You'll remember the case I highlighted last week, about the so-called 'pit bull' pups in Mississauga. At the time, I asked whether Mississauga animal control is out of control. The answer appears to be 'Yes'.
I'm pleased to report that thanks to Mississauga City Councillor Carolyn Parrish, the persecution has stopped. Animal control visited the victim on Friday to announce that she could keep the dogs and just had to license them and provide their documentation when doing so.
Well, whoop-de-doo, animal control. I guess you got kicked back into the pack by Councillor Parrish and City Council. Let's hope they aren't finished with you yet.
The puppies' parents are a purebred Boxer and a purebred Bullmastiff. Does that sound as if it would even remotely resemble the medium-sized breeds named by the idiotic Bryant?
When you hire and empower small-minded, uneducated thugs to harass and intimidate people who are doing nothing wrong (or worse, when you elect them to public office), you open the door to cases like this one - and trust me, this isn't the only one.
When I put up my second post, the one with the picture of KKK operatives, I didn't have a lot of details about the case and was just drawing an analogy. Burn 'em at the stake, burn crosses on their lawns, throw rocks through their windows, terrorize them because of their dogs' looks - it's the same mob mentality we've seen throughout history, nicely reactivated by the McGuinty 'liberals'. Thus far, I've seen no evidence of a liberal outlook in McGuinty's regime.
I was unintentionally (but not surprisingly) accurate. The person walking the dogs was a member of a visible minority, an African-Canadian (oh heck, he's black) healthcare worker. This is just one more example of the kind of dog owner profiling, both racial and economic that's been going on in Ontario. In many cases (most of which don't hit the media) owners have been black or Asian and almost all are low income - except in this case, they messed up because these people are educated and earn good salaries.
Was this kind of profiling McGuinty's intent? It seems likely, given the tendency by media and government agents to slander and libel the owners of bull-and-terrier types by describing them as drug dealers, gangsters and punks which is code for people who are 'different', like their pets.
The owner in this case is a registered nurse. One of the requirements of the nursing college is that any conviction for an offense that could involve jail time, even if the defendant receives a discharge, must be reported to the licensing body.
Here's the applicable section from the College of Nursing of Ontario:
http://www.cno.
org/docs/ ih/42011_ fsSelfReporting. Reporting a finding of guilt for a
criminal offence
Members must report if they have been found
guilty of any criminal offence, such as those
under the Criminal Code of
. For example, Canada impaired driving and alcohol-related offences are
reportable. In fact, nurses should report when they
have been found guilty under any federal statute.
This would include a criminal proceeding in
which there was a criminal court trial, including
offences under the Food and Drugs Act (
) or Canada the Controlled Drugs and Substance Act (
). Canada Offences under
Statutes that Province ofOntario resulted or could have resulted in a jail sentence are
also considered criminal offences and should be
reported.
Well, since the insufferable Bryant rushed pell-mell into legislating a half-assed, worthless law intended to impress his base - the ignoramuses among us - he likely didn't give much thought to this possibility when he threw in up to six months' jail time for owning a 'prohibited' dog or not complying with any of the ridiculous provisions he enacted.
What this means is that if you are convicted of violating Bryant's bizarre legislation in Ontario and are a member of a professional body, you are in danger of losing your livelihood because an animal control officer decides to harass you, or an uneducated citizen with an axe to grind complains about your (nonexistent) 'pit bull'.
How about that? Nurses, Accountants, Dental Hygienists, Engineers, Architects, Lawyers, Veterinarians and others who are either self-regulating or regulated by legislation could potentially lose their licences to practise in Ontario on those grounds.
That's why the victim in this case was reluctant to fight in court. Too bad, because it would have been easy to win this one and these goons need a major smackdown, especially since they are riding high after the Rambo case. This woman was absolutely terrified of losing her livelihood with three children to raise. Also a healthcare worker, her friend was in the same predicament and could have lost his livelihood, too.
So what do you do? Hand over your dogs to be killed? Get them out of Dodge? Go to court and hope you win, lose your licence if you lose? Talk about a difficult situation.
I'd sure like to see some of these licensing colleges and associations step up and issue public statements to the effect that should their members be persecuted under the Ontario dog ownership ban, they will stand behind them.
There's no way, even in Michael Bryant and Dalton McGuinty's special hell for dog owners, that an uneducated dog-catcher or twit on the street should have the power to instil fear among upstanding citizens - whether they are professionals or not.
There's no such thing as a 'pit bull' but there's sure a lot of pit bulls**t being thrown around.
Thanks again to Carolyn Parrish, who probably didn't know she was going to be Mississauga's champion for dog owners. Thanks also to the victims in this case for their fortitude and their unwillingness to hand their pups over to Mississauga Animal services - that helped a lot because once the killers have dogs in their clutches, cases become more difficult.
The last thing the brownshirts need is positive reinforcement.
It might go to their pointy heads.
For some helpful information about how to deal with Animal Control/Services, please see this post at Wag the Dog. Don't let them sweet-talk you, people. They are neither your nor your dog's best friend when they are hunting for imaginary 'pit bulls'.
I can't wait to get this piece of garbage overturned.
