Vocal animal advocates gathered outside Montreal City Hall on Monday night to protest the city’s proposed pit bull ban.
There has been months of public debate surrounding the city’s decision and Montreal council is now set to vote in the law.
The breed-specific bylaw is expected to come into effect by the end of the year.
READ MORE: ‘Zero tolerance for dog attacks’: Montreal imposes strict animal rules, focuses on pit bulls
New pit bulls would be banned and current owners will have to sterilize and muzzle their dogs. They will also have to follow a host of new rules, including getting criminal background checks.
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said the ban is a question of safety. There were a string of attacks this year from pit bull-type dogs, including the death of a 55-year-old woman in June.
“When we look at the statistics, 37 per cent of bite cases in Montreal come from pit bull-type dogs,” Mayor Denis Coderre told council Monday night.
Opposition councilor Sterling Downey said the city should be enforcing the bylaws already on the books.
“That dog in June had already bitten two people, the laws already in place had room for it to be taken away,” Downey told Global News Monday. “How are they going to enforce these new rules, when they don’t enforce the old ones?”
The bylaw is expected to be passed Tuesday morning when Montreal city council reconvenes.