Ontario’s Animal Welfare Services (AWS) is the enforcement/investigation division under the PAWS Act legislation. AWS is part of the Ministry of the Solicitor General – Public Safety Division.
There are, right now only 100 inspectors to look after all of Ontario – the same number since inception – January, 2020. Note: this is the same number of inspectors overseeing Manitoba which is 1/10th the size of Ontario. Solicitor General Michael Kerzner indicates that they realize they need many more inspectors, that they have requested funding but funding has been denied by the Conservative led legislature.
When the provincial government took over the running of animal welfare many of inspectors from the OSPCA moved over and became inspectors for Animal Welfare Services (AWS), under the newly written PAWS Act legislation.
AWS Inspectors DO NOT have the power to lay criminal code charges. They only can file provincial offence charges which are less severe than criminal code charges.
If AWS feels the offence being investigated rises to the level of criminality then they are to engage the appropriate police service. Police do have the ability and they HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY to undertake the investigation.
There does not appear to be clear guidelines as to whether AWS engages police or not. It appears to be very much up to the discernment of the AWS Inspector involved. This is very alarming as this increases the risk of a case falling through the cracks. Humane Initiative has many cases of this happening. We have raised these examples with the Ministry of the Solicitor General with the goal being to have clear guidelines put in place. To date, this has yet to happen.
There is no clear communication strategy of how/when AWS and the police services are to engage and the roles & responsibilities of each. Humane Initiative has dealt with many cases with many different AWS inspectors and police services. There appears to be no concrete process. Everything seems to be run by their individual discretionary judgement.
In our experience – this is where the epic failure of AWS enforcement model occurs:
- The parties involved (AWS, Police) are not clear as to if, when they are to engage with one another and what their roles and responsibilities are. This is due to the lack of direction provided by the Ministry of the Solicitor General who oversee public safety and animal welfare.
- There is no clear process for inspectors to access charging options and to aid them make better charging decisions.
Finally, under the OSPCA animal cruelty and neglect was dealt with as a serious matter. The annual statistics that the OSPCA released bore this out.
Under the provincial government, the enforcement model was changed from actually “enforcement” to “re-education”. Whereas the individual being visited as the result of a complaint is being “re-educated” as to why harming an animal is not an appropriate action. Again the statistics that the government have released in drips and drabs have bore this out.
We firmly believe this appropriate is not in the best interest and protection of the animal. Animals are being left in homes that they are being abused or neglected as opposed to be removed. Owners are being warned as opposed to charged.