Vancouver, BC – This morning at 9:00 AM, a group of activists entered the BCSPCA Provincial office, and started what could become an all-day [or longer] sit-in.
The participants are acting in support of, and in solidarity with, the Excelsior 4—activists currently facing pre-trial in BC Supreme Court. The sit-in participants are calling for the BC Ministry of Agriculture to adequately address systemic animal cruelty on commercial farms in the province, by implementing greater methods of transparency and accountability.
Participants indicate “ongoing, systemic failure” of the BC SPCA to protect animals from documented harm, taking place at factory farms. BC SPCA CEO Craig Daniell admitted in a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture [obtained via FOI request] that the SPCA is incapable of enforcing animal cruelty on farms. The sit-in participants are asking the BC SPCA to relinquish their current enforcement duties as the first step in this process.
In a move towards greater transparency and accountability within animal agriculture, a campaign has been launched, calling on the Ministry of Agriculture Lana Popham, to implement mandatory CCTV cameras inside all animal farms and slaughterhouses and to change animal law enforcement from the private charity BC SPCA to a more accountable government agency.
