Quebec plans to eventually ban pit bulls: Coiteux

‘Dangerous dog’ bill aims to phase certain breeds out of the province

The Quebec government tabled legislation Thursday that would force municipalities across the province to ban any breed of dog it classifies as “potentially dangerous.”

While the legislation, called Bill 128, doesn’t specifically mention pit bulls, Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux says the goal is to phase the breed out of existence in Quebec.

“In addition to strictly regulating dangerous dogs ... (the bill) allows the government to ban, by decree, certain breeds,” said Martin Coiteux, Quebec’s Public Security Minister. “The government is intent on banning pit bull type dogs.”

Bill 128 would give cities the authority to euthanize any dog caught mauling a person. It calls for veterinarians to provide municipalities with information about a dog’s breed alongside its owner’s address and name in the event of an attack.

Local governments can impose additional fines and stricter bylaws on pet ownership, but only the province will judge which breeds are subject to the ban.

The legislation has a grandfather clause that allows owners of pit bulls and other so-called dangerous dogs to keep the animals. The law would not apply on aboriginal territories in the province.

Thursday’s legislation comes in the wake of Montreal’s controversial pit bull ban, which was adopted last fall. Mayor Denis Coderre enacted the ban after a 55-year-old woman was mauled to death by a dog in June 2016.

The victim, Christiane Vadnais, was attacked by her neighbour’s dog — which was unsupervised when it wandered into her backyard in Pointe-aux-Trembles last year. Franklin Junior Frontal, the dog ’s owner, did not face criminal charges in connection with Vadnais’s death.

Montreal’s pit bull bylaw was contested in court by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). The provincial ban has also drawn the ire of Quebec’s network of SPCAs.

“We’re not happy, we find it sad that minister Coiteux gave in to public pressure to ban a specific breed of dog,” said Denys Pelletier, the president of Quebec’s SPCA network.

“We’re not for or against a specific breed. We’re anti-dangerous dog, no matter what type of dog that is. The solution is totally inappropriate.”

Pelletier says that, despite the bill’s grandfather clause, he fears people will get rid of their pit bulls en masse — dumping them at SPCAs.

“The shelters will be overloaded with animals, and we’ll have to euthanize them, which is totally against our mission,” he said.

“We’ll get healthy, wellbehaved animals, and just because of how they look, we won’t be able to adopt them out. That only leaves us with one option, to put them down.”

Critics of breed-specific legislation say pit bull bans provide communities with a false sense of security and mask the true causes of dog attacks.

A study by the United States Centers for Disease Control suggests the behaviour of a dog’s owner, not its breed, has the biggest influence on the dog’s actions. The study found that, in 97 per cent of fatal dog attacks, the animal wasn’t spayed or neutered.

Pit bull bans are in effect in Ontario and Manitoba, but some jurisdictions, like the city of Vancouver, have repealed their breed specific legislation and focused their efforts on stricter dog-licensing efforts.

A spokesperson for Montreal’s SPCA branch said Thursday the organization is waiting for its lawyers to study the legislation before commenting on it.

Mayor Coderre told reporters he’s “satisfied” with the legislation.

“It’s entirely OK that, for public security reasons, a municipality can decide how it defines its security with regard to animal control,” he said.

“For me, it’s humans before dogs. I love dogs, but look, recently, at the case of a pit bull biting a 64-yearold woman. It’s a question of the owner, but also of the dog ’s behaviour.”

The mayor says the city’s ban has been a success and that owners are co-operating with new bylaws and its own grandfather clause.

So far, some 2,000 people have registered their pit bulls with the city, Coderre said.

“It’s a balanced approach,” he said. “If you already have a pit bull, you can keep it, but you have to comply with certain conditions . ... They have to be sterilized, they have to be muzzled, you need to register them. If you love your dog, you will comply.”