Recommended Codes of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farm Animals on the web.

Codes of Practice:
Beef Cattle (PDF)
Dairy Cattle
Farmed Deer
Horses
Mink
Pigs
Poultry
Ranched Fox
Sheep
Transportation
Veal

Codes of Practice (in development):
Farmed Bison
Goats

On-farm Quality Assurance/HACCP programs:
Virtually all Canadian livestock and poultry producers belong to professional industry associations that have taken the initiative to develop and implement extensive Quality Assurance Programs and On-Farm "QA" Food Safety Programs. These programs are specifically designed to provide guidelines for producers to follow to ensure that the food they produce is safe and of the highest quality. Canadian pork, dairy, egg, chicken, turkey, veal and aquaculture producer associations have all established Quality Assurance programs.