For those who haven’t heard about it in the news, Montréal’s mayor tried to put a pitbull ban on the city. It all started when a woman was found in her backyard, killed by an apparent pitbull. In order to show everyone that citizens’ safety came first, it was decided to ban pitbull type dogs in Montreal. This included microchipping, muzzling, sterelizing, a 150$ “dangerous” dog license, criminal record check, short leashes and no new pitbulls allowed into the city.
We still haven’t found the results of the DNA testing on the dog that killed the woman but it was registered as a boxer. We are all assuming they don’t want to release the results because it would harm their campaign to ban this breed. While all this debate was going on and we weren’t yet sure of the decision that would be made, Matt and I participated in a few peaceful protests. We even walked down a closed street in Old Montréal with King and a thousand other concerned citizens showing we didn’t agree with the new law they were trying to pass. During this time, we were also reading everything we could on social media to find out how to help. When I saw that someone was looking for volunteer photographers to snap dog family portraits to show responsible dog owners, I jumped at the opportunity.
We were a few photographers – in different parts of the city – taking free portraits of responsible dog owners who either had pitbulls or had other dogs but wanted to support the cause. Matt and I set up at Mount Royal and I nursed a nasty hangover in the September sun while we waited for people to show up. It was a small turnout but every little bit counts. We found a great spot by the gazebo where we could see the city in the background and snapped photos of friends and strangers with their best friends.
You can see all the photos on the instagram account.
p.s. In case you missed it in the news, the law was adopted on October 3rd but after the SPCA brought the city to court, the judge decided to extend a temporary suspension of the pitbull specific bylaw. A small victory but it isn’t over.
