From the bill ^[1]^:
[…] It amends the Criminal Code to, among other things, […] (g) criminalize the distribution of visual representations of bestiality; […] ^[1.3]^
(3.1) Every person commits an offence who knowingly publishes, distributes, transmits, sells, makes available or advertises any visual representation that is or is likely to be mistaken for a photographic, film, video or other visual recording of a person committing bestiality. ^[1.1]^
(3.4) Every person who commits an offence under subsection (3.1)
(a) is guilty of an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years; or
(b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction. ^[1.2]^
For context, from the Criminal Code:
(7) In this section, bestiality means any contact, for a sexual purpose, with an animal. ^[3]^
The Department of Justice's rationale is that it is "online sextortion" ^[2]^, and that it is known to be used to manipulate children for sexual purposes ^[2]^.
References
- Type: Document. Title: "Protecting Victims Act". Publisher: "Parliament of Canada". Published: 2025-12-09. Accessed: 2025-12-09T22:48Z. URI: https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/45-1/bill/C-16/first-reading.
- Type: Text. Location: §"Criminal Code">§"Amendments to the Act">§"Representation of bestiality"
- Type: Text. Location: §"Criminal Code">§"Amendments to the Act">§"Punishment — representation of bestiality"
- Type: Text. Location: §"Summary">§"(g)"
- Type: Article. Title: "Canada overhauls Criminal Code to protect victims and keep kids safe from predators". Publisher: "Department of Justice Canada". Published: 2025-12-09. Accessed: 2025-12-09T22:46Z. URI: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-justice/news/2025/12/canada-overhauls-criminal-code-to-protect-victims-and-keep-kids-safe-from-predators.html.
- Type: Text. Location: §"Keep our kids safe from predators">§"Crack down on online sextortion".
[…] This legislation proposes stronger measures to address online sexploitation and child luring, including by criminalizing threatening to distribute child sexual abuse and exploitation material and distributing bestiality depictions, which are known to be used to manipulate children for sexual purposes. […]
- Type: Text. Location: §"Keep our kids safe from predators">§"Crack down on online sextortion".
- Type: Document (PDF). Title: "Criminal Code". Publisher: "Government of Canada". Published: 2025-11-20. Accessed: 2025-12-09T22:44Z. URI: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/PDF/C-46.pdf.
- Type: Text. Location: §160>§7 ("Definition of bestiality")
Couldn't there conceivably be some ambiguous grey area with this interpretation? How close to looking like an animal can an anthropomorphic animal get before it is captured?
The only ambiguity is that stated directly in the text; "is or is likely to be mistaken for".
And again, the thing it has to be likely to be mistaken for is a film or photograph of a person performing a sex act on an animal. Not "something like an animal." Not "something with animal features." Animal. One word. Period.
That means if you showed the image to an average person on the street they would be likely to believe it was an actual photo or video of someone doing actual sex acts to an actual flesh and blood animal. All of those conditions are clearly spelled out in the text of the law. It's really not vague at all.
The only reason they even put the "is likely to be mistaken" for part is because we're now at the point where AI can generate photographic images that aren't actually real photographs.
And if someone is out there painting photo realistic art so good that no one can tell its not real, and they're using that to recreate believable depictions of bestiality, well, yeah, the law is meant to criminalize that too. If it would fool the average person into thinking its a real animal, yes, that counts. But the average person isn't going to look at Judy Hopps and think "Oh my God, that's a real actual bunny rabbit", so I'm really not clear on what it is you're worried about here.