A twice-monthly current awareness service reviewing recent cases on land use, marketing boards, environment issues, creditor rights, animals, grain, import/export and other matters in an agricultural context.
HIGHLIGHTS
- A Justice of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has declared unconstitutional a number of sections of the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act which give the OSPCA (a private association), investigation and policing powers. The Court concluded that it was a principle of fundamental justice that law enforcement bodies must be subject to reasonable standards of transparency and accountability and that while police officers are subject to provincial legislation which provides for comprehensive oversight and accountability for police, the Ombudsman Act and the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act, the OSPCA is not subject to similar oversight and operates in a way that is shielded from public view while at the same time fulfilling public functions. The Court suspended the declaration of constitutional invalidity for a period of 1 year to afford the province an opportunity to amend the Act. Challenges to the search and seizure provisions of the Act, and an argument that the provisions of the Act was an unconstitutional exercise of exclusive federal authority over criminal law were both dismissed. The decision contains a comprehensive discussion of the law with respect to the constitutional validity of provincial legislation aimed at preventing cruelty to animals. (Bogaerts v. Ontario (Attorney General), CALN/2019-010, [2019] O.J. No. 5, Ontario Superior Court of Justice)
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