About Toronto Pig Save
A Meat and Dairy Industries Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Toronto Pig Save
December 2016

Toronto Pig Save exists to erect glass walls at area slaughterhouses, encourage plant-based vegan living, and bear witness to the pigs during vigils.

We use a love-based community-organizing approach and develop team leadership in order to build a grassroots animal justice movement based on the principles of animal equality and freedom. Our vision is to replace animal agriculture, fields used for feed crops and slaughterhouses with wild spaces, forests (this would address the crisis of catastrophic climate change (ClimateVegan.org) and animal sanctuaries.

Toronto Pig Save started in December 2010 as a grassroots, animal rights, vegan group, after an adopted dog, Mr. Bean, put us in touch with our community. As I walked with Mr. Bean each morning on Lake Shore we’d see 8 or 9 transport trucks carrying sad and frightened pigs to a nearby downtown slaughterhouse called Quality Meat Packers (QMP).

In July 2011, we committed to holding a minimum of three vigils each week to bear witness of pigs and other farmed animals transported to Toronto area slaughterhouses.

QMP has since gone bankrupt in 2014 so we now hold weekly Pig Save vigils at Fearman’s “Pork” Inc. slaughterhouse in Burlington. We hold regular Toronto Cow Save vigils, usually on Thursday mornings 9-11 am at 1 Glen Scarlett Road, and Toronto Chicken Save vigils, usually Thursday evenings 8-10 pm, at 100 Ethel Avenue.

Bearing Witness

Toronto Pig Save uses the strategy of bearing witness to animals in their final moment as they approach slaughterhouses. We use a love-based community-organizing approach and develop team leadership in order to build a grassroots animal justice movement based on the principles of animal equality and freedom. Our vision is to replace animal agriculture, fields used for feed crops and slaughterhouses with wild spaces, forests (this would address the crisis of catastrophic climate change (ClimateVegan.org) and animal sanctuaries. Our love-based approach to community organizing is informed by Leo Tolstoy (The Kingdom of God is Within You on nonviolence, love and truth), and Mahatma Gandhi campaigns.

All-Day Vigils

In the summer of 2015, we committed to holding monthly all-day or 24-hour vigils. These all-day vigils are well attended. We often stop the transport trucks, with the assistance of the police, so we can safely bear witness as a community. The vigils include special guests like vegan celebrities, free vegan food, photography and workshops to empower activists, and vegan outreach. Please consider going vegan and getting involved by joining us for our weekly and all-day vigils!

Toronto Pig Save has grown to a global The Save Movement with about 50 Save groups in Canada, the U.S., Australia, and Europe. For a list of Save groups and social media, visit our website, www.TheSaveMovement.org.

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