The Faculty of Law wishes to extend congratulations to Professor Sankoff on the recent publication of Canadian Perspectives on Animals and the Law (Irwin Law, 2015), the first book-length jurisprudential work to engage in a sustained analysis of Canadian law concerning the treatment of animals at the hands of human beings. This is Professor Sankoff's third book exploring these issues. His previous efforts - Animal Law in Australasia: A New Dialogue (2009), and Animal Law in Australasia: Continuing the Dialogue (2013) - examined the legal framework of animal-human relationships within the Australia/New Zealand context.
Professor Sankoff initiated the Canadian project in 2012 with co-editors Professor Vaughan Black (Dalhousie) and Professor Katie Sykes (Thompson Rivers). They were joined by a host of academics and lawyers from across Canada, each of who contributed chapters focusing on the laws governing the human/animal relationship, and the myriad shortcomings in those laws that lead to animal suffering. Professor Sankoff co-authored two chapters: a piece focusing on the East Coast seal hunt and the story it tells about our treatment of animals; and, an exploration of the possibility of using private prosecutions as a tool to improve animal protection law and obtain better results for animals. Professors Cameron Jefferies and Eran Kaplinsky added additional University of Alberta content by contributing a wonderful co-written chapter on the potential use of municipal law to advance animal issues.
Professor Sankoff hopes the book will help enrich the discourse on animals and the law in Canada by situating doctrinal issues and legal developments in the broader context of ethical and philosophical debate about human-animal relationships. "I could not be more thrilled with the result," says Sankoff. "It was a great opportunity to work with colleagues from across Canada who want to make a difference for animals and the way the law treats them."
The book begins with a foreword from former Supreme Court Justice Claire L'Heureux-Dubé, who notes that "the efforts in these chapters are useful in revealing the many difficulties faced by animals under today's legal system, proposing new ways of looking at old legal doctrines and even suggesting some radical suggestions for the future". She goes on to call the book "an admirable and audacious attempt to think about how the law might evolve, and [perhaps] play a role in getting a wide range of Canadians thinking about these possibilities as well."
Canadian Perspectives on Animals and the Law should provide invaluable assistance to legal scholars, practitioners and students eager to explore these areas in greater depth. The book is published by Irwin Law and available for sale at the Irwin Law website. A celebratory book launch is being hosted at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law [all three editors are graduates of the University of Toronto] on April 30. The Honourable Louis LeBel, recently retired from the Supreme Court of Canada, will deliver the keynote address. Professor Sankoff will be speaking as well, and is looking forward to the event.