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

Incorporation by Reference

Marginal note:Incorporation by reference

• 64.1 (1) A regulation made under section 64 may incorporate by reference any document, regardless of its source, either as it exists on a particular date or as it is amended from time to time.

• Marginal note:Accessibility

  (2) The Minister must ensure that any document that is incorporated by reference in a regulation made under section 64, including any amendments to the document, is accessible.

• Marginal note:Defence

  (3) A person is not liable to be found guilty of an offence or subjected to an administrative sanction for any contravention in respect of which a document that is incorporated by reference in a regulation made under section 64 is relevant unless, at the time of the alleged contravention, the document was accessible as required by subsection (2) or it was otherwise accessible to the person.

• Marginal note:No registration or publication

  (4) For greater certainty, a document that is incorporated by reference in a regulation made under section 64 is not required to be transmitted for registration or published in the Canada Gazette by reason only that it is incorporated by reference.

General

Marginal note:Consideration of information

64.2 In considering an application made under the regulations in relation to an animal or thing, the Minister may consider information that is available from a review or evaluation of an animal or thing conducted by the government of a foreign state or of a subdivision of a foreign state or by an international organization, or association, of states.

Marginal note:Non-application of Statutory Instruments Act

64.3 The Statutory Instruments Act does not apply in respect of a notice referred to in section 66.

Offences and Punishment

Marginal note:General offence

• 65 (1) Every person who contravenes any provision of this Act, other than section 15, or the regulations or who refuses or neglects to perform any duty imposed by or under the Act or the regulations is guilty of

  • (a) an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both; or

  • (b) an indictable offence and liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both.

• Marginal note:Possession and disposal

  (2) Every person who contravenes section 15 is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand dollars.

• Marginal note:No imprisonment

  (3) Notwithstanding the Criminal Code, no person shall be committed to prison for default of payment of a fine imposed under subsection (2).

Marginal note:Failure to comply with notices

66 Every person who fails to comply with a notice delivered to them under section 18, 25, 27.6, 37, 43 or 48 or the regulations is guilty of

• (a) an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both; or

• (b) an indictable offence and liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both.

Marginal note:Fine of vessel

67 Where a person is convicted of an offence arising out of a contravention of subsection 19(3) in relation to a vessel, the vessel is liable to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand dollars.

Marginal note:Limitation period

68 Summary conviction proceedings for an offence under this Act may be instituted no later than two years after the day on which the subject matter of the proceedings arises.

Marginal note:Ticket offences

69 The Governor in Council may make regulations designating the contravention of any provision of this Act or the regulations as an offence with respect to which, notwithstanding the provisions of the Criminal Code,

• (a) an inspector or officer may lay an information and issue and serve a summons by completing a ticket in the prescribed form, affixing the inspector’s or officer’s signature thereto and delivering the ticket to the person alleged to have committed the offence specified therein at the time the offence is alleged to have been committed, or

• (b) the summons may be served on an accused by mailing the summons to the accused at the accused’s latest known address,

and any regulations made under this section shall establish a procedure for voluntarily entering a plea of guilty and paying a fine in respect of each offence to which the regulations relate and shall prescribe the amount of the fine to be paid in respect of each offence.

Marginal note:Recovery of fines

70 Where a person is convicted of an offence under this Act and a fine that is imposed as punishment is not paid when required, the prosecutor may, by filing the conviction, enter as a judgment the amount of the fine and costs, if any, in the superior court of the province in which the trial was held, and the judgment is enforceable against the convicted person in the same manner as if it were a judgment obtained by Her Majesty in right of Canada against the person in that court in civil proceedings.

Marginal note:Parties to offence

71 If a person other than an individual commits an offence under this Act, any of the person’s directors, officers or agents or mandataries who directs, authorizes, assents to or acquiesces or participates in the commission of the offence is a party to the offence and is liable on conviction to the punishment provided for by this Act, even if the person is not prosecuted for the offence.

Marginal note:Proof of offence

72 In a prosecution for an offence under this Act, it is sufficient proof of the offence to establish that it was committed by an employee or an agent or mandatary of the accused, even if the employee or the agent or mandatary is not identified or prosecuted for the offence, unless the accused establishes that the offence was committed without the knowledge or consent of the accused and that the accused exercised all due diligence to prevent its commission.

Marginal note:Place of trial

73 A prosecution for an offence under this Act may be instituted, heard and determined in the place where

• (a) the offence was committed or the subject-matter of the prosecution arose;

• (b) the accused was apprehended; or

• (c) the accused happens to be, or is carrying on business.

Evidence

Marginal note:Certificates and reports

• 74 (1) In any proceedings for a violation, or for an offence under this Act, a declaration, certificate, report or other document of the Minister or an analyst, inspector or officer, purporting to have been signed by the Minister or the analyst, inspector or officer, is admissible in evidence without proof of the signature or official character of the person appearing to have signed it and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is proof of the matters asserted in it.

• Marginal note:Copies of documents

  (2) In any proceedings for a violation, or for an offence under this Act, a copy of or an extract from any record or other document that is made by the Minister or an analyst, inspector or officer under this Act or the regulations and that appears to have been certified under the signature of the Minister or the analyst, inspector or officer as a true copy or extract is admissible in evidence without proof of the signature or official character of the person appearing to have signed it and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, has the same probative force as the original would have if it were proved in the ordinary way.

• Marginal note:Presumed date of issue

  (3) Any document referred to in subsection (1) or (2) shall, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, be deemed to have been issued on the date that it bears.

• Marginal note:Notice

  (4) No declaration, certificate, report, copy, extract or other document referred to in this section shall be received in evidence unless the party intending to produce it has, before the trial, served on the party against whom it is intended to be produced reasonable notice of that intention, together with a duplicate of the declaration, certificate, report, copy or extract.

Transitional

Marginal note:Orders continued as regulations

75 Any orders made under section 16 of the Animal Disease and Protection Act and in force immediately before the repeal of that Act by section 76 of this Act shall continue in force as if they were regulations made under section 14 of this Act.

Consequential Amendments

76 [Repeal]

77 [Amendment]

Coming into Force

Marginal note:Coming into force

Footnote ^*78 This Act or any provision thereof shall come into force on a day or days to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.

• Return to footnote ^*[Note: Act in force January 1, 1991, see SI/91-2.]