Hearings began Monday on Quebec's proposed animal rights bill, which aims to protect animals from cruelty by changing their legal status.

The proposed legislation recognizes animals as beings with biological needs.

As it currently is proposed, anyone who breaks the law would face fines, with repeat offenders threatened with fines up to $750,000 and 18 months in jail.

Quebec doesn't have a good reputation when it comes to animal protection, having often been called the puppy mill capital of North America.

In recent years the province made international headlines as animal welfare agencies shut down mink and fox farms in Quebec, as well as puppy mills.

“We're starting so far behind,” said Agriculture Minister Pierre Paradis. “Gandhi once said a society is judged by the way it treats its animals. Quebec has always been dragging.”

Animal rights activists have been very critical of Quebec on this issue, saying that Quebec needs to do more to prevent animal cruelty, and that is the impetus behind Bill 54, which would turn animals from property into sentient beings.

“It's going to change from being "un meuble" -- a chair, a table, an object -- to a sensitive being. And that's a major step forward,” said Paradis.

Similar legislation has already been put in place in Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia.

In addition to the stiff fines and threat of jail time for repeat offenders, fines for animal cruelty will be increased to $250,000, and that could even apply to misfeeding a goldfish, according to Paradis.

The proceedings are “refreshing,” said the Montreal SPCA’s director of animal advocacy Alanna Devine.

“It’s very encouraging for us and certainly a first step in the right direction,” she said, but added that she wants to see the proposed legislation go further.

“Exotic animals and wildlife in captivity, other than certain mink and foxes on certain fur farms, and other than exotic animals that are specifically kept as companion animals in people's homes, the rest of the exotic animals -- animals you see in pet stores, in breeding facilities, in zoos, in rodeos, in circuses -- all of those animals are still exempt from the of the legislation and no other province has those animals excluded,” she said.

Paradis said animals raised for slaughter in Quebec would also need to be treated humanely from the time they are born until they die.

That is raising questions about kosher and halal slaughtering techniques because in some cases, the animal may suffer through a slow death.

Paradis says there needs to be a balance between religious beliefs and respect for animals.

“In some cases, some people might have interpreted their situation as if it's for religious beliefs, you can have the animals suffer. We don't believe that,” said Paradis.

All kosher and halal slaughtering should conform to existing regulations, which means all animals should be unconscious before they're slaughtered, said the director of the International Research Group in Animal Law, Martine Lachance.

“What I would like is that there is no slaughter without stunning in Quebec. That is what happens in several countries,” said Lachance.