Denis Coderre unmuzzled.
Montreal “must consider the immediate appeal” of Judge Louis Gouin’s decision to suspend the city ban on pit bulls
Animal control in the city of Montreal has suffered many shortcomings, which led to security problems for the citizens and also problems of inappropriate treatment of animals. My administration has therefore decided to attack these two problems head on.
Judge Louis Gouin in effect sent Montreal mayor Denis Coderre to the doghouse.
“Very high standards”
We announced in 2014 an investment of $23 million for the construction of a municipal animal services center. Construction is to begin in the spring of 2017, with the opening scheduled for 2018. The Montreal animal services center will collect and shelter stray animals, search for the animals’ owners, provide veterinary care, do public education, and enforce the Montreal city animal bylaws.
Unclaimed animals will be put up for adoption after being examined, groomed, vaccinated, and sterilized.
This approach demonstrates our sensitivity and our respect for the lives of animals. Montrealers have very high standards for animal care and well-being.
(Beth Clifton photo)
First priority is well-being & safety
That said, my first priority is always to ensure the well-being and safety of our human citizens. Therefore we have adopted a regulation aimed generally at dangerous dogs, and more specifically the pit bull, the most problematic type of dog, who is already the subject of prohibition in many cities in Quebec, in the province of Ontario, and elsewhere around in the world.
The reasons why we adopted this new regulation are well known: journalists have lifted the veil on the phenomenon of attacks and bites by dogs, especially pit bulls, and on the sense of impunity which seems to prevail among owners of dangerous dog.
The death of Christiane Vadnais, one of our citizens who was killed by a dog, has intensified feelings of insecurity among our population. Clearly, the authorities are alarmed throughout Quebec, and many cities have chosen to review their regulations.
Montreal pit bull victim Christiane Vadnais.
“Disappointed” at judge’s ruling
Yesterday, October 5, 2016, a Montreal Superior Court judge chose to suspend the provisions of the new Montreal regulation prohibiting pit bull-type dogs, pending a hearing on the merits of the regulation.
We are disappointed at this turn of events. The purpose of this regulation is to ensure the safety of our citizens, among a series of other measures required for owners of pets, especially for those who possess a dangerous dog.
(Beth Clifton photo)
We knew that we were going to confront the pit bull advocacy lobby. The debate quickly took on an emotional tone, that we regret. Our one and only concern is the safety of our citizens.
“Sensible solution”
Prohibiting the acquisition of new pit bull-type dogs, from the date of entry into force of the regulation, we believe is a sensible solution to the problem of attacks and repeated bites. These requirements address a disproportionate number of attacks by this type of dog and the much more serious injuries they can inflict.
Current owners of dogs of pit bull-type dogs have never been told they would have to euthanize their animal. On the contrary, they can keep their pit bull in accordance with certain conditions: to obtain a special permit, for which they will be required to prove of microchip identification, sterilization and vaccination against rabies. They will also have to show that they themselves have no history of criminal violence.
(Beth Clifton photo)
These requirements are issued because of the disproportionate number of attacks committed by pit bull-type dogs, as well as because the injuries caused by pit bull-type dogs tend to be much more serious than ordinary dog bites.
Criticisms are based on misrepresentations
We are criticized for allegedly focusing on pit bull-type dogs, without worrying about other dangerous dogs. This is false. The Montreal regulation stipulates that to keep any dogs who have already bitten and are declared at risk, obtaining a special license will be compulsory and strict conditions for keeping those dogs safely must be respected.
We are accused of having moved too fast to adopt our new regulations. This is also untrue. Our draft regulation passed through all the usual steps of the municipal lawmaking process, and was in progress even as the situation became urgent, after the death of Christiane Vadnais on June 8, 2016, as result of an attack by a pit bull-type dog.
Pit bull advocates tend to ignore the right of small dogs to live in safety.
(Beth Clifton collage)
We are criticized for addressing animals, rather than their owners. This is untrue. Our regulation is primarily intended to empower people to keep pets, even those whose behavior is far from being above reproach.
Keeping a dog or cat is a privilege, not a right
Keeping a dog or a cat in Montreal is not a right; it is a privilege that comes with obligations.
Foreground: Montreal mayor Denis Coderre. Background: anti-pit bull ban demonstrators whose signs, overwhelmingly in English, suggested that they may have come from the U.S.
With great respect for the opinion of the judge and the judicial institution, we consider the decision to suspend enforcement of our new bylaw to be ill-founded both in fact and in law. The right of cities to ban pit bull-type dogs has been clearly recognized in the past by the Superior court of Quebec.
There is no emergency imperative to have suspended immediately all of the provisions of our bylaw relating to the various recognized breeds of pit bull-type dog, namely the American pit bull terrier, the American Staffordshire terrier, and the Staffordshire bull terrier.
“We will not yield to threats or lobbying”
The City of Montreal must consider the immediate appeal of the judge’s decision.
We will yield neither to threats nor to lobbying. We reaffirm our commitment to banish the pit bull-type dogs from the City of Montreal, as was already done in many other Quebec cities, Ontario, in France and in hundreds of jurisdictions around the world.
When we talk about security of our citizens, we will not be compromised.
(Translated by Merritt Clifton, editor, ANIMALS 24-7, for 13 years a working journalist in Quebec, this statement was originally published on Denis Coderre’s personal Facebook page and web site. Because robotic translations tend to render idioms literally, thereby losing their meaning, this text will differ somewhat from those of Google Translate, Facebook, et al.)
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BRAVO, Mayor Coderre! Do not cave to the special-interest extremists whose complete disregard for the lives and wellbeing of the vast majority of the population and our loved ones is puzzling and probably founded in some very disturbing and anti-social bias, at very least.
Finally, a government employee/leader with common sense, and then some wing-nut judge comes along and blows it all to hell. Unconscionable.
Well said Jamaka, Mayor and thank you too Beth and Merritt Clifton!
I don’t recall anyone in a position of authority taking such a strong and direct stand against the pit bull lobbyists, even to the point of naming them *as* a problem. Hope he becomes an example of how it is possible to stand firm on the issue, and not immediately surrender to a loud, antisocial special interest group.
Well, that was bracing! The centre-left Projet Montréal party in council [the opposition to mayor Denis Coderre’s party] is calling for the resignation of Anie Samson from the Coderre administration, which he’s rejected. She’s currently head of public safety and citizen services, but she also directed the tribunal that drafted the ordinance, and is therefore responsible for “the shambles” of the new pit bull ordinance. (Can’t tell whether “shambles” is their characterization, or the La Presse journalist’s.) I admire Coderre’s determination to keep the seriousness of pit bull attacks foremost in arguing the city’s position.
Mayor Coderre,
I’m a former dog behavior consultant who specialized in aggressive dogs, and you are my hero! Will you please come to my city in the USA next? 🙂
You are a shining example of clear, calm and reasoned thinking on this issue. Thanks for doing your research and not believing the lies of the pit bull advocacy.
Education, responsibility and respect for the right of other living beings to live in safety from vicious dog attacks are basic truths I didn’t get until they were brought home to me.
On September 9, 2016, my landlady’s pit bull snapped and went into attack mode. His prey happened to be my 5-year-old grandson. We were invited to a pizza party and had just walked into her yard when he immediately knocked my grandson down with his muzzle a mere inch from my precious boy’s face.
I was able to grab the dog from behind before he attacked my grandson and as I turned my body away, this monster began to bite and we fell in a heap. He got free and again turned to my grandson as I screamed for help. Again I got to the dog first and grabbed him.
By this time my landlady ran outside and threw herself on us trying to protect me as her dog ripped my face apart. I watched in horror as I felt my face go. He got away once more and again turned his attention to my precious boy.
I was determined to protect my grandson and grabbed the dog again and felt the dog biting at my hands, ripping my bicep apart, breaking the bones in my thumb. It wasn’t until the dog was shot six times that his attack stopped. But he lay at my feet guarding his prey as I screamed for my grandson to be protected and I held my face in my hands.
I have already had six hours of surgery just to deal with the injuries to my arms, hands and to piece my face back together as best they could. I am facing at least three reconstructive surgeries, the first of which is next week. I am unable to work, anxiety is through the roof and I do not go out in public without a mask.
These dogs absolutely will not stop once that switch is triggered and they go into attack mode. Years of selective breeding insures that the injuries their massive jaws inflict are incredibly severe.
My grandson walked away that night with one stitch behind his ear. I shielded him from the aftermath of the attack on his Gran with the help of the EMTs and paramedics. Every trauma surgeon and physician has said that my little precious boy would have not survived the viciousness of this dog’s attack. My injuries are that severe.
And the owners’ insurance policy has pit bull exclusions. Their property is mortgaged. My life was literally ripped apart by the jaws of this dog and I am losing everything, all to pay for another irresponsible dog owner’s sheer disregard for the safety of others.
I beg you do not give up. I live in Louisiana where the rabid pit bull support advocates will never allow legislation as Montreal has bravely enacted. Why shouldn’t owners of potentially dangerous dogs be held accountable for responsible ownership of these animals?
That’s my story as I struggle to rebuild my life. I am alive though and my grandson is doing well. That is something other attack victims cannot say, so we must speak for them.
I too am from Louisiana and you are absolutely correct about Louisiana, especially South Louisiana. The hideous maiming of Linda Henry and the pitiful shredding death of Mia Derouen were not even a bump in the road for those in power here in Louisiana. The only positive thing that can be said regarding pit bulls in Louisiana is that pit bulls taken in dog fighting busts are state-mandated to be euthanized…grown dogs, puppies and bait animals ALL.
Thank so much for stepping up to tell us about your experience, Tina. You and others like you are who the public needs to hear more of, not pit bull advocates and apologists. As long as they can reduce the carnage to a sterile percentage and keep the public from appreciating what it means in real life, it’s easy for them to deceive everyone. I want for no one to experience what you’ve had to go through. Your grandson sure doesn’t have to look far for a hero in his life.
I was a NYS trooper for 26 years. For most of my career, I worked on cases of animal cruelty which included many cases of dog fighting. I actually subscribed to fighting magazines and learned that not only are pitbulls bred to be tenacious, animal aggressive fighters, they are being bred by people who take the most aggressive and INBREED them! The less aggressive dogs are usually used for bait.
Not all pitbulls will attack humans but if you are walking your dog, that’s when they will come at you, to kill your pet!
When we seized them in fighting cases, they would try to chew through the chain link at the shelters to get at each other. All dogs came from wolves and are the result of breeding by man. They were all bred to serve us in different ways. Pitbulls were bred to kill other animals. That is just a fact. You never know when they might snap. My heart goes out to them because most of them live in very cruel situations. Personally, I would like to see an end to the breed; for their own good. I commend you folks for what you are doing in Canada.
To be noted is that the small Asiatic wolves ancestral to modern dogs were much closer in size and sociability to coyotes, foxes, and jackals than to the big northern wolves of the Ice Ages and today.
After reading hundreds of strident, illogical and sometimes crude and offensive posts online in support of cute and cuddly pitbulls, it is a relief to finally come across a site that clearly states why we need this ban. Years ago, while walking in a popular park in a Vancouver suburb, with my Bichon Freise, I had a close encounter with two pit bulls who were roaming free. Luckily I was unscathed but an hour later the dogs went into a nearby farmers field and spent two hours viciously ravaging a prize, pregnant cow with calf. She was literally disemboweled. Both the cow and her calf had to be put down. The dogs had escaped from their owners back yard . All the usual excuses were made. I was visiting Montreal a week before Ms Vadnais was killed. I am in full support of the ban. I would like to see the ban made Canada wide.