Trevor (Tre) Smith (born December 10, 1970) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

former television personality, best known for his role in the

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series '' U8TV: The Lofters''."The loft life: Eight hip cats on the prowl for fame: TV show begins Monday". ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only.

'', January 10, 2001. Prior to appearing on ''The Lofters'', Smith was a child actor, whose credits included regular roles in the

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

shows '' Spirit Bay'' and '' 9B''. He later made guest appearances on '' My Secret Identity'', '' The Rez'', '' Earth: Final Conflict'' and '' Kung Fu: The Legend Continues'' and dozens of other movies and television shows; while appearing on ''The Lofters'', he was also one of the hosts, along with Arisa Cox and Jennifer Hedger, of the associated series ''U8 on Film''. He was also a contender for the role of Brian Kinney on '' Queer as Folk'', which eventually went to Gale Harold; however, Smith did appear in a minor role in an early episode. Smith later worked as the lead animal cruelty investigator for the Toronto Humane Society, frequently appearing in this role as a regular guest on

CP24 CP24 is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by Bell Media, a subsidiary of BCE Inc. and operated alongside the Bell-owned CTV Television Network's owned-and-operated television stations CFTO-DT (CTV Toronto) and CKVR-DT ( ...

's ''Animal Housecalls''."Did dog rescuer go too far?"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', August 16, 2007. In August 2007, he made national headlines when he smashed open the window of a locked car to rescue a dog who was in imminent danger of dying from

heat exhaustion Heat exhaustion is a heat-related illness characterized by the body's inability to effectively cool itself, typically occurring in high ambient temperatures or during intense physical exertion. In heat exhaustion, core body temperature ranges from ...

. Smith then handcuffed the dog's owner to the car, and the owner was subsequently beaten by enraged onlookers. Smith became a hero to

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

activists across Canada, despite it resulting in him being disciplined by the

Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals The Ontario SPCA and Humane Society (Ontario SPCA) is a registered Canadian charity focused on animal protection and animal advocacy. In the spring of 2009, the Ontario SPCA introduced the model of high-volume spay/neuter to the Province of Ont ...

. The OSPCA later suspended the organization's credentials in 2009 due to concerns around the leadership of then-THS president Tim Trow; Smith was briefly arrested in early 2010 for allegedly continuing to investigate animal cruelty claims despite the society's suspension. Frank Addario, a lawyer for the Humane Society, characterized Smith's arrest as unwarranted

grandstanding Political posturing, also known as political grandstanding (from the notion of performing to crowds in the grandstands), political theatre, or "kabuki", is the use of speech or actions to gain political support through emotional or affective appe ...

by the OSPCA,"THS agent leashed"
''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices are located at Pos ...

'', January 27, 2010. noting that before arresting Smith, the OSPCA had taken the unprecedented and potentially unethical step of issuing a

press release A press release (also known as a media release) is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing new information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public releas ...

to the media announcing that they planned to arrest him, including suggestions for where the media might want to position themselves to get the best pictures of the arrest. All of the charges against Humane Society officers and staff were later dropped,"Toronto Humane Society charges dropped"

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

, August 16, 2010 and were eventually revealed to stem entirely from the OSPCA's opposition to THS being run as a

no-kill shelter A no-kill shelter is an animal shelter that does not kill healthy or treatable animals based on time limits or capacity, reserving euthanasia for terminally ill animals, animals suffering poor quality of life, or those considered dangerous to pu ...

rather than any actual evidence of mismanagement."Shedding light on the OSPCA-Toronto Humane Society debacle". ''

'', January 10, 2011 Smith has continued to make occasional guest appearances as an actor, including credits on '' The Border'', ''

Fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts and music * "The Fringe", or Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * Purple fri ...

'', '' The Listener'', '' The Ron James Show'', ''

Lost Girl ''Lost Girl'' is a Canadian supernatural drama television series that premiered on Showcase on September 12, 2010, and ran for five seasons. It follows the life of a bisexual succubus named Bo, played by Anna Silk, as she learns to control ...

'' and ''

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Trevor 1970 births Living people Canadian male child actors Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Participants in Canadian reality television series Male actors from Toronto