The Order of Quebec Veterinarians is issuing a mea culpa – but is not changing its stance – on its study into the effectiveness of banning pit bulls.

Five studies the group submitted to the committee assigned with determining if Quebec should adopt a pit bull ban will have to be excluded because they were funded by lobbyists promoting pit bulls.

Joel Bergeron, president of the Order of Quebec Veterinarians, admitted Monday that they made an “honest mistake” using the five biased reports in its findings.

“What we need to correct is the fact that in the more than 50 theses and studies that we went through during the two-week period that we prepared the initial report to the provincial committee, there were five of those studies that were funded by pro-pit bull lobby groups,” said Bergeron. “Although we knew that, we just forgot. It’s an honest mistake, but we forgot to state that to the committee. It’s still a mistake.”

In June, Quebec Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux asked a committee to advise the government on whether or not a ban on pit bull and other aggressive dogs was necessary and prudent.

Instead of targeting certain races, the committee has suggested a case-by-case approach and "pit bull" and "dog breed" or "dog type" aren't mentioned in the recommendations.

Bergeron said the order of veterinarians agrees with that, and has maintained that stance since 1988. He said the biased studies don’t affect its opinion.

“Even though we have removed those five studies, we still end up with the same conclusion, that banning a breed is not the solution,” he said. “We still don’t think that banning a type of dog is efficient or sufficient.”

The vets’ group is calling for a wider approach, which would include more responsibility for dog owners and that the laws and bylaws that currently exist should be more rigourously enforced.

Bergeron said in two recent cases of maulings by aggressive dogs, the animals and owners were known to authorities.

“We certainly could have prevented those cases, and for us, that’s unacceptable,” said Bergeron.

This weekend, Health Minister Gaetan Barrette said he is standing by the provincial government’s plan to ban pit bulls.

The report from the work group tasked with examining the regulation of dogs is due in two weeks.