Regan Russell died trying to spread that message. I, for one, received it. The ag-gag law must be repealed.
Regan Russell... Image from
AnimalJustice
It will take time for authorities to determine whether the recent death
of a woman outside a slaughterhouse in Burlington, Ont., was an accident or
homicide. We don’t need to wait for the outcome, however, to know why the
animal welfare protester died and what must change to prevent future harm —
not only to activists, but also to consumers and businesses.
The events that led to Regan Russell’s death were set in motion last month
in the Ontario legislature, when lawmakers passed a sweeping “ag-gag” law
that prevents journalists and other investigators from entering animal
agriculture facilities to expose illegal activities such as animal cruelty,
employee mistreatment or health and safety violations.
Days later, Russell was protesting this same law on public property when she
was struck and killed by the driver of a truck transporting pigs in what
seems a cruel twist of fate.
Canadians prefer openness
Canadians certainly have an interest in ensuring activities that take place
on farms, on transport trucks and in slaughterhouses adhere to our laws and
to our sense of decency. Opinions are strikingly aligned on the matter.
In a June 2020 survey of more than 1,000 Ontario residents, 84 per cent said
they believe conditions in meat-processing plants should be transparent to
the public. Similar numbers said whistle-blowers should be able to expose
problems on farms and in food-production facilities related to working
conditions, animal abuse and food safety.
But when the newly enacted ag-gag law, Bill 156, comes into force it will
ensure the opposite. Just like a similar law introduced in Alberta last
year, Ontario’s new legislation will prevent whistle-blowing employees from
collecting the type of video evidence that in the past has led to the
prosecution and conviction of lawbreakers across Canada, including
agricultural workers abusing animals.
This law will also interfere with workers’ rights advocates and journalists
who seek to uncover evidence that employees are being mistreated, which
these days could prevent authorities from being made aware of cases where
slaughterhouse workers, who already face a high risk of COVID-19 infection,
may be forced to work without adequate personal protective equipment.
Likewise, this law could prevent employees from exposing information that
would help public health authorities pinpoint the origin of pathogens that
cause avian flu, swine flu and other infectious diseases that are known to
arise in animal confinement facilities.
Additionally, this law will prevent people like Russell from exercising
their legal rights to peacefully protest on public property, a right
protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In her decades of
social activism, Russell had exercised that right by advocating for a wide
range of social causes and was especially vocal in her opposition to the
mistreatment of animals raised as food.
Consumers, businesses look to future
Because many people share Russell’s concerns about animal welfare, and also
worry about the large environmental footprint and health risks associated
with eating meat, demand for plant-based products has rapidly increased in
recent years. Many food-production firms are shifting away from animal-based
products, diminishing the purported role for ag-gag laws.
The CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, Michael McCain, projected in 2018 that the
tastes of consumers would continue drifting away from meat, signalling his
company’s intention to continue satisfying those tastes by producing more
plant-based proteins. “We view ourselves as a protein company,” he stated.
The following year, he announced plans to build a $310 million plant-protein
food processing facility.
Maple Leaf Foods is not alone in evolving away from animal agriculture. Some
of the largest meat-production companies in the world, including colossal
Tyson Foods, have introduced plant-based products to their menus of
offerings.
One of the hottest new stocks of 2019 was the vegan food-production company
Beyond Meat. And the newest plant-based meat company to go public, Canadian
firm The Very Good Food Company, saw its share price surge above its initial
value in its early days of trading last month.
The federal government stands ready to encourage businesses to adapt to
consumers’ preferences. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently announced
about $100 million in funding for a Winnipeg facility that “will be a world
leader in plant-based proteins, and will create good jobs in a fast-growing
field.”
Riders and their horses pass through a canola field near Cremona, Alta., in
July 2016. The federal government is helping finance a new agricultural
production plant in Winnipeg that turns peas and canola into protein powders
for the food industry - image The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh...
This adds to Canada’s Protein Industries Supercluster, an ambitious
federal program that aims to add more than $4.5 billion and 4,500 jobs to
the Canadian economy over 10 years by supporting crops used in the
plant-based foods market. It’s notable that a key intention of the protein
supercluster is to improve transparency on Canadian farms, something
Ontario’s Bill 156 directly erodes.
Backward-looking policies have no place in our country. Canadian businesses
cannot compete on the world stage if consumers do not trust the safety of
their products.
But the opacity enshrined in ag-gag laws destroys consumer confidence by its
very nature, to the detriment of Canadian companies, their employees and
their customers. It will also hide the cruel treatment of animals and
workers, which the factory farming industry would do well to eradicate.
Regan Russell died trying to spread that message. I, for one, received it.
The ag-gag law must be repealed.
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