Companion Animal Conference Inspires

June 1, 2009

	Nik speaks about cats.© HSI

May 28, 2009 saw another important step forward in Quebec’s growing movement towards the betterment of animal welfare. HSI Canada was proud to sponsor and present at a conference organized by the Companion Animal Adoption Center’s of Quebec (CAACQ). The audience included Quebec’s Municipalities, various other government officials, veterinary groups, grassroots animal welfare organizations, SPA/SPCAs, and the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies.

HSI Canada was honored to have been invited to take part. Our campaigner, Nikolas Gour, spoke on a hot topic of great concern to municipalities: cat overpopulation. Questions discussed included "What is the situation in Quebec?" and "How do we solve it?"

The conference keynote speaker was Mr. Bill Bruce, who has spear-headed an innovative and caring animal control program in Calgary, Alberta. The main tenets include:

• Get the animals back to their owners as soon as possible—animals are brought home rather than to a shelter, reducing costs significantly!
• Reduce administrative barriers so that citizens can get permits easily 
• The money generated goes to developing in-school and public education programs.

Calgary’s methods are inspirational and we look forward to helping develop similar programs flourish in Quebec and across Canada.