*** PLEASE CROSSPOST ***
How much is your dog worth? How much would you give to keep your dog as part of your family?
How about ONE DOLLAR?
What appeared, on the surface, to be a “pit bull” issue in Ontario has now become a complex legal argument worthy of the highest court in the country, affecting all dog owners in Canada.
Banned Aid, the group that challenged Ontario’s new dog legislation in 2005, is taking their fight to the Supreme Court of Canada to ask the following questions:
Does the government have the right to ban anything when it is not abnormally dangerous or unhealthy? At last count, twenty-seven children in Canada have been killed by dogs. Ontario’s new legislation does not target any of the dog breeds involved in those incidents, only a type of dog that has never killed a child in Canada.
Does the government have the right to ban anything when they can’t properly identify what it is? The government has targeted dogs of all shapes and sizes, including seven-week-old mixed-breed puppies, American Bulldog, Bull Terrier, Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Collie/Jack Russell mix, Dalmatian, Dogue de Bordeaux, Vizsla, Jack Russell Terrier mix, Labrador Retriever, Neapolitan Mastiff, Rhodesian Ridgeback, and Rottweiler.
Does the government have the right to ban anything when there are proven, effective, less discriminatory and less invasive alternatives to managing it? The city of Calgary has demonstrated a logical and fair method of managing dogs that has given that city a reputation throughout North America as the most effective animal control department on the continent, yet Calgary does not target specific breeds in their legislation.
Does the government have the right to put people in jail, levy heavy fines, and confiscate and destroy property, based on flimsy evidence that has been directly contradicted by the vast majority of experts worldwide? In this particular case, the jail time can be up to six months, the fines up to $10,000, and the articles of property being confiscated and destroyed are live family pets.
This issue affects everyone. A Supreme Court ruling in our favour will prevent other provinces from following Ontario’s path, whether it be “pit bulls” or other types of dogs or dogs in general.
To-date, Banned Aid has raised (and paid) $650,000 to fight this legislation in the Ontario Superior Court and the Ontario Court of Appeals. They now need $67,000 by the end of January 2009 in order to file an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Can you afford ONE DOLLAR for every dog in your family? Can you afford ONE DOLLAR for every dog you’ve ever had? Can you afford FIVE DOLLARS or TEN DOLLARS?
There are six million dogs in this country, yet it has been an intense struggle over three years just to raise ONE DOLLAR for every ten dogs!!
If you want the laws of this country to protect you and your family (including your dogs) from increasingly anti-dog governments, then it’s time for you to step up to the plate and start giving money, now.
Send a cheque or money order payable to “Banned Aid” to:
Cathy Prothro
National Secretary/Treasurer – Banned Aid Coalition
351 Pleasant Street
Dartmouth NS B2Y 3S4
If you prefer to send the money directly to the law firm, then send cheques or money orders payable to “Ruby and Shiller” to:
BANNED AID LEGAL CHALLENGE FUND
c/o Ruby and Shiller
11 Prince Arthur Avenue
Toronto, ON M5R 1B2
Go to http://www.dlcc.ca/ and click on the “Make a Donation” button near the bottom of the page to use Paypal. If you have a credit card, you do NOT have to set up a Paypal account when you do this.
If you bank online, you can send an Internet E-mail Money Transfer to treasurer@dlcc.ca
If you prefer to deal only in cash, then just drop in to any CIBC branch and deposit the money directly into the Banned Aid bank account using the following information:
Banned Aid Legal Fund
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce,
Penhorn Mall,
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Account 00513 010 1526839
Please don’t let this issue die for lack of funds. Now is your opportunity to help fight for all dogs and their families across Canada.
Don’t let somebody else take care of it. Please act now!
Please crosspost this to as many people as you can.
Many thanks,
Steve Barker