Canada My Country My Discrace

You always see things and you think, ah, that's not my country, why should I worry? Till it lands on your door step.

I think it's almost become human nature to shake our heads and turn a blind eye till we are forced to no longer look the other way. We are afraid to speak up, afraid to speak out. We don't want to ostrize ourselves. We don't want to be seen as outside the pack, outside the herd.

At least not at first.

It takes something close to home to open our eyes. Something in our own realm of daily life to go, this is not okay.

And I am not outside this reality.

I saw the images of animal cruelty and graphic horrors occuring in places like Mexico, and went, what can I do. I live all the way up here in Canada. Whose to say those agencies that are saying they are helping those animals are actually doing anything about it.

Till you see an image. That one image that breaks your heart. That image that makes you cringe, and it affects you right to the very core.

And then the world shatters. And you realize the country you live in, isn't so okay, isn't alright. By any means.

That's what happened to me.

And here are just some of those images.

Ask me a few days ago if I was an animal activist and I would have told you no.

Ask me today, and my response is a very strong YES!

I am a mother of five. I stand up and protect my children at every turn. I have 7 fur-babies, and they are treated just as special as my children.

I am an animal lover, an activist, a mother, a protector. I love all living things, and think that everyone and everything deserves and has the right to a life free of torture and pain.

At some point I hope to be able to say, I am proud to be Canadian. Right now, I cannot say that.

Laws from 1892 need to be changed. Our animals, our wildlife, our planet should get better respect from us.

We need to demand change, before it's too late!

Someone commented to me, and asked if this wasn't a knee jerk reaction. Wasn't there reasons I was still proud to be Canadian, and you know what, he's right.

There will always be reasons I am proud to be Canadian, and perhaps my statement isn't so much directed at the country I live in (although they do very much have their flaws on a number of levels) but more at my disgust and humiliation that I am a part of a race of beings who could do such damage, hardships and torture to other creatures.

As Mark Twain so elequently put it :"Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it" I believe more is said in that single sentance than anything I can compose.

I'm enraged and disgusted that a country I love and believe in would have such issues as seen here:

IFAW's report "Falling Behind - An International Comparison of Canada's Animal Cruelty Legislation" which compared Canada's legislation with 12 other countries around the world revealed some startling facts including:

Canada is alone in offering virtually no protection for wild and stray animals
Canada's legislation does not include a clear definition of 'animal' while other countries are explicit
Canada is the only country that does not provide protection for animals being trained to fight each other
Canada is the only country that makes it virtually impossible to prosecute cases of neglect.

However, despite all of the public pressure, many of our elected officials chose to pass Bill S-203 on April 9th 2008, which continues to leave animals largely unprotected from cruelty. S-203 is an ineffective piece of legislation because it:

allows animal abusers to walk free
allows cruelty to wildlife, stray and feral animals
allows crimes of neglect to go virtually unpunished
allows the cruel reality of breeding and training of dogs for dog fighting

We need to continue to make our politicians aware that stopping animal cruelty is an important issue to Canadians. Please contact your MP and let them know that you want effective and modern animal cruelty legislation now.

So I suppose, I am in ways proud to be Canadian, but am saddened and disheartened such travisties can take place within our borders.