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.
