Veterinary college needs more authority
The College of Veterinarians of Ontario touts having the public interest at the core of all its efforts. We respectfully disagree that this is the case.
This week, we dropped off a petition with nearly 40,000 signatures calling for the permanent licence revocation of a veterinarian — Dr. Mahavir Singh Rekhi, owner of Skyway Animal Hospital in St. Catharines — caught on camera being violent with animals.
The college won’t budge. A 10-month suspension, shortened to six months if a training course is completed, is the penalty that stands.
This is someone caught on camera doing such gut-wrenching things to pets that his staff masterminded a plan to film and report it.
In our one-on-one meeting with the college’s president and registrar, we were told that revoking Rekhi’s licence is just not in the cards for legal reasons, unless there is new evidence brought forward.
They know that people are angry, and we reminded them why. Rekhi’s actions were egregious, unthinkable and wrong.
Yet the college prefers to stick to the letter of the law in this case. They stand by the decision not to issue a stiffer penalty than past penalties handed out in similar cases. The college has an obligation, they say, to be “fair and balanced.”
We don’t believe the public will accept this outcome. The college can and should have a stronger backbone when new evidence eventually comes forward — and should revoke his licence once and for all.
It would, we believe, be in the public interest to do so. In fact, Ontario’s minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs should put the same pressure on the college.
This could be just the tip of the iceberg. Every year, there are 180 to 200 complaints filed with the college against veterinarians. A number of these are likely similar cases of animal abuse. The college should grow a backbone in these cases, too.
There is one action the college can take today to regain the public’s trust: Get the authority to issue interim suspensions in serious cases of alleged animal abuse while long investigations are underway. It’s unacceptable that veterinarians can still practise while they are under investigation for severe animal abuse.
This is something they want to fix, they say, but won’t send this recommendation to the government until late 2017 after months of consultations.
Hasn’t two weeks of public outrage been enough consultation?
The college needs to get the ball rolling now and, frankly, we don’t understand why they didn’t ask for a change in the law years ago.
Perhaps this is another opportunity for the Ontario government to show some leadership and step up to change the law.
It’s time to act, to restore some trust that the college has lost, and acknowledge that the public will not accept the status quo. — Sharon McGuigan-Baki and Rebecca Thompson are with Concerned Citizens for Animal Welfare