Montreal SPCA challenging Quebec’s ‘no pet clauses’ in court

The Montreal SPCA says it will challenge the province’s “no pet clauses” in court.

For more than a decade the animal rights’ group has been fighting a landlord’s legal right to prevent a tenant from keeping a pet.

The SPCA says it will file a declaration of intervention with the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL) in connection with a dispute between a tenant and her landlord “over the validity of the clause in her lease prohibiting animals in the unit.”

The Montreal SPCA contends “no pet clauses” are having devastating effects on both animals and Quebec families and leads to “mass abandonment” of pets.

“We consider this type of clause to be abusive, unreasonable and contrary to certain fundamental rights set out in the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms,” said Sophie Gaillard, the director of animal advocacy and legal and government affairs at the Montreal SPCA.

RELATED:

• NDG woman threatened with eviction because of elderly cat: ‘Just let her be with us’
• Students unable to find housing with service dogs

The SPCA says its declaration of intervention will argue “no pet clauses” violate an animal’s status as a sentient being, per the Civil Code of Quebec as of 2015; violate the right to privacy in the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms; and are “abusive and unreasonable.”

Last month Québec solidaire tabled a bill which would allow service and companion animals in all rental housing.

If approved, the bill — which would be known as Bill 494 — would amend the Civil Code to render ineffective lease clauses that prohibit companion animals.

“Every year, thousands of Quebecers are forced to make the heartbreaking decision to give up their animal, whom they consider a member of the family, in order to find affordable housing,” added Gaillard.

“Moving is one of the main reasons animals are abandoned in Quebec shelters.”