Hunters and anglers are faced with mighty opposition; much of it coming via foreign-sponsored radical animal rights and anti-hunting groups. The animal rights movement is a multi-million dollar industry that often employs celebrity spokespersons and lobbies politicians for their causes using lucrative sums of money.
The previous nine years of a Conservative government provided a sense of security for the hunting and angling community. Legislation was put in place to combat the animal rights and anti-hunting industry and to protect hunters and anglers.
One aspect of the legislation put hunting and fishing under the status of Canadian heritage. Another aspect introduced what has come to be known as the “hunter harassment law.”
According to that law, anyone interfering with the lawful taking of wild game, or obstructing legal hunting activity can be fined and receive jail time.
But the law that really put a damper on animal rights and anti-hunting groups was the one that strictly forbids “not-for-profit” organizations from engaging in political campaigning and lobbying. What this meant in effect was that most animal rights groups would lose their tax-exempt status if they did not comply with the law because many of them claim to be not-for-profit.
Of course this law has a flip side; many not-for-profit hunting and angling organizations are affected by this law, too, but overall it is a positive law that provides much relief from the constant politically-motivated barrage of foreign-sponsored animal rights organizations and their constant efforts to dictate Canadian politics in the hunting and angling sector.
Now with a Liberal government in place, hunters and anglers once again have to be on high alert.
As it turns out, the current federal government is not particularly hunter-friendly and has announced that it will do away with the law restricting not-for-profit organizations from campaigning and lobbying. Removing hunting and fishing from the Canadian Heritage Act will also be a likely possibility.
Currently the Liberal government budget has not provided any money for the Parliamentary Outdoor Caucus — an organization open to all political parties, members of parliament and senators. Looking at the member list of this parliamentary organization shows that liberal politicians are glaringly absent, but this may not come as a surprise considering how many Liberal MP’s are openly sympathetic with the animal rights movement.
Historically Liberals have not been particularly hunter-friendly. Under the Chretien and Martin tenures no less than15 bills were tabled that would have restricted hunting and fishing rights and privileges which fortunately never made it through parliament or died on the Senate floor.
But now, under this Liberal government, we can expect that some of these old bills will resurface again in some form or another. One such bill, with new wording, has already been reintroduced as a private members bill called C-426. This bill is so crudely worded that, if passed, could in effect turn any hunter and angler into a criminal.
Bill C-246, put forward by Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, goes far beyond what normal animal protection laws are about. Essentially the bill would consider it a criminal offence to “willfully cause the death of an animal.”
This is problematic legally for hunters and anglers who obviously do “wilfully” kill an animal to take it home and eat it.
There is yet another problem in the 200 page bill that shows up way down in the wording at section 182.1: The word “recklessly” is added to the word “willfully.” This seemingly insignificant additional word means that a hunter shooting at an animal could theoretically be charged with “recklessly” killing an animal as well as “willfully.” It leaves it up to peoples “opinion” to define what “willful” and “reckless” killing is when they call authorities to report such cases…and then leaves it up to the judge to interpret what “willful” and “reckless” killing of an animal consists of.
Similar laws in Europe have led to animal rights groups and activists keeping courts tied up with frivolous claims against hunters and anglers of “willfully” and “recklessly” killing animals. Nathaniel Erskine-Smith even makes mention of those laws and is full of praise about how “enlightened” they are. I am sure as an animal rights activist he would like to see similar laws in Canada, too, that give animal rights and anti-hunters more leverage to push their fanatical ideology and harass law abiding hunters and anglers with costly lawsuits.
It seems that Justin Trudeau’s much-hyped “sunny ways ahead” are not that sunny for everyone. It seems more like once again hunters and anglers are being targeted under a new Liberal federal government and made the victims of radical anti-hunting and anti-fishing agenda supporters. If hunters and anglers do not stand up for their rights and privileges we could see the day that hunting and fishing may be outlawed in Canada. It will not happen at once but in little steps, like it has happened in many European countries where hunting and fishing has been so severely restricted with red tape that many anglers and hunters simply gave up.
Othmar Vohringer lives in the Nicola Valley. He is a animal behaviourist and outdoor writer for hunting magazines in Canada and the U.S. www.othmarvohringer.com
