Globe and Mail, November 8, 2006

Several humane societies across Canada are angry with Montreal's SPCA, saying that its countrywide fundraising campaigns are making animal lovers outside Quebec think their donations are going to local groups.

Furthermore, The Globe and Mail has learned that Pierre Barnoti. executive director of the Montreal SPCA, has incorporated in the United States a society called SPCA International Inc. that will seek donations in Canada and the U.S.

Montreal's SPCA is officially called the Canadian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a name it acquired when it became the first of its kind in Canada in 1869. SPCAs outside Quebec complain that the Montreal society has repeatedly been mailing to other provinces, using the name Canadian SPCA.

Fundraising appeals sent by the Montreal SPCA list local postal box­es on the donation pledge form, so that donors in Nova Scotia would mail to a Halifax address and those in Saskatchewan to a Moose Jaw address. The Montreal society is also registered as a charity in Alberta, as required by local provincial laws.

The standard Montreal SPCA fundraising letter has a Montreal address in a corner of its first page, next to a logo saying "Canadian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals." At the bottom is the mention "Proudly serving the ani­mals of Quebec since 1869."

But other agencies say the letter does not explicidy explain that donations will go only to Montreal or that the Canadian SPCA is not a na­tional society.

"We're not playing games. We're very clear," Mr. Barnoti said yesterday.

He faxed The Globe one sample fundraising letter and pointed out that it urged donors to write to Que­bec premier Bernard Landry to ask for better laws for animals.

Mr. Landry was premier until April, 2003. When told that more re­cent letters couldn't have men­tioned Mr. Landry, Mr. Barnoti said "I cannot repeat every time the same letter.... It can't be a cut-and-pastejob."

In 1997, Mr. Bamoti was quoted in the daily La Presse, confirming that he was getting 10 per cent of funds raised by the society.

Yesterday, Mr. Barnoti said that the 10-per-cent fee was never enacted and that he does not get a percentage of the money raised by Montreal SPCA campaigns.

He said Montreal's SPCA needs support from elsewhere in the country because Quebec doesn't enjoy the kind of laws to protect an­imals that other provinces have.

"The love of animals should have no border," he said, adding that he welcomed other SPCAs in Canada to fundraise in Quebec,

"We find it quite annoying. We have a hard enough time fundrais­ing for ourselves," said Ray Whitney, director of die Moose Jaw Humane Society.

In Alberta, the confusion created by the Montreal's SPCA fundraising led the Edmonton SPCA into changing its name to the Edmonton Humane Society, said spokeswoman Diane Shannon, "It's a huge piece of why we did that."

The Edmonton Humane Society issued a communique yesterday warning animal lovers that the fundraising calls they are receiving from me Canadian SPCA.