Animal Health Protection Act (R.S.Q., c. P-42).

The present Act lays down provisions relating to animal health protection. The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food shall have charge of the carrying out of this Act. The duties of the Minister include ensuring that an appropriate level of animal health protection is maintained. The Act contains at the outset a definition clause relating to various terms therein employed, such as “infectious agent”, “animal, contagious disease”, “parasitic disease”. Section 2 establishes that a veterinary surgeon designated by the Minister or any other person authorized for that purpose by the Minister may enter, at any reasonable time, any premises, other than a dwelling-house, or any vehicle where there is an animal or animal carcass in order to take, free of charge, any samples of the animal's products or tissues required to determine the state of health of the animal. The text consists of 5 Divisions of which the most important ones are as follows: Animal health (I); Identification of animals (II); Artificial insemination of animals (III); Auction of livestock (IV); Animal feed (IV.01); Veterinary medication (IV.1); Safety and welfare of animals (IV.1.1); Inspection, seizure and confiscation (IV.2); Permits (IV.3); Proceeding before the administrative tribunal of Québec (IV.4); Penal provisions and other sanctions (IV.5
The Act contains several provisions concerning food safety and quality. Under section 9 it is forbidden to bring or allow to bring animals or their products into Québec unless they are accompanied by a certificate from the veterinary-in-chief or other competent officer of the province, or of the country of origin, of such animals or products attesting that the animals are free from a contagious or parasitic disease, an infectious agent or a syndrome. Moreover the Act recognizes that the Minister, when there is a health risk related to the consumption of the animal or animal products, can order the owner or custodian of the animals, to segregate the animals until the results of the analyses of the samples taken are known. The Minister may also order measures to be taken to reduce the health risk for the animals or for persons who come in contact with them or consume them or their products. He may also prohibit keeping the animals for sale purposes, offering them for sale or deposit, or selling, exchanging, donating or transporting them or their products. The Minister can also enter into agreements with other Ministers to improve communication and collaboration in case of diseases
Under the Act “animal” means any domestic animal or animal kept in captivity and its fertilized eggs and ova and applies, wherever the context permits, to any part of such an animal; for the purposes of this subparagraph, fish, amphibians, echinoderms, crustaceans or shellfish produced or raised in a fishing pond or aquaculture site referred to respectively in sections 1 and 5 of the Act respecting commercial aquaculture (chapter A‐20.2) are deemed to be kept in captivity.