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The Alberta government is planning to update its approach to ensuring the well-being of animals by ramping up fines and penalties.
The Animal Protection Amendment Act, or Bill 22, provides more comprehensive definitions of distress and abandonment will better allow peace officers to intervene or remove animals from harmful conditions, according to RJ Sigurdson, Alberta’s minister of agriculture and irrigation.
Indicators of distress include factors like access to adequate shelter and sanitation.
The amendments also expand the range of locations and businesses that can be inspected to now include boarding and grooming facilities.
If passed, the bill will also provide tougher penalties for offenders, increasing maximum fines from $20,000 to $250,000 and introducing jail terms up to 12 months for serious offences.
The bill would also crack down on offenders who may have harmed an animal in another province and moved to Alberta without yet facing consequences for the offences.
“We will be the first province in Canada to be able to enforce prohibition orders from other provinces,” said Leanna Niblock, executive director of the Alberta SPCA.
“Allowing our peace officers to act on repeat offenders and bad actors, no matter where they put animals in harm’s way across this country.”
The Alberta government is proposing changes to the Animal Protection Act for the first time in two decades. New legislation proposes stiffer fines for those found guilty of neglecting or abusing animals. As Travis McEwan reports, the bill is being applauded by some animal welfare advocates.
Niblock said that increasing fines and introducing jail time for offenders “will further strengthen accountability and deterrence and show the public that animals are important and deserve the full force of the law.”
Recent cases of animal distress include two women being charged in November 2025 after a large-scale investigation into allegations of animal cruelty in northwestern Alberta.
More than 300 animals were surrendered from both locations of In The Woods animal rescue in the hamlet of Marie Reine, Alta., and the Municipal District of Smoky River.
