Canadian horse culture is older than Canada itself. The course of that culture over the past two centuries reveals much about the evolution of our national character, the way we see ourselves in relation to the animal world, and the way we see ourselves in relation to one another.

It is an inspiring story of the ability of a shared passion for animals to make us more humane towards one another. It is also a cautionary tale demonstrating that there is nothing inevitable about justice, that societies can and do regress as well as progress.

The ethnic and racial challenges that now confront the Canadian horse sector are also an instructive microcosm of those that face the broader animal welfare community: difficulties accepting, recruiting, and retaining racialised Canadians; strains between those invested in the past and those looking towards the future; economic barriers to racialised Canadians, and economic perils to the sector itself if it does not find a way to breach those barriers.

Key Learnings :

1. Why engaging new Canadians is vital to the survival of the animal welfare community.
2. The interaction of Canada’s urban-rural divide with issues of racial inclusion.
3. Why government policies about inclusion have little effect in the animal sector.