Establish national animal-abuse registry
Petitioners ask the Government of Canada to establish a public federal Animal Abuse Offender Registry of convictions and guilty pleas under CC ss.445–447, with 10‑year listings, youth excluded, suspended records restricted, and 21‑day reporting. The government responds it is not considering a registry and says it requires careful study to balance enforcement, privacy and rehabilitation.
Why we would sign this petition
- Improves animal safety by letting shelters, rescues and buyers screen for known offenders before adoption or sale.
- Reduces risk of offenders relocating across provinces without detection by centralizing convictions and guilty pleas.
- Increases accountability and deterrence by publicly recording convictions and guilty pleas for serious animal‑cruelty offences.
Why we wouldn’t sign this petition
- A public registry raises privacy and rehabilitation concerns and may hinder offender reintegration.
- Implementing and maintaining a national registry and rapid data transfers (21 days) would be administratively complex and costly.
- Public listings risk errors or unfair inclusion, especially where cases are contested or plea deals affect outcomes.
The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.
Official petition
Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled Canada has no national registry of individuals convicted of animal cruelty, neglect, or killing under the Criminal Code of Canada (sections 445–447); Shelters, rescues, breeders, and private citizens cannot reliably screen for convictions, risking placement of animals with known offenders; Without a national registry, offenders move between provinces undetected; A federal registry would strengthen adoption and screening processes; and The registry would list guilty pleas and convictions under Criminal Code sections 445–447, preventing offenders from avoiding accountability through plea bargains. We, the undersigned, Citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to Establish a federal, publicly searchable Animal Abuse Offender Registry of individuals convicted or pleading guilty under Criminal Code sections 445–447 or equivalent provincial statutes; 1. Require offenders to remain on the registry for 10 years; 2. Require shelters, rescues, and breeders to deny adoption or sale of animals to anyone listed on the registry; 3. Ensure the registry includes offenders’ legal name, aliases, date of birth, city, province, photograph, and offence of conviction; 4. Ensure the registry is publicly accessible so citizens can check before rehoming, selling, adopting, or entrusting animals to third parties (including groomers, sitters, boarders); 5. Require courts and provinces to forward conviction data to the federal registry within 21 days to ensure accuracy and timely updates; and 6. Exclude youth under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, and remove suspended records under the Criminal Records Act from public view, retaining them in a restricted registry for enforcement.
Government response
Response by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Signed by The Parliamentary Secretary Patricia Lattanzio Our government recognizes that animals in Canada deserve protection from abuse. Canadian law contains important protections for animals and mechanisms to ensure their protection. Animal cruelty offences in the Criminal Code carry significant penalties, reflecting the serious nature of animal abuse. Willfully causing unnecessary pain, suffering or injury to an animal is a hybrid offence that is punishable by up to five years of imprisonment on indictment. In certain circumstances, courts may also impose prohibition orders prohibiting an offender from owning, having the custody or control of, or residing in the same premises as an animal. A conviction for a Criminal Code offence of causing unnecessary pain, suffering or injury to an animal may also result in a criminal record for the offender, which is accessible by police across the country. While the federal government does not maintain a registry of animal abuse offenders, the Government is committed to ensuring that the criminal justice system effectively responds to animal abuse. Reforms to Canadian law advanced by our government underscore our recognition of the need to prevent and deter animal abuse, hold those responsible accountable, and protect animals more broadly. These include recent measures before Parliament in Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act, to address the distribution of recordings of bestiality to protect both animals and people, and banning the testing of cosmetics on animals and sale of cosmetics that rely on animal testing data to establish safety, through changes to the Food and Drugs Act enacted in 2023. While the development of a publicly accessible national registry of animal abuse offenders is not under consideration at this time, the establishment of such a registry would raise important questions about the best way to balance effective enforcement efforts, privacy rights, rehabilitation objectives, and to ensure that animals are protected from abuse, that would first require careful study. The government takes these concerns seriously and will carefully consider the issues raised in this petition.