Between 2021 and 2023, Canada imported 1,796 endangered long-tailed macaques — all captured from the wild, with most originating in Mauritius. 

This places our country in a deeply troubling position: we are one of only two nations, alongside the United States, to participate in the commercial trade of wild-caught primates for the research and testing industry. In 2022, the IUCN reclassified long-tailed macaques from "vulnerable" to "endangered," identifying their use in research and testing as the primary threat to the species. Despite pushback from the research and testing sector, the IUCN recently reaffirmed this status, underscoring the grave threats to their survival.

Most of the primates imported into Canada in this timespan went to Quebec, based on international merchandise trade data from Statistics Canada. According to publicly available research data published in open-access journals, macaques at facilities in Quebec undergo cruel and invasive procedures including surgeries involving drilling through their bones, long IV infusion while restrained, euthanasia and collection of their organs. Captive-bred primates can yield unreliable data and wild-caught animals are an even greater liability,........

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