Local animal rights advocacy group Animal Justice Canada have filed a 27-page false advertising complaint with the Competition Bureau of Canada against winter jacket manufacturer Canada Goose. The complaint alleges that the company is engaging in deceptive marketing practices to market their jackets, which has seen its sales go from $5 million a year to $200 million, according to New York Magazine.

The complaint, filed on March 11, revolves around claims that the company makes about the coyote fur trim that lines the hoods of their jackets. The complaint alleges that it’s impossible to “humanely” source coyote fur, as the company claims to do, since trapping coyotes is itself inherently inhumane.

The company’s website claims that they’re “deeply committed to the preservation of our global environment and the humane treatment of animals.” They defend their usage of real fur as being “not just the best choice, but the only choice” for the type of climate that Canada Goose jackets are purportedly designed for. In a promotional video, the company quotes Dr. Aline Cotel of the University of Michigan, who claims that “the presence of real fur is critical” to have maximum warmth.

Animal Justice Canada thinks that this is misleading. Cotel doesn’t have the research credentials or background that would allow her to speak authoritatively on the issue the closest credit she has is as a contributor to a study about the effectiveness of different layouts of real fur on a coat’s hood – a far cry from the sort of thing that would allow one to make judgments concerning faux fur and real fur.

Camille Labchuck, lawyer and Director of Legal Advocacy for Animal Justice Canada, authored the 27-page complaint to the Competition Bureau of Canada. She says it is the first usage of the Competition Bureau to tackle issues related to animal rights, but that the practice is common elsewhere.

“In the UK, in Australia, in New Zealand, lodging false advertisement claims against these companies is very common,” Labchuck tells me over the phone. “It’s just not a thing in Canada yet, which is why we’re taking the first step to make this more commonplace.” She says that she’s compiled “over a hundred” more cases that she’s preparing to file in a steady stream as time goes on.

Animal Justice Canada’s efforts come after a 2013 Daily Mail article about the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ campaign asking Canada Goose to switch to fake fur. The article was accompanied by a video of coyotes in traps, which can be seen (warning: graphic content) here.

The company’s response was to shift the blame, claiming that “We know PETA does not respect our ethical, responsible use of fur so further conversation [with them] won’t be productive.” Dr. Shelley Anderson, an ecologist who focuses on coyote ecology, isn’t convinced. “To call [what they do] humane depends on a very narrow and outdated understanding of the measures of suffering.”