Mattie’s Place
To improve Canada’s outdated animal rights laws, we worked with local dog shelter Mattie’s Place to create the Pet-ition – the first petition signed by pets. Since nowhere does it state that you must be human to sign a petition – only needing a name, Canadian address, and unique signature – we exploited this loophole in order to give pets the power to advocate on behalf of all animals.
While we often like to think of Canada as a highly progressive country, pushing the boundaries in nearly every category, sadly our federal animal rights laws are severely outdated, even earning a ‘D’ from the World Animal Protection Index; consistently outperformed by countries like New Zealand, the UK, Mexico, India, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and more.
In fact, animals are still considered ‘property’ under the Criminal Code of Canada, which opens them up to a host of abuses, issues, and legal loopholes that detriment their treatment and well-being.
Given that the world is so inundated with different causes and petitions – all of them noble – it can become very crowded and difficult for any given cause to gain traction. We had to figure out a way to gain traction for this specific cause and break through the noise.
Working with Mattie’s Place – an award-winning volunteer-run pet rescue founded in 2019 by Denise Angus that has a focus on rescuing at-risk Canadian pets and improving the lives of all animals – we found a loophole of our own.
Digging deep into petition law, we discovered that nowhere in the rules and regulations does it say that you must be human to sign a petition. Additionally, there are no criteria that would actively exclude non-humans. Essentially, you just need a name, a Canadian address, and a unique signature.
Introducing the Pet-ition: The first petition signed by pets to help all animals.
Since human petitions and initiatives aren’t working, we realized it was time for animals to stop waiting for change, and start demanding it. Pets, as the most protected and fortunate of animals, are in a unique position of being named and in most cases, having a place of residence, allowing the fortunate to help the less fortunate.
Using a paw print as a signature – which are genetically unique to each animal – pets across Canada are being called on to sign a petition that seeks to change Canadian federal laws so that animals may be viewed as sentient beings instead of merely as property; a classification that countries like the UK, and New Zealand have changed, and that British Columbia has changed in regards to divorce proceedings.
“Animal sentience is a complicated issue to discuss,” said Vini Dalvi, CCO at Publicis Toronto, “but creating a petition that showcases the power of these living creatures by having them take action and sign was the perfect way to showcase that they’re more than just property.”
Taking to streets and parks across Toronto, the volunteers from Mattie’s Place kicked off the campaign in June, hosting a booth at Woofstock – North America’s Largest Dog Festival – and partnering with local pet stores, dog walkers, and groomers to place petitions in their stores across the Province for customers to sign. Mattie’s Place even got the Red Hot Chilli Peppers – strong supporters of animal rights – to help gather a few signatures backstage while in Toronto for their July show.
Mattie’s Place and Publicis, in partnership with various agency partners– like ThePub, North Strategic and MSL Canada – created a launch video for Mattie’s Place social platforms and reached out to prominent animal influencers.
The campaign is looking to gather as many signatures as possible from both humans and pets alike during the summer, before working with a Member of Parliament to present the Pet-ition before the House of Commons upon its resumption in September.
Want to get involved? Have your pet sign the Pet-ition, share the video on social, reach out to your local MP or learn more at pet-ition.ca/