It doesn’t take a huge moral compass to understand that Canada’s responsibility to our exported horses should not end when they leave Canadian soil. Yet currently our country wants to wipe its hands of the matter, endorsing air shipments of horses to Japan without a care about their welfare when they reach the other end: 

“The reporting requirement does not apply to deaths or injuries that occur after the horses are transferred to ground transport or during quarantine in Japan. The CFIA does not have the regulatory authority to require reporting of incidents that occur after transfer to ground transport and during quarantine (Regulatory oversight for live horse exports to Japan – inspection.canada.ca).” 

In other words, numerous deaths and injuries occurring to Canadian horses in Japan after they arrive in that country – even if they are related to the shipments – are brushed off like embarrassing dandruff.

The fact is, there exists a solution: stop the exports like our Prime Minister ordered in 2021.

Monday, December 16, 2024 is the three-year-anniversary of PM Justin Trudeau’s mandate letter to the Agriculture Minister – to bring an end to the exports of live horses to Japan for slaughter  https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/mandate-letters/2021/12/16/minister-agriculture-and-agri-food-mandate-letter]

Three years later, the cruel air shipments continue. Although Bill C-355 to stop the exports made it through the House of Commons in May and proceeded to the Senate, it languishes in that chamber due to the efforts of a handful of Conservative Senators who are using every stalling tactic in the book to make sure that this crucial bill doesn’t become law. 

We would like to see the bill voted on before the upcoming break, which could be early this week. Please send an urgent message to the Senators today to ask that they vote on Bill C-355 before they adjourn!

We want the excuses and the stalling to end. No matter how some politicians like to spin it, there is no justification for Canada to be complicit in depriving horses of food, water and rest for up to 28 hours at a stretch – or longer, as recent evidence from Japanese records shows. This is cruelty, plain and simple. We wouldn’t do it to our dogs or cats. Sport horses shipped for overseas events are not deprived of the essentials. Why are slaughter-bound draft horses not granted the basic care and respect that all living beings deserve?

Please send your urgent message to the Senate now! Find various options to contact Senators here: https://horseshit.ca/contact-your-politician/?utm_source=brevo&utm_campaign=Homework%20for%20HORSESHITTERS&utm_medium=email 

It is time for them to vote on Bill C-355!