Introduction

• Author: Peter Sankoff; Vaughan Black; Katie Sykes
• Pages: 1-8

1

Introduction

Much can be ascertained about a civilized country

by the way its animals are treated.1

This epigram, which echoes words famously, though dubiously, attributed

to Mohandas Gandhi, is notable for a number of reasons. It is the opening

sentence of a recent Canadian court decision dealing with the sentencing

of Maple Lodge Farms, a corporation convicted of causing unnecessary

suering to farmed animals. That sentencing judgment, when combined

with the liability decision on which it is based, runs to  paragraphs.

The case involved f‌ieen days of hearings, and testimony from several

experts. This is a big expenditure of judicial and legal resources, especial-

ly considering that the animals involved were chickens, which have not

always attracted the interest of prosecutors to the extent that more cud-

dly, and supposedly more charismatic, creatures have. No other animal

welfare case in this country has come close to Maple Lodge in this regard.

Equally important is the sentiment itself. These words, and others found

throughout the judgment, acknowledge that treatment of animals, and by

extension legal regulation of the treatment of animals, is of deep signif‌i-

cance. Such thoughts would be unremarkable in an essay by an animal

 R v Maple Lodge Farms,  ONCJ  at para , Kastner J [Maple Lodge]. Gandhi is

frequently quoted as having said, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress

can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Possibly he did, but there is no

reliable source for it, which may explain why Kastner J made no mention of him.

This is a sentencing decision. The judgment in which the defendant was convicted

was reported several months earlier: R v Maple Lodge Farms,  ONCJ .