OTTAWA, ON / AGILITYPR.NEWS / June 11, 2026 / Humane Canada welcomes the proposed protections for children in the Safe Social Media Act introduced yesterday, but notes that while the bill does include violent and extremist content, it fails to include provisions for animal harm. As Canada’s voice for animal welfare, we have been advocating for improved animal protections as content involving animal torture and abuse posted online has substantially increased. Our experience has been that unless animal harm is explicitly included in legislation, it will be ignored.
Animal abuse is emerging as a red flag in the online radicalization of Canadian youth, according to new research from Humane Canada. Our study released earlier this week — believed to be the first of its kind in the country — demonstrates how violent digital spaces use animal cruelty to groom, desensitize, and manipulate young people.
Experts interviewed for the report describe a troubling rise in online misogyny, nihilism, and extreme violence, driven in part by algorithms that push increasingly harmful content. While boys and young men remain primary targets, the study finds that girls and young women are increasingly affected as victims and sometimes as participants.
Under current Canadian law, there is no specific provision addressing animal cruelty or abuse images that are not sexual in nature. In a recent criminal case, a 22-year-old offender was convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material, including approximately 200 unique images and videos described by the court as being at the "high end of any depravity scale." However, investigators also recovered more than 2,500 additional images and videos classified as being of "investigative interest." These materials included elements of bestiality and hurtcore pornography, as well as videos depicting animals being restrained and subjected to physical violence. Despite the presence of animal cruelty, no charges were laid in relation to these images because Canadian law provides no mechanism to prosecute the possession or distribution of such material unless it meets the threshold for child sexual abuse material. This gap exists even though cruelty to animals is itself a Criminal Code offence. (R v Mrozik, 2025 MBPC 54 | NCPAC Case Law Database)
Even though Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act, would partially close this loophole by creating an offence for representations of bestiality, an unaddressed broader gap will remain in the law: the possession and distribution of animal torture and abuse images. This type of content is increasingly recognized as a tool used to groom and desensitize children to violence.
“This is not just an animal welfare issue. It is a child protection and public safety issue,” said Kerri Thomson. “Protecting animals also protects people—and we hope that Canada’s Safe Social Media Act can be amended to reflect that.”
Access the Report
A summary of key findings of the report, Beyond Promising Practices: Examining Root Causes of Online Radicalization, is available now in English and French, with the full report accessible through Humane Canada’s website.
Quick Facts
About Us
Humane Canada is the federation of humane societies and SPCAs and the national voice for animal welfare in Canada. Working collaboratively across sectors, the organization advances the humane treatment and protection of animals through advocacy, education, and the promotion of evidence-informed law and policy. Humane Canada is also the Lead Agency and founder of the Canadian Violence Link Coalition (CVLC) and convenor of the National Centre for the Prosecution of Animal Cruelty (NCPAC).
Contacts
Kerri Thomson
Manager, Justice and Legislative Affairs
kerri@humanecanada.caPhone: 1-343-308-0993
www.humanecanada.ca