Barbara Cartwright

An award-winning leader in animal welfare, conservation and education, Barbara Cartwright has extensive experience in developing and facilitating relationships with governments, corporations and NGOs. She has established community-based companion animal welfare programs, created BC’s first grizzly bear rehabilitation program and contributed to the protection of the endangered right whale. Barbara has drafted, consulted on and secured amendments to provincial and federal legislation, including updates to the Criminal Code, the Migratory Bird Act and the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Barbara has advised some of the top organizations in the world on animal welfare policy and is consulted by all political parties on animal welfare issues.

As the CEO of Humane Canada™, also known as the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, Barbara convenes and represents the largest animal welfare community in Canada, working to end animal cruelty, improve animal protection and promote the humane treatment of all animals. Since taking on this role in 2011, Barbara has launched the annual National Animal Welfare Conference and the National Centre for the Prosecution of Animal Cruelty and spearheaded the first empirical sector-wide research project on humane societies and SPCAs in Canada.