Quebec tables bill to ban 'potentially dangerous' dog breeds

CTV Montreal: Bill on dangerous dogs The Quebec government has tabled a bill listing which types of dogs will be considered dangerous.

The Quebec government tabled a new bill in the National Assembly on Thursday that seeks to ban dogs deemed “potentially dangerous” in the province.

CTV Montreal’s Maya Johnson reported that the proposed law, called Bill 128, is described as a bill to “promote the protection of persons by establishing a framework to govern dogs.”

The legislation lists a number of different dog breeds considered “potentially dangerous” such as, American pit bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, Rottweilers, certain cross-breeds and all dogs trained to protect, guard or attack. However, the law does include a grandfather clause that would allow “responsible” owners who already possess these types of dogs to keep them.

The wording of the tabled legislation would allow the province to decide which dogs are considered potentially dangerous and ban them, Johnson said.

Under the bill’s provisions, municipalities would also be required to euthanize any dog that has caused major injury or death to a human from biting or attacking them.

Quebec Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux also announced that pit bulls would eventually be banned across the province. He said the government needed to take action on dangerous dogs after a 55-year-old Montreal woman was killed by her neighbour’s dog last June.

The dog involved in Christiane Vadnais’ death was initially thought to be a pit bull but that determination has since been questioned and the exact breed remains unclear. That incident inspired Montreal to impose a controversial pit bull ban that faced public backlash and was challenged by the city’s SPCA.

As of March 31, nearly 2,000 pit bulls were registered with the city in accordance with the law.

With files from CTV Montreal