Mission Statement

The UPEI Animal Care Committee (ACC) is responsible for, and committed to, ensuring ethical care and use of all animals in research, teaching, and service by UPEI faculty, staff, and students. Use of animals is a privilege, not a right, and the ACC ensures that our ethical responsibilities to the animals are met through adherence to UPEI policies and procedures, national standards set by the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC), and PEI’s Animal Welfare Act.

The ACC also aims to promote an increased knowledge awareness and sensitivity to optimal animal care standards to ensure the physiological and psychological well-being of the animals.

Our overarching goals are to assure that the animals we work with receive the highest quality care and to protect the health of people who work with and around animals at UPEI. We believe that excellence in research, teaching and service requires excellence in our animal care and use program.

The Animal Care Committee at UPEI is committed to transparency and best practices in animal welfare. Animal use at UPEI is subject to rigorous oversight, expertise and input to support animal use that exceeds expectations of compliance and animal care.

Oversight

The ACC oversees all use of animals by UPEI faculty and staff for research, teaching or service purposes. This is a multi-layer, collaborative process between ACC, University Veterinarian, faculty members and animal users.

Membership

ACC membership includes veterinarians, community representative(s), departmental representatives who may or may not use animals, technical animal users, and students. The Senior Administrator of the ACC is the Vice President, Academic and Research.

Accreditation

UPEI holds a CCAC Certificate of GAP – Good Animal Practice and undergoes regular accreditation review based on CCAC guidelines, policies, and associated documents.