Ethics

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 and discussion...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Slaugtherhouses 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...

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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."