October 2023
Unintentional versus intentional actions
Vegan Society of Canada News, October 12th 2023
There has been much debate over what constitutes “intentional” versus “unintentional” exploitation and what this means for human animals and other animal rights. Regarding killing within the human species, Pnevmatikos explains that intent is the mitigating factor in determining guilt in a court of law, specifically when killing in self-defence or accidentally...
March 2023
Water shortage caused by dairy and other beverages
Vegan Society of Canada News, March 17th 2023
There are a lot of negative externalities from the dairy industry, not the least of which is the killing and exploitation of animals. But what is often ignored and causes suffering is no access to potable water...
February 2023
The cycle of exploitation
Vegan Society of Canada News, February 17th 2023
We should be eternally grateful that a vast majority of animals are incapable of enacting revenge on human animals for how they are treated. But, we have seen the many ways exploiting animals comes back to bite us–whether that’s in the form...
January 2023
Country of origin labelling issues
Vegan Society of Canada News, January 20th 2023
Country of origin labelling continues to be a contentious issue at the public level as it pertains to animal exploitation. The narrative concerning the interconnectedness of animal exploitation has long sought to unify the rights of all animals...
December 2022
The REACH animal testing loophole
Vegan Society of Canada News, December 16th 2022
The Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) animal testing loopholes in Europe are similar to what we’ve discussed before but different in some key aspects. It is misleading countless people...
October 2022
The precautionary principle
Vegan Society of Canada News, October 14th 2022
The precautionary principle in veganism is a crucial pillar, and without it, veganism would crumble or become a mindless list of things we avoid without any reason or logic to help explain it. We are dedicating an entire article to this principle...
September 2022
A call for Veganism on International Day of Non-Violence
Vegan Society of Canada News, September 25th 2022
Mark October 2nd on your calendars and get ready to join us and vegans across the world as we mark the United Nations International Day of Non-Violence! Together we will voice and promote the non-violent principles of practising a vegan lifestyle...
Flights will soon be not vegan certifiable
Vegan Society of Canada News, September 16th 2022
For some time now, we have known the toll on the environment from the aviation industry. The emissions are significant as only one transatlantic flight or two medium-distance flights is roughly equal to all the emissions saved from switching to eating foods suitable for vegans for an entire year...
Exploiting Animals as Workers
Vegan Society of Canada News, September 2nd 2022
We will not certify any products that exploit animals as workers, but regrettably many others do. Transportation, security, powering machinery, retrieving, searching or land clearing, are all ways animals are exploited...
June 2022
Apathy towards animals
Vegan Society of Canada News, June 16th 2022
One cannot help but notice a distinct contradiction when it comes to animal exploitation. As research has shown, in one sense, most people are horrified when a dog or cat is abused, but they are much more apathetic toward animals in the agricultural industry and even more indifferent to animals used in testing laboratories. The level of concern for invertebrates is nonexistent...
March 2022
The animal testing loophole
Vegan Society of Canada News, March 18th 2022
There are various practices we strongly oppose, including what we refer to as the animal testing loophole. We briefly touched on this issue in the ban of ISO-23662 article, but, unfortunately, most if not all organizations, including members of the Vegan World Alliance (VWA), continue to use this loophole...
January 2022
Exploitation in the cocoa industry
Vegan Society of Canada News, January 14th 2022
September 2021 was the 20th anniversary of the failure of The Harkin-Engel Protocol. Twenty years later, most chocolate remains unsuitable for vegans and we will ban from vegan certification Nestlé’s plant-based KitKat, and Cadbury’s Plant Bar...
December 2021
Sustainable population
Vegan Society of Canada News, December 16th 2021
When we discuss our vision, we usually encourage everyone to end animal exploitation in their own life. However, it is part of a bigger equation that, overly simplified, looks like this...
November 2021
We are banning Lush products
Vegan Society of Canada News, November 15th 2021
We have written in the past about the serious issues with vegan labelling that threaten the achievement of our vision. As we explained in more detail in our ISO-23662 ban article, it is incorrect to think that the most popular certification schemes are the most stringent...
October 2021
Veganism
Vegan Society of Canada News, October 15th 2021
As we discussed in one of our articles, there is the possibility that veganism as practiced today will not bring about our vision. You may have noticed that our vision is vegan agnostic. Our commitment to our vision is steadfast. We hope the following analysis...
September 2021
When plants conflict with our vision
Vegan Society of Canada News, September 16th 2021
This may sound counterintuitive, but everything made from plants will not result in the achievement of our vision, because veganism is not about ingredients, and plants are not inherently better than anything else. We are not opposed to the molecular structure of meat or dairy, we are opposed to the animal exploitation behind it...
August 2021
Selling good behavior
Vegan Society of Canada News, August 12th 2021
For the most part, people are willing to use paper straws, purchase energy-efficient light bulbs and deal with a slightly less effective showerhead to conserve water—products that are sold to the consuming public under the guise of serving some public good. The effectiveness of these products isn't our focus, but rather the marketing strategies used by these corporations that prey on a seeming preference in the population to purchase products that appear to support some public concern...
June 2021
Why we don't care
Vegan Society of Canada News, June 4th 2021
The reason for the writing of this article was two simple questions “why don't people care and how can we help them to do so?” Naturally, these are very broad questions that could have any number of aspects explored and analyzed...
February 2021
Your fruits and vegetables may not be vegan certifiable
Vegan Society of Canada News, February 4th 2021
Animal exploitation isn’t limited to industries that directly use animals; it exists in the production of fruits and vegetables as well. In order to maintain our vision and to be in integrity, we are shedding light on this exploitation in plant agriculture. We have reached out to various organizations, including those that are representing migrant rights, and are simultaneously launching our whistleblower program along with our new toll free number...
November 2020
Ocean of trauma
Vegan Society of Canada News, November 3rd 2020
While human animal exploitation in slaughterhouses is horrendous, the suffering and abuse of workers in the global fisheries industry surpasses it...
September 2020
Slaughterhouses and COVID-19
Vegan Society of Canada News, September 11th 2020
As we do our part by wearing masks and physically distancing, experts and government agencies are trying to contain and control COVID-19, while the cost is spiralling out of control. But it seems we need to be reminded that, most regrettably, we brought this upon ourselves...
June 2020
Vegan World Alliance rejects ISO-23662
Vegan Society of Canada News, June 7th 2020
Alongside the Vegan World Alliance we strongly support this ban of ISO-23662, which we are simultaneously putting into effect, and the condemnation of ISO and its members for its questionable practices.
The practice of astroturfing—hiding who is really behind the message—is being used by those who profit from the killing, torture, cruelty and harm of animals. Because of this, it’s imperative that the vegan community remains vigilant. We must, at all costs, prevent a situation where products and services are undeservedly labelled vegan, because that brings us no closer to achieving our vision than we are today.
January 2020
Show me the money: Following the money trail of animal agriculture
Vegan Society of Canada News, January 4th 2020
When things in our society do not make sense, it is often helpful to follow the money. In the case of tobacco, lead and asbestos it took decades before the scientific evidence reached the mainstream and countless had to suffer the consequences. The money trail of tobacco, now publicly available in history books, gives us an important piece of the puzzle as to why so many people had to die before things started to change...
December 2019
Torment and butchery or torment in butchery
Vegan Society of Canada News, December 2nd 2019
The follow up report by Human Rights Watch on the cruelty, torture and exploitation of human animals in slaugtherhouses is out, and unfortunately nothing since their 2005 initial report or the Oxfam 2015 report we covered here has changed. In fact, conditions seem to be much worse...
October 2019
Got misery?
Vegan Society of Canada News, October 6th 2019
As we have discussed before, the people working in slaughterhouses, who kill the animals that eventually land on our plates, go to work each day doing a job that most of us would never do. Nevertheless, we are schedule to import this misery starting in early 2020...
February 2019
Strengthening our motivation: Compassion and protecting the health of animal agriculture workers
Vegan Society of Canada News, February 6th 2019
We have anything but great compassion for those who have to work in animal agriculture, more specifically those who do the actual killing for us in slaughterhouses...
May 2018
US civil rights group hails historic progress
Independent, May 19th 2018
While this case was ultimately lost it is the statement by Associate Judge Eugene M Fahey, which finally shows the shift in our society being taking into account in the courtroom:
"The issue whether a nonhuman animal has a fundamental right to liberty protected by the writ of habeas corpus is profound and far-reaching. It speaks to our relationship with all the life round us. Ultimately, we will not be able to ignore it."