Calgary’s Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw

By Auska Adhikari

The newly proposed Bylaw 47M2021, entitled Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw, was approved by the Calgary City Council on June 2, 2021. The Bylaw will come into full effect on January 1, 2022. It is being implemented to “ensure it reaches as many pet owners as possible with an attempt to establish effective compliance and education by recognizing newer trends that might impact Calgarians and businesses” in relation to Pet Ownership.

The Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw will significantly reform regulations surrounding pet ownership in Calgary. While there are some changes that appear to be positive, there are numerous developments that require a closer examination, as they raise some administrative and procedural concerns.

Nuisance Designation

Several people have raised concerns over the newly proposed changes. For example, dog trainers have stated their concerns over the bylaw expanding the “nuisance pet designation” to include barking (Section 44 of the Bylaw). These trainers have claimed that this designation is arbitrary as barking is in a dog’s nature and is also considered as their primary method of communication. As such, this lacks clarity as to when barking is considered a “nuisance”.

Lack of Hearing/Appeal Process and Expansion of Authority

Another problem with the Bylaw is that the decision to determine what constitutes “nuisance” is left at the hands of the Bylaw Officer and The Chief Bylaw Officer. Prior to the changes, the ability to make nuisance designations was limited to Provincial Courts in situations where the pet(s) had repeated complaints. However, under the new Bylaw, pet(s) can be declared a “nuisance” on a case-by-case basis by the attending Officer and/or the Chief Bylaw Officer.

In addition, this Bylaw fails to include a hearing process as it does not mention a recourse for a person to make a proper defence, when an Officer finds that an animal is vicious or a nuisance (sections 44-47 and sections 51-57 of the Bylaw).

Section 44 states:

The Chief Bylaw Officer may designate an Animal to be a Nuisance Animal and require an Owner to obtain a Nuisance Animal licence for such an Animal.

The wording of this section is ambiguous and uncertain as the decision power is granted entirely to the Officer and the Chief Bylaw Officer. As the Bylaw has been proposed, there appears to be no limit on the Officer’s authority, as Officers can issue a ticket based on the complaint at their discretion. The expansion of authority of the Officers has been one of the primary topics of discussion regarding this Bylaw. As such, it should be revised to reflect a limit on the Bylaw Officer’s authority to receive complaints and issue tickets under provided guidelines. This process would comparatively be more just and fair as the Officers would be limited to being enforcers of existing rules and would not be determining the rules on a case-by-case basis.

Since the Bylaw has expanded the role of Bylaw Officers and the Chief Bylaw Officer, this role expansion needs to be viewed critically. The Bylaw should limit the Bylaw Officer’s authority to conduct an “investigation” and determine if the complaint has merit to impose penalties. Limiting their investigative authority to impose penalties would allow for a fair process to dispute the ticket.

As suggested by Dr. Gail H. Forsythe in a memo to the City of Calgary and Not for Profit groups (May 19, 2021), the Bylaw should further authorize the Licence and Community Standards Appeal Board (the Board) to conduct a hearing de novo, to determine if the accused is in breach of the Bylaw, and if so, only then proceed to impose penalties.

The Bylaw’s suggested appeal process before the Board, as mentioned in sections 48 and 60 does not remedy the lack of due process. While this might be an attempt to release pressure from the overworked court system, in effect it creates a system where the enforcers and the decision makers are one and the same, as the appeal process is not guaranteed by an impartial and independent party. To rectify this, Dr. Gail H. Forsythe suggested that the Bylaw should specify a right of appeal to the Provincial Court of Alberta and a right to judicial review by the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta.

Limits on Cats and Dogs and Excess Permits

Section 9 of the Bylaw limits the number of pets allowed in a household to be six cats and six dogs.

Section 9 (1) states; A Person must not own more than six (6) dogs and six (6) cats that are more than three months of age.

On a first read, this clause appears to dismiss the possibility of more pet licenses and further does not mention granting licenses to pets that might already be residing in a household in excess numbers. The Bylaw mentions an Excess Pet Permit application to allow owners to keep more than six pets in one dwelling.

Section 9 (3) states; A valid and subsisting Excess Animal Permit issued by the Chief Bylaw Officer is a defence to a charge under subsections (1) and (2).

However, in the public feedback solicited concerning the Bylaw, people stated that it fails to set criteria or fees for the granting, or revocation of an Excess Animal Permit for the keeping of more than six animals as per section 10. To remedy this situation, the Bylaw should not punish pet lovers and pet owners by having a maximum number of dogs or cats so long as the person has no prior conviction or complaints over a certain period of years. The public feedback also suggested that the Bylaw should also clarify the situations which might give rise to the revocation process and should have an amount designated to the application for an Excess Pet Permit.

Moving Forward

For all these reasons, the Bylaw should be revisited, and some clauses should be amended to reflect the interests of pet owners and pets alike. Some further issues have also been echoed in various articles, news outlets and discussions. Responses by the public have also been condensed on the City of Calgary Webpage and should be considered before the Bylaw moves forward to the implementation stage in January 2022.