Canine Action Project (CAP) is a Registered Charity based in Lashburn, Saskatchewan that has been supporting families in First Nations to keep their pets, and offer humane, sustainable solutions to manage pet populations on reserves since 2012. They partner with First Nations communities in Treaty 6 Territory in the central/north-central region of Saskatchewan. CAP is not a typical rescue organization as they do not foster and adopt out animals, but they do help many communities and their dogs and cats in various ways.

Types of Animals they work with: Dogs & Cats

Although CAP does not foster and adopt out animals they do offer support systems in assisting with rehoming pets when owners have too many, unwanted/unplanned litters, or cannot afford extensive veterinary care. In these circumstances, they will accept the surrendered pet(s) and place them with reputable and ethical partner rescue organizations and SPCAs to be vetted and rehomed.

Canine Action Project is dedicated to supporting healthy, safe communities for people and their animals. To achieve this, they facilitate a variety of programs year-round. Programs are available to all community members and their animals in their partner First Nations, 365 days a year.

A key piece to their programs is working with Nation leaderships to understand systemic barriers their partner Nations face. Common barriers identified include lack of transportation, low-income, access to animal care knowledge, and food insecurity. These identified barriers impact how their programs are delivered, with a goal to remove as many of these barriers to keep animals with their family and community.

Like many impacts of colonization, concerns around dog populations on many First Nations have taken decades and generations to form. Recognizing this, we must also recognize it will take years to support a healthier, better way forward for dog populations. CAP programs do not aim to offer a ‘quick fix’ solution. They believe culls (‘dog shoot days’) and mass removal (large ‘pulls’) are simply not the solution for sustainable and positive results related to dog population management. Instead, access to veterinary care, resources, knowledge sharing, and on-going community engagement are the focus of their programs; they believe taking this multimethod approach leads to positive long-term outcomes.

Canine Action Project is always looking for Volunteers and Donations as there is no short supply in animals in need. Read the full Blog post to see how you can help!