Justice Louis Gouin has ordered a injunction on the pit bull-specific previsions of Montreal's animal control bylaw.
On Monday Gouin imposed a temporary stay of those provisions as he deliberated the issue, and decided Wednesday to grant the SPCA's request for an injunction.
This does not mean the pit bull and dangerous dog previsions of the bylaw have been permanently overturned, only that they have been suspended pending a court hearing.
The date for a future hearing to debate the SPCA's challenge has not been set.
"It's a victory in the fist round, basically, so the fight isn't over but this certainly gives us a lot of hope and a lot of relief," said Sophie Gaillard, the lawyer for the SCPA.
In his ruling filed on Wednesday, Gouin wrote that the legislation "looks like it was written in a hurry," and said the definition of a pit bull was vague.
The bylaw defines a pit bull as three specific breeds (American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Terrier, and American Pit Bull Terrier), any dog crossed with those animals, and any dog that shares physical characteristics of those dogs.
Gouin suggested that the city of Montreal "should return to the drawing board" regarding the bylaw.
Wednesday's ruling means pit bull owners are not required to muzzle their dogs, are not required to keep their dogs on a short (1.25m) leash, and are allowed to have a violent criminal history.
They do, however, have to comply with all the other aspects of the bylaw that were changed last week.
Lawyers for the City of Montreal had no comment on the ruling except to say they would analyze it.
Mayor Denis Coderre defended the bylaw, maintaining it is is aimed at defending citizens from serious bites, maulings, and worse.
"A municipality has the right to protect their people and decide to put up in front put public safety first," said Coderre.
"It is a privilege to have a dog. You have to show that you have the capacity to keep them."
He also said that those who were angry about the bylaw and were threatening to boycott Montreal were deliberately ignoring other regions.
"Toronto has its bylaws, Ottawa and all the others, people say they're not there anymore, no, no, they're still there. What happened? People will boycott now, they won't go to Toronto?" said Coderre.
He added that the angry hate mail coming from pit bull lovers was not doing much to change the mind of councillors who support regulating dangerous dogs.
"You can send me all the email you want . It doesn’t matter. I'm here to protect the population and take a decision. We had a very serene debate, it went very well."
Projet Montreal City Councillor Peter McQueen, whose party voted against the bylaw, criticized the mayor's refusal to back down on a bylaw that has sparked heated debate.
"A lot of things are not clear and it's typical of Coderre's way of doing rushed bylaws," he said. "We say he should pull and redo it and come back in a month."
