Health of Animals Act (S.C. 1990, c. 21)

Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Health of Animals Act.

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

• 2 (1) In this Act,

  analyst

  analyst means a person designated as an analyst pursuant to section 32; (analyste)

  animal

  animal includes an embryo and a fertilized egg or ovum; (animal)

  animal by-product

  animal by-product includes blood or any of its components, bones, bristles, feathers, flesh, hair, hides, hoofs, horns, offal, skins and wool, and any thing containing any of those things; (sous-produit animal)

  animal deadyard

  animal deadyard means a place where animal carcasses, animal by-products or disabled or diseased animals are brought when they are not to be prepared for human consumption; (atelier d’équarrissage)

  animal food

  animal food means any thing that is capable of being a nutriment for animals and includes any of the constituent elements of an animal ration; (aliments pour animaux)

  animal product

  animal product includes cream, eggs, milk, non-fertilized ova and semen; (produit animal)

  Assessor

  Assessor means the Assessor or any Deputy Assessor appointed under Part II of the Pesticide Residue Compensation Act; (évaluateur)

  conveyance

  conveyance means any aircraft, carriage, motor vehicle, trailer, railway car, vessel, cargo container or other contrivance used to move persons, animals or things; (véhicule)

  customs officer

  customs officer means a person employed in the administration and enforcement of the Customs Act and includes any member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; (agent des douanes)

  disease

  disease includes

  • (a) a reportable disease and any other disease that may affect an animal or that may be transmitted by an animal to a person, and

  • (b) the causative agent of any such disease; (maladie)

  dispose

  dispose includes slaughter or otherwise destroy, bury or render; (Version anglaise seulement)

  document

  document means anything on which information that is capable of being understood by a person, or read by a computer or other device, is recorded or marked; (document)

  hatchery

  hatchery means, subject to any regulations made under subsection (2), a place where eggs are incubated or chicks are hatched; (couvoir)

  infected place

  infected place means a place that is constituted to be an infected place under section 22 or 23 or under the regulations; (lieu contaminé)

  inspector

  inspector means a person designated as an inspector pursuant to section 32; (inspecteur)

  justice

  justice means a justice as defined in section 2 of the Criminal Code; (juge de paix)

  Minister

  Minister means the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food; (ministre)

  officer

  officer means a person designated as an officer pursuant to section 32, but does not include an analyst; (agent d’exécution)

  peace officer

  peace officer means a peace officer as defined in section 2 of the Criminal Code; (agent de la paix)

  penalty

  penalty means an administrative monetary penalty imposed under the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Act for a violation; (sanction)

  place

  place includes a conveyance; (lieu)

  prescribed

  prescribed means prescribed by regulation; (Version anglaise seulement)

  rendering plant

  rendering plant means a place

  • (a) where animal by-products are prepared or treated for use in, or converted into, fertilizers, animal food, fats or oils, other than fats or oils used for human consumption,

  • (b) where a substance resulting from a process mentioned in paragraph (a) is stored, packed or marked, or

  • (c) from which a substance resulting from a process mentioned in paragraph (a) is shipped; (usine de traitement)

  reportable

  reportable means prescribed as reportable by the Minister; (déclarable)

  toxic substance

  toxic substance means a substance prescribed as toxic by the Minister; (substance toxique)

  Tribunal

  Tribunal means the Review Tribunal continued by subsection 27(1) of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Act; (Commission)

  vector

  vector means an animal that has the potential to transmit a disease, directly or indirectly, from one animal or its excreta to another animal; (vecteur)

  veterinary biologic

  veterinary biologic means a thing that is manufactured, sold or represented for use in restoring, correcting or modifying organic functions in animals or for use in the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or prevention of a disease, disorder or abnormal physical state — or its symptoms — in animals and that is

  • (a) a helminth, protozoa or micro-organism,

  • (b) a substance or mixture of substances derived from animals, helminths, protozoa, micro-organisms or plants, or

  • (c) a substance of synthetic origin; (produit biologique vétérinaire)

  veterinary inspector

  veterinary inspector means a veterinarian designated as an inspector pursuant to section 32; (vétérinaire-inspecteur)

  violation

  violation means

  • (a) any contravention of any provision of this Act or of a regulation made under this Act, or

  • (b) any refusal or neglect to perform any duty imposed by or under this Act,

  that may be proceeded with in accordance with the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Act. (violation)

• Marginal note:Ministerial regulations

  (2) The Minister may make regulations excluding places from the definition hatchery and prescribing reportable diseases and toxic substances.

• Marginal note:Incorporation by reference

  (3) Toxic substances may be prescribed

  • (a) in terms of the quantity or concentration in which substances are contained in other substances; and

  • (b) by reference to substances specified in any published document, as amended from time to time.

Application

Marginal note:Binding on Her Majesty

3 This Act is binding on Her Majesty in right of Canada or a province.

Marginal note:Limits of ports, etc.

4 The Governor in Council may, by order, define the limits of ports and of other places for the purposes of this Act.

Control of Diseases and Toxic Substances

Notification and Samples

Marginal note:Notification by owner, etc.

• 5 (1) A person who owns or has the possession, care or control of an animal shall notify the nearest veterinary inspector of the presence of a reportable disease or toxic substance, or any fact indicating its presence, in or around the animal, immediately after the person becomes aware of the presence or fact.

• Marginal note:Notification by veterinarian, etc.

  (2) Immediately after a person who is a veterinarian or who analyses animal specimens suspects that an animal is affected or contaminated by a reportable disease or toxic substance, the person shall so notify a veterinary inspector.

6 [Repealed, 2015, c. 2, s. 85]

Marginal note:Notice forbidding entry

• 7 (1) Where

  • (a) there exists in an area a disease or toxic substance that is capable of affecting animals, and

  • (b) reasonable steps have been taken by the Minister to

    • (i) bring the existence of the disease or toxic substance to the attention of persons having the possession, care or control of animals in the area, and

    • (ii) make those persons aware of the requirements of this subsection,

  every person in that area who owns or has the possession, care or control of an animal shall affix at the entrance to the building or other enclosed place in which the animal is kept a notice forbidding entry without the person’s permission.

• Marginal note:Notice forbidding entry without permission

  (2) A person who owns or has the possession, care or control of an animal shall affix at the entrance to the building or other enclosed place in which the animal is kept a notice forbidding entry without the permission of an inspector or officer where there exists in the area a disease or toxic substance that is capable of affecting the animal and the inspector or officer requires such a notice to be so affixed.

• Marginal note:Prohibition

  (3) No person shall knowingly enter a building or other enclosed place in contravention of a notice affixed under this section, unless the person has a right of entry or way into the building or place or any part thereof or an inspector or officer has authorized the entry.

Prohibitions

Marginal note:Concealment

8 No person shall conceal the existence of a reportable disease or toxic substance among animals.

Marginal note:Keeping diseased animals

9 No person shall turn out, keep or graze on any undivided or unenclosed land any animal that the person knows is affected or contaminated by, or has been exposed to, any reportable disease or toxic substance.

Marginal note:Bringing diseased animals to market

10 No person shall, without a licence issued by an inspector or officer, bring into any market, fair or other place any animal that is known by the person to be affected or contaminated by, or has been exposed to, any reportable disease or toxic substance.

Marginal note:Selling or disposing of diseased animals

11 No person shall, without a licence issued by an inspector or officer, sell or offer or expose for sale or otherwise transfer the ownership of

• (a) any animal or any part of an animal that the person knows is affected or contaminated by, or has been exposed to, any reportable disease or toxic substance, or

• (b) any animal product or animal by-product that the person knows was obtained from an animal that was affected or contaminated by, or was exposed to, any reportable disease or toxic substance at the time of its death,

whether or not the person is the owner of the animal, animal product or animal by-product.

Marginal note:Recall order — Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act

11.1 No person shall sell an animal or thing regulated under this Act that is the subject of a recall order referred to in subsection 19(1) of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act.

Marginal note:Throwing carcasses into water

12 No person shall throw or place in any body of water the carcass or any part of an animal that at the time of its death was to the person’s knowledge affected or contaminated by, or was exposed to, any disease or toxic substance, or that was destroyed because it was, or was suspected of being, affected or contaminated by a disease or toxic substance.

Marginal note:Digging up carcasses

• 13 (1) No person shall, without lawful authority or excuse, dig up all or any part of the buried carcass of an animal that died or is suspected of having died as a result of being affected or contaminated by a disease or toxic substance, or that was destroyed because it was, or was suspected of being, affected or contaminated by a disease or toxic substance.

• Marginal note:Experimentation and examination

  (2) The Minister may

  • (a) reserve for experimentation an animal required to be destroyed under this Act or the carcass of an animal destroyed under this Act; and

  • (b) authorize an inspector or officer to perform a post mortem examination of the carcass of an animal that has died or is suspected of having died from a disease or toxic substance and, if the carcass is buried, to dig it up for the purpose of the examination.

Importation

Marginal note:Regulations prohibiting importation

14 The Minister may make regulations prohibiting the importation of any animal or other thing into Canada, any part of Canada or any Canadian port, either generally or from any place named in the regulations, for such period as the Minister considers necessary for the purpose of preventing a disease or toxic substance from being introduced into or spread within Canada.

Marginal note:Prohibition of possession or disposition

• 15 (1) No person shall possess or dispose of an animal or thing that the person knows was imported in contravention of this Act or the regulations.

• Marginal note:Presumption

  (2) In any prosecution for an offence under subsection (1), an accused who is found to have been in possession of an animal or thing that was imported in contravention of this Act or the regulations shall be considered, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to have known that the thing was so imported.