In January 2013, the OLA asked the membership to help fund a legal action to challenge the legality of certain legislation that has had considerable negative ramifications on the citizens of this province. The legislation that we chose to challenge, was the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) Act, because the act left too many decisions to the discretion of enforcement officers in the field. With no real oversight by the government of this arms-length charity, poorly trained and poorly screened enforcement officers became an ‘out-of-control’ force to promote the extremist agenda of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). The OLA received very generous donations from our members for the fund.
Jeff Bogaerts who owns dogs and cats and who has seen how vulnerable people who own animals are, came to the conclusion that without cause or proof of wrong doings, the present law allows unsupervised agents of an infiltrated organization to intentionally target anyone they choose. So to be proactive, Jeff hired lawyer, Kurtis Andrews and asked him to challenge the parts of the act that were grey in their definitions or that directly removed personal rights and the expectation of innocence until proven guilty. The OLA has used money from the fund to help Jeff with the legal costs since we feel that changes to this act is fundamental to the protection of animals and people.
Kurtis Andrews has done much of the work on affidavits from people across Ontario who have had questionable charges laid against them and he has appeared at court several times to get this case to go forward. The provincial government does not like to be challenged on their legislation and have thrown up many obstacles that have delayed the process, probably in an attempt to run Jeff out of money.
The good part about this process is that it seems to have put pressure on the OSPCA to change and tighten up their operation. They have received money from the government to go towards better training of their agents in the field. In an article in the Ontario Farmer publication, July 14, 2015, the OSPCA has been out certifying farm operations as SPCA ‘certified’ for a cost of $800 per year. Obviously, this charity has found a new funding model, but for the farms that apply for this certification, they should expect severe restrictions to all their animal operations in the future since they will have no say over what new rules will be added to the list of this unsupervised organization. One of the lines that the SPCA now like to throw around is “education instead of enforcement”.
That is the background and the progress of this case that we feel has already changed the conversation in the backrooms of the government and the OSPCA. Everyone is watching to see what happens and if we are successful, there will be a complete review of the act to make it comply with the court ruling. We must continue or we lose the work and effort of Jeff and Kurtis as well as our investment.
To continue, we need more money to deal with the drawn out process.
I know that there is not a lot of money to go around these days, but if you can find a few extra dollars to help out, we think that it could make a huge improvement in the OSPCA Act and even help make upcoming legislation more accountable.
Thanks very much, Tom Black
To DONATE by Cheque: (Made out to the ‘OLA Litigation Fund”)
Mail to: The Ontario Landowners Association
P.O. Box 346
Woodlawn, ON K0A 3M0
To DONATE On-Line, Visit: www.fixthelaw.ca
Visit this website any time to follow the progress of this challenge.
* The Ontario Landowners Association welcomes any financial help that you can give towards this fund.
For a contribution of $150 or more, however, as a thank you, we would like to send you your choice of one of the following three books:
1. Tim Ball: The Deliberate Corruption of Climate Change
2. Jean-Serge Brisson: Tea Party of One
3. Elizabeth Marshall: Property Rights 101..an introduction
For a contribution of $250 or more, we will send you your choice of any two of these books and for a contribution of $350 or more, we will send you a copy of all three.
* If you have mailed a cheque, please send a note to say which book/books that you would like.
* If you have paid online, call Marlene Black 613-831-2642 so that we can mail you the book/books you chose.