The animal protection organization Communauté Droit animalier Québec (DAQ) failed in its attempt to have two events banned at the Festival western de Saint-Tite, namely the lassoing of the calf and the earthmoving of the steer. Its action was dismissed before trial by the Superior Court, but the organization has already indicated its intention to appeal this judgment.
DAQ believes that these two tests are animal abuse, because they create pain and anguish in young animals.
She asked the court for an injunction to stop these activities. The festival responded by filing a motion to dismiss the action now, before a trial and evidence are presented. He argued that DAQ does not have the requisite interest to bring such an action.
In a decision handed down on Friday, Superior Court Judge Marc Paradis ruled in favor of the festival. To bring a case to court, you must have an interest in the outcome of the dispute, which the organization does not have, ruled the magistrate. DAQ does not own the animals, which do not seem to complain, he added.
Other ways to settle the dispute
But DAQ said it wanted to act in the name of the public interest, and in order to enforce the law on animal welfare.
The judge then recalled that to act in the public interest, Quebec law provides that there must be a serious question to be decided and “the absence of another effective means” of seizing the court of this question.
Here, there is a serious question, writes the magistrate, but there are other ways to settle this dispute, in particular by the report made in 2018 to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of Quebec ( MAPAQ) about the rodeo.
Although this report is not an “impediment in itself” to a request for an injunction, the court indicates that it cannot disregard it, especially since the legal action will not, in its view, make it possible to shed more complete light than what the MAPAQ survey has already undertaken.
The fact that the MAPAQ has been investigating for five years and that DAQ considers “that it is not acting quickly enough” does not help its approach, judge Paradis decides.
DAQ “obviously does not have the required interest to act in this case and therefore its originating application is inadmissible”.
In a press release released on Monday, DAQ announced its intention to appeal this judgment.