Defender Radio: The Podcast For Wildlife Advocates And Animal Lovers

Investigations into farms by animal advocacy groups is an essential tool to exposing serious, systemic abuses of animals, failures to follow basic policy, and have led to criminal charges. But the Ontario government wanted to stop that – and introduced Bill 156 in 2020. The Bill, Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act, was challenged in court by Animal Justice, with applicants Jessica Scott-Reid (a journalist) and Louise Jorgensen (an advocate with Toronto Cow Save). Intervenors who joined Animal Justice included Animal Alliance of Canada, the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University, and The Regan Russell Foundation. After some serious legal work by the aforementioned team, Justice Markus Koehnen of the Superior Court ruled that elements of the law and its regulation violate the right to freedom of expression guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Camille Labchuk, Executive Director of Animal Justice, joins Defender Radio to share the background and