The province becomes the first in Canada to prohibit the practice
Ontario has prohibited invasive medical testing on dogs and cats in a landmark change to its Animals for Research Act – making it the first Canadian province to ban this practice.
The reforms were incorporated into Bill 75, Keeping Criminals Behind Bars Act, 2026, as provisions. The bill passed a final vote in the legislature on Thursday May 21.
The prohibition comes after a secret dog lab was discovered at London facility St. Joseph’s Hospital. Whistleblowers collaborated with Animal Justice and the Investigative Journalism Bureau to expose how the lab put dogs through invasive cardiac experiments and then killed and disposed of them.
Ontario premier Doug Ford pledged to illegitimize such practices after the lab’s conduct came to light, and the lab was shut down. Animal Justice executive director and lawyer Camille Labchuk lauded the enactment of this protection into law; the organization is now pushing for lab-confined dogs and cats to be rehomed and rehabilitated.
“This law sends a clear message that dogs and cats do not belong in laboratories,” Labchuk said in a statement. “People across the province see dogs and cats as members of the family, and there is little public support left for subjecting them to painful and deadly tests, especially when modern, non-animal methods are increasingly available and can produce better scientific results.”
The bill also shields “prescribed animals” like primates, even though primate research has not been prohibited. It covers the plight of the macaque monkeys undergoing brain implants at York University, which was flagged by Last Chance for Animals.
According to Animal Justice, 3.7 million animals were experimented on in 2024 – the year the sole national science centre in Canada dedicated to replacing animal testing methods had to shut down due to inadequate funding.
Last week, Animal Justice received a £25,000 Lush Prize in the Public Awareness category for its work in exposing animal experimentation. The prize is the biggest award in the non-animal testing sector, according to Animal Justice.
Labchuk, who accepted the prize at a ceremony in the UK, dedicated the prize to a dog who died due to the St. Joseph’s Hospital experiments.
“I’d love to dedicate this award to one special dog named Salt. Her cage mate, Sugar, was killed in one of the experiments, and Salt really suffered from being alone after that. She was part of the inspiration for the whistleblowers to come forward and tell their stories. So this award goes to Salt, who unfortunately didn’t make it, and the dogs who perished; it was too late for them, but hopefully not too late for some future lives,” she said in her speech.
Animal-Free Science Advocacy in Australia also received the same award.
