Will Canadian courts save kosher slaughtering? Jewish organizations in Canada petitioned against the new slaughter regulations that encourage the initial use of a shocker, which is prohibited by Halacha (Jewish Law).
The new Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) regulations require slaughterhouse owners to ensure that animals that are not electrocuted are subjected to cognitive tests, to ensure they are unconscious before slaughter.
In response, the largest kashrut organizations in Canada sued the state on the grounds that the new enforcement laws encourage the initial use of a shocker, which is prohibited by Halacha and makes kosher slaughter an uneconomical procedure.
“In a commercial environment slaughterers (shochtim in Hebrew) have to move from one animal to another relatively quickly. All these tests they are now requiring, such as corneal reflex tests and others, slow down the process," CEO of the COR - Kashruth Council of Canada, Richard Rabkin, said.
According to the Jewish organizations, the existing kosher method is as humane as the non-kosher method, and possibly even more so, because the animal "loses consciousness almost immediately.”
The statement of claim revealed that the number of kosher meat processing plants in Canada has decreased because of the new regulations, leading to a nearly 50% drop in domestic kosher meat production every week.
The Canadian judge in Ottawa, Justice Guy Régimbald, did not ignore the plaintiffs' position and wrote in his decision that "there are serious issues to consider; whether the CFIA guidelines are unreasonable and whether they infringe on the applicants’ rights for religious freedom."
According to Justice Régimbald, there is reason to believe that the guidelines may harm religious protections. "The evidence, as presented, demonstrates the potential for irreversible damage that cannot be adequately compensated by damages."