The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has confirmed that an agency employee was detected in hidden camera videotape taken at a horse slaughter plant near Montreal.
“I understand that there’s a CFIA inspector visible in part of the footage, allegedly shot at the Quebec plant,” said Martin Appelt, the CFIA’s manager of meat programs.
In late March, the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition, a group with the mission of preventing horse slaughter, released hidden camera footage it claims was taken at two horse processing plants, Viandes Richelieu in Massueville, Que., and Bouvry Exports in Fort Macleod, Alta.
Read Also
Russian wheat exports start to pick up the pace
Russia has had a slow start for its 2025-26 wheat export program, but the pace is starting to pick up and that is a bearish factor for prices.
The plants are two of four federally licensed horse meat processors in Canada, according to the coalition’s website.
The video footage shows plant employees failing to kill horses with the first shot and depicts animals struggling as they recover from the failed attempt at a clean kill.
Appelt said the CFIA is investigating the coalition’s allegations of abuse, including a review of the video footage.
While an agency inspector is visible in a segment of the video, Appelt added the employee wasn’t in footage that depicted abuse.
“He is crossing through the image at a time where no apparent violations are occurring,” said Appelt, a veterinarian.
He said that CFIA regional managers in Lethbridge and Quebec will lead the investigations into the alleged abuse. A key part of that process is to validate that the videos were shot inside Bouvry Exports and Viandes Richelieu.
“(We will) look at them forensically to tell whether or not the location is correct,” Appelt said.
They will attempt to correlate objects and people shown in the footage with objects and employees at the plants.
In addition, investigators will review CFIA inspection reports from the two plants to determine if there’s a history of inhumane slaughter.
“As a regulator, in the business of verifying compliance with acts and regulations, it is our daily business that we deal with contravention…. So certainly there are records of non-compliances (at these plants),” Appelt said.
The critical evidence, he added, would be past documentation describing improper slaughter practices at Bouvry or Viandes Richelieu.
Mae Smith, executive director of the Saskatchewan Horse Federation, said the CFIA has no choice but to investigate the allegations of abuse at the Fort Macleod and Quebec plants. But the public shouldn’t assume guilt before it’s proven, she added.
“With this film footage there’s been no confirmation, yet, that it did actually all take place, or any of it take place, at the Bouvry plant,” Smith said.
She recalled the circumstances a few years ago, when the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition released video footage showing abuse of horses at the Natural Valley Farms slaughterhouse in Neudorf, Sask.
“In the Natural Valley plant, some of the film footage we felt very strongly that it wasn’t actually taken at Natural Valley,” she said.
“Some of the film footage had been adjusted.”
Following the allegations against Natural Valley Farms, the Saskatchewan Horse Federation and other equine associations joined forces in 2008 to form the Horse Welfare Alliance of Canada, Smith said.
“(It was) the lack of any sort of formalized body that could respond effectively to these kind of issues that arise in the horse industry,” she said, explaining the genesis of the alliance.
However, Appelt said the images from the Saskatchewan slaughter plant were valid.
“There was never a forensic analysis done on those tapes. However, the pictures did suggest the location was exactly where it was alleged to have been. That is the CFIA’s opinion.”
