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Sophie Gaillard

26th June 2023

is an animal protection lawyer and the Director of Animal Advocacy and Legal Affairs at the Montreal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), where she oversees the organization’s efforts to strengthen animal protection legislation and public policy at the municipal, provincial and federal levels, in addition to serving as the organization’s head legal counsel. Sophie also has over six years of experience supervising the SPCA’s animal protection officers, who are charged with enforcing both the Criminal Code’s animal cruelty provisions and provincial animal protection legislation, as well as acting as a resource person for prosecutors and other law enforcement in animal cruelty matters. Sophie has played an instrumental role in securing significant victories for animals in Quebec, including putting an end to breed-specific legislation at both the municipal and provincial levels, successfully campaigning to have dogs allowed on Montreal’s public transit system and achieving a ban on horse-drawn carriages in Montreal as well as a province-wide ban on the declawing of cats. She is one of the instigators of the Animals are not Things manifesto which led to the adoption of a new provision in the Civil Code of Quebec recognizing animals as sentient beings and the passing of the first law exclusively devoted to animal protection in the province. Sophie also spearheads cutting-edge strategic litigation efforts to further animals’ interests in the legal system, namely by building on the recognition of animal sentience in Quebec law. She regularly testifies before legislative committees and works with politicians and political parties to advance animal protection, in addition to being profiled and cited in local, provincial and national media regarding animal law and protection matters. Sophie is a frequent lecturer on animal law and teaches this topic at McGill University’s Faculty of Law. She co-authored a chapter about the potential use of private prosecutions for animal advocates in Canadian Perspectives on Animals and the Law (2015).