CRÉ/GRÉEA/SPCA de Montréal
The CRÉ and GRÉEA are pleased to announce that Kristin Voigt and her co-applicants were awarded a SSHRC Partnership Engagement Grant for a collaborative project with the Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals of Montreal!
Last June, Kristin Voigt, along with her co-applicants Valéry Giroux and Élise Desaulniers (Executive Director of the Montreal SPCA and member of the CRÉ’s Committee of Field Experts), submitted a application that would allow for a team of researchers to work on the moral dilemmas faced by Montreal SPCA employees in their daily work.
The main objective is to enable the SPCA’s employees to benefit from the reflections of experts in moral philosophy when trying to solve the numerous and serious moral dilemmas they face on a daily basis. Research for this purpose will also advance scientific knowledge in the field of applied animal ethics.
The research team is composed of the following people:
- Nicolas Delon (New College of Florida)
- Sue Donaldson (Queen’s University, APPLE)
- Valéry Giroux (CRÉ and GRÉEA)
- François Jaquet (CRÉ and GRÉEA)
- Will Kymlicka (Queen’s University, APPLE)
- Agnes Tam (PhD candidate, Queen’s University)
- Angela Martin (Université de Fribourg)
- Angie Pepper (University of Birmingham)
- Kristin Voigt (McGill University, CRÉ and GRÉEA)
Valuable logistical and scientific support is provided by:
- Hosanna Galea (Student, McGill University)
- Frédéric Côté-Boudreau (Doctoral student, Queen’s University)
The grant obtained has already allowed the team of researchers to meet with the employees of the Montreal SPCA and to gather their testimonies during a first workshop held on October 22, 2018, at the SPCA offices (photos here). Based on the information collected, the researchers have selected several themes on which they will focus in detail. The researchers’ work will consist of producing: 1) a practical document, containing guidelines that can help employees of the Montreal SPCA and other animal shelters in their daily decisions; 2) scientific articles that explore some of the issues that lie at the heart of the most important dilemmas faced by employees, such as those that address the value of non-human animal life and influence decisions regarding abortions, palliative care and animal “euthanasia”, or those that address the structure of organizations such as the Montreal SPCA and affect the distribution of resources between different departments (inspections, shelters, activist campaigns, etc.).
The results of the project will be presented in 4 steps:
- At a symposium held on March 14-15, 2019, at the Montreal SPCA, the researchers will present the general guidelines, as well as each of the articles that the researchers will have devoted to a theme of their choice, selected from all the questions raised by the employees of the Montreal SPCA.
- At the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies’ National Animal Welfare Conference (April 14-15, 2019), Élise Desaulniers, Valéry Giroux and Kristin Voigt will present the guidelines prepared by the research team.
- In spring 2019, Élise Desaulniers will present the proposed guidelines to the Board of Directors of the Montreal SPCA and other Canadian shelters;
- Later in 2019, we plan to publish a collected volume containing the articles prepared by the researchers on the team.
Congratulations to the team and best luck in completing this important project!
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