Kosher slaughter ban blocked in Canada thanks to Israeli experts

In a landmark decision, Canada’s Supreme Court ruled 5-2 to uphold the legality of kosher slaughter, preventing a near-ban that threatened Jewish dietary practices nationwide.

The decisive turning point came from an expert report submitted by Israel’s Veterinary Institute in Beit Dagan, which provided scientific evidence affirming that kosher slaughter meets humane standards.

Filed on February 12, 2025, the document included testimony from 15 world-renowned experts, ultimately swaying the court’s February 19 ruling. The decision was met with relief from Canada’s Jewish community, with Richard Goldman, chairman of the Canadian Jewish Council, expressing deep gratitude to the Israeli government and lead author Prof. Avi Weinstein for their critical support.

While animal rights activists have long opposed ritual slaughter, the movement has gained traction among right-wing parties, who have increasingly pushed such bans as part of a broader effort to curb Islamic and, in some cases, Jewish religious practices in Europe.

Last year, Europe’s top human rights court upheld bans on ritual slaughter in parts of Belgium, dealing a major blow to Jewish and Muslim advocates who argued the restrictions unfairly infringe on religious freedom.

The ruling allows bans enacted in 2017 and 2018 by two of Belgium’s three regions to remain in place, preventing slaughter without prior stunning—a requirement that contradicts both Jewish shechitah and Muslim zabiha practices. Authorities justified the bans on animal welfare grounds, claiming that stunning is necessary to prevent cruelty.

The bans added Belgium to a number of EU countries where ritual slaughter is illegal, including Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Slovenia. In 2011, the Netherlands briefly joined the list, but the Dutch Senate reversed the ban in 2012, citing freedom of worship. Poland also outlawed ritual slaughter in 2013, but has since scaled back the ban to include only meat for export.

The Court of the European Union dealt Jewish community leaders a major defeat by upholding the bans in 2021. Israel’s ambassador to Belgium called the ruling “catastrophic and a blow to Jewish life in Europe.” But last year, the EU’s antisemitism envoy invited Jews and Muslims to discuss meat production with EU officials, in what some of the Jewish attendees characterized as progress toward ensuring religious freedom.