Today, during the Victoria city council Committee of the Whole meeting, city councillors voted 5 in favour 3 opposed to the passing of the motion which will refer to staff to report back to council on including the phasing out and banning of horse carriages in the city’s strategic plan. Council will then vote on whether to move forward with including phasing out and banning the horse carriages in the strategic plan on Sept 7th, 2019.
To put it more simply, now that the motion has passed staff will report back to council on the implications of including phasing out and banning the horse carriages in the city’s strategic plan. Then on Sept 7th, council will vote on if they will include it.
This is huge step towards phasing out and banning horse carriages in Victoria. Never before has city council passed a motion that moved the issue forward in favour of a ban. While there is a still a big fight ahead before the Sept 7th vote, the Victoria Horse Alliance is committed to seeing this through to the end.
Jordan Reichert of the Victoria Horse Alliance said the motion passing opens up a great opportunity to making the ban a reality, but there is much work to do still.
“It is hard to believe we are finally going in the right direction after so many years of council being silent on this issue. We cannot be complacent though because there is a lot of work to do before the next vote on Sept 7th, but we are invigorated by council’s support for this long overdue motion.
Councillor Isitt brought the motion forward and it was seconded by councillor Dubow; councillors Collins, Loveday, and Potts voted in favour of the motion. We give each of them our sincere gratitude for representing the interests of animals before profit on council.
Here is councillor Isitt’s previous statement on why he brought the motion forward:
Councillor Isitt stated his reasons for bringing forward the motion:
“This proposal responds to long-standing concerns for greater safety on local roads. Specifically, horse-drawn carriages are an out-moded form of transportation in our 21st century city. The proposal to modernize tourist transport is aimed at increasing safety for all road users, including people driving private vehicles and riding bikes, in the context of increasing congestion and conflicts on local roads. The proposal also responds to concerns relating to the humane treatment of animals and avoiding exploitation for animals for commercial purposes wherever possible.”
Councillors Thornton-Joe, Young, and mayor Helps voted against the motion.
Councillor Alto was not present for the vote.
Opposition to the motion centered around the strategic plan already being set and banning horse carriages not being a part of the priorities of addressing affordable housing and climate change set out in the plan.
At one point mayor Helps stated: “We’re in a climate emergency, not a horse emergency.”
However, according to the UN, the exploitation of organisms is one of the leading causes of the destruction of nature in our world today, even greater than climate change. While horse carriages are undoubtedly a small part of this, they symbolize the breeding, domestication, and use of animals that contribute to the larger issue of environmental devastation we face.
Furthermore, the BC SPCA recommendations were provided to the previous council a year ago, with council taking no action up until now. Councillor Isitt noted it is an issue of “house-keeping,” as something should have been done to address the recommendations previously.
Please write to all the councillors who voted in favour of the motion and thank them for their support! You can find their email addresses here.
You can continue to sign and share our petition here.
Victoria Horse Alliance