Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Fortier named to Animal Care Review Board

The provincial government has tapped a veteran lawyer and administrator to bolster the beleaguered Animal Care Review Board.

Marie Fortier of Stittsville, near Ottawa, has served on a number of boards and commissions, has acted as lawyer on cases that included Supreme Court hearings and is a professional mediator and deputy judge in Small Claims Court in Ottawa.

She will serve as vice-chairman of the board, which has heard a couple of highly-charged appeals by dairy farmers facing animal cruelty charges in Eastern Ontario. Her term is short – to October of next year.


She is also a member of the Fire Safety Commission, the Licence Appeal Tribunal and the Ontario Civilian Commission.

As welcome as her experience is, the nub of the problem is the law governing the Humane Society of Ontario. It needs to be amended to become more farmer friendly.