Date:
To: Premier@gov.bc.ca

Webmaster, AGF AGF:EX

Barbara.Wright@gems5.gov.bc.ca
stan.hagen.mla@leg.bc.ca
geoff.plant.mla@leg.bc.ca
rbonderud@bcvma.org
Cyawebsite@shaw.ca

Dear Premier and Ministers:

The BCSPCA is the largest animal welfare fund in BC. The organization has been granted provincial authority under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act to protect animals through charges to Crown Council. Yet it is not required to enforce the Act. This can and, in too many cases, has left animals unprotected. The organization is also embroiled in controversy and the public trust has diminished. Donor dollars and the SPCA brand must be protected; trust in the BCSPCA must be restored, as government is unlikely to ever agree to an Animal Welfare Ministry. Government provides few funds to animal welfare in this province. More must be done to protect animals and ensure their welfare. I call on your government to agree to a provincial animal welfare ombudsman office, to provide some funding and oversight for an ombudsman office to oversee all animal facilities and operations, such as the BCSPCA, municipal pounds, rescue groups, petting farms, zoos, aquariums, sanctuaries and refuges etc. Municipalities as well as the BCSPCA should also provide funds to this office, and private donations should be encouraged.

The ombudsman will issue quarterly reports to the public through news releases, via mail and on the government website. The public must have direct access to the ombudsman to file any grievances about animal organizations' boards, personnel, processes, and/or operations. The ombudsman's office, on animals' behalf, must fulfill the role of overseeing and reporting on animals' welfare and whether or not the BCSPCA is adequately enforcing the Act in public, unless and until such accountability amendments are law.

The government must amend the Act so that: 1) The SPCA is obligated to enforce the Act. 2) The government will review all SPCA cruelty files and will publicly and annually report: a) the numbers of cruelty investigations and the jurisdictions in which they originate, b) the outcome of these investigations, including seizures, and the grounds on which those decisions were made by the SPCA, c) how many cases have been referred to Crown Counsel along with the numbers of charges and convictions, and d) the numbers of complaints made about SPCA special constables under the Police Act and the outcomes of those complaints.

I fully support the suggestion of an animal welfare ombudsman official.

x.....................................................

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