This petition to City Council of Prince Albert, SK is focused on asking City Council to make the necessary amendments to the city bylaws to permit residents to raise backyard chickens. We are requesting that those bylaw amendments result in a backyard chicken permitting program that mirrors successful backyard chicken programs in many other Canadian cities.

Cities such as St. Albert, AB, and Red Deer, AB have successfully implemented similar bylaw amendments that allow for the responsible rearing of backyard chickens. Limitations regarding the maximum number of chickens a household can raise, only allowing hens to be raised, cage/shelter requirements, owners being required to take an online chicken rearing course, and preventing the commercial sale of eggs from backyard chickens have proven to limit any negative impacts caused by backyard chickens.

Allowing residents to own backyard chickens provides a number of benefits including:

⁃ Increased food security
⁃ increased access to healthy food options
⁃ Reductions in urban tick populations (as chickens will east ticks and other insects)
⁃ Providing children with an applied learning opportunity in the home
⁃ Reductions in municipal waste being generated by homes with backyard chickens (given that chickens can be fed table scraps)
⁃ The creation of high quality organic fertilizer than can be used in urban gardens to increase yield and further enhance food security.

Please consider signing this petition in support of allowing backyard chickens in Prince Albert, SK. When the issue was brought to City council in 2017, the vote on the issue was split with 50% in favour and 50% opposed. At that time, City Council committed to reconsidered their position pending the outcome of a backyard chicken pilot project in St. Albert, AB. The pilot project was very successful and resulted in bylaw amendments and the implementation of a large scale backyard chicken program in St. Albert, AB. We are confident that Prince Albert residents have the ability to successfully and responsibly raise backyard chickens and experience the same benefits that residents in many other Canadian cities are able to.