A Canadian Jewish Congress delegation has called on Davie Fulton, Minister of Justice, to express the concern of the Jewish community for the wording of a bill now before the House of Commons on humane slaughter of animals. The delegation suggested that the present wording of the bill did not give adequate protection to shechita, the Jewish method of ritual slaughter, and was not acceptable to the Canadian Jewish community.
The delegation pointed out that an exemption from prosecution from alleged cruelty provided in the bill for slaughter “in accordance with religious rituals” does not define the act of shechita and equates shechita with the practices of other religious faiths which may or may not be humane. The CJC delegation noted that shechita has been recognized by leading experts in the field as a humane method of slaughter and that its rules and regulations stem from the Biblical injunction against cruelty to animals.
The delegation asked that the bill be sent to a study committee and that the bill ought to spell out which methods of slaughter are considered humane and that shechita be included in this listing. Mr. Fulton promised to give careful consideration to the points raised by the CJC unit.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
