A Manitoba senator who has argued passionately for a ban on the export of horses by air for slaughter in Japan says he will not accept an invitation to come and watch a shipment of horses being loaded onto a plane at the Winnipeg airport assume.
Meanwhile, animal rights activists fear that the ongoing debate in the Red Chamber over Bill C-355 could lead to a call for a federal election and cause the bill to fail.
On December 5, independent Senator Charles Adler urged his colleagues to support the bill that would ban the export of horses by air for slaughter and to send it to committee before the Senate meets for the holidays later this week .
“Once the doors are closed in Canada and the plane is in the air, the relevant authority in Canada has absolutely no way of knowing what is happening to these horses,” Adler said. “Canadian inspectors are not present on the flights or on the ground when these horses arrive at their destination. Therefore, Canada relies solely on local authorities abroad to inform us whether any deaths or injuries occurred during transportation.
“There is a high chance that these horses will suffer an injury or worse during this process.”.”
But Adler declined a request from another Manitoba senator, Conservative Don Plett, to accompany him at the Winnipeg airport early Monday morning to watch horses being loaded onto a plane bound for Japan.
“You suggested, Senator Adler, that these horses suffer on the asphalt. “They are cruelly put in boxes where they cannot turn around or lie down, which is not true,” Plett followed Adler’s statement.
“I invite you to come with me to Winnipeg Airport on December 16 and see just that.”
Growing concern about delays
Adler confirmed to CBC News that he will not be joining Plett, who recently toured a cargo plane in Edmonton to see how the horses were being treated.
“I support the bill and do not want to do anything to distract from what matters most: alleviating the suffering of Canadian horses being transported by air on a cargo ship halfway around the world without heat, food, water or rest,” said Adler wrote in a response to CBC News.
Plett told CBC on Friday that there are still at least three senators who want to talk about the bill. As the official critic, he has the final say. He doesn’t think there’s enough time left before the holidays because there’s too much government business to take care of.
“We have always believed that this should all be done through regulation, not legislation,” Plett said.
That’s a concern for Kaitlyn Mitchell, director of Legal Advocacy for Animal Justice. She fears that the bill will become part of party politics and will not be passed before the next federal election.
“It’s important to me to go to the airport and see the horses because I think it’s important to document that these transports are taking place,” she said. “I think it’s important to see firsthand how the horses are suffering.”
CFIA increases monitoring of horses in transit
Animal Justice recently released documents obtained from the Japanese government showing that at least one horse died after sustaining injuries during a flight to Japan in June. Several others collapsed along the way.
In September, the advocacy group submitted documents showing at least 21 horses died during or in the days following the flight from Canada to Japan between May 2023 and June 2024.
This contradicts what the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says. In February, an agency representative told a House of Commons committee The agency is aware of only five horse deaths related to air transport since 2013.
The CFIA told CBC News that it has reviewed documents provided by Animal Justice and is now requiring exporters and air carriers to document the start and end times of each shipping phase from Canada, as well as the total transit time.
It received one Emergency plan of the airline, which includes measures to alleviate animal suffering in the event of delays.
However, the CFIA said it detected only one death and eight serious injuries between June 2023 and June 2024 that occurred during the flight or were observed upon arrival. The additional cases occurred after the horses were in Japanese quarantine.
Canada cannot force Japan to report incidents after the horses are unloaded from cargo planes, so the CFIA said that will not be included reporting. Since September, Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) has been providing this information to Canada.
Fear of delays
The regulator said two CFIA officials and Canada’s top veterinary official traveled to Japan with a shipment of horses in December. They observed all stages of the process – loading the horses at the farm in Alberta, driving to the Edmonton airport, transferring them into crates and loading them onto the plane.
They flew with the horses on the plane and continued to observe the process while the animals were taken to the quarantine station.
While in Japan, CFIA officials met with the chief veterinary officer and MAFF officials to exchange information.
But amid the political debate and government investigations, Danae Tonge of Manitoba Animal Save said she just wants to ban the practice entirely.
“Watching the horses arrive and be unloaded is tragic and frightening,” she said.
“If Bill C-355 is not passed before the end of the session or an early election is called, this bill could fail in plenary and we could lose all progress on it, which would be devastating.”
