Animal advocates are celebrating after parts of a controversial Ontario agriculture law that made it illegal to get a job on a farm under false pretences to expose conditions inside were deemed unconstitutional.
Justice Markus Koehnen struck down parts of Bill 156, the Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act, earlier this month after advocacy group Animal Justice, along with an activist and a journalist, launched a Charter challenge in 2021.
They argued the new law infringed on their freedom of expression because they could not tell the outside world what was happening inside a farm if they gained access to the property through a false pretence.
That’s sensible to me.
If you need an anti whistleblowing law, that’s a red flag.
I don’t agree entirely with animal rights activists, but the cases where criminal charges have been laid to me says this kind of activism does serve society.
And this law sounds so open to abuse that it could effectively silence any whistleblowing in the entire industry. Like it or not, whistleblowing is a necessary function to keep the economy functioning fairly.
100% this.
Any company or industry that actively tries to get these laws instated should be investigated immediately, because they are doing some really, really bad things.