I wanted to give you all a quick update. You may
remember my two previous blog posts, letting you know about a petition
calling on the Canadian government “to require public canteens under federal
jurisdiction to provide a vegan option, and to raise this issue and work with
provincial and territorial counterparts to require the same at all levels of
government.” In practice, this means that a vegan option would be required to
be served in all public schools, hospitals, prisons, and other public
institutions. This is an important step that our country can take towards animal
rights and vegan rights. A similar law is already in place in Portugal.
I didn’t start the petition, but I signed it and mentioned
it on my blogs because this issue matters a lot to me.
In total, the petition received 3106 signatures from
the public, and it was presented to the House of Commons on February 7, 2018.
The government’s response was disappointing—basically, they implied that they
don’t plan on taking action on this issue.
Fortunately, however, the dedicated vegan advocates
who are working on this issue are not giving up! A new organization, Vegan
Option Canada, has been founded to advocate for this new law. Vegan Option
Canada is currently running two versions of their petition: an official paper
petition and an unofficial, supplementary online petition. You can sign both,
as the signatures for each petition are counted separately. You can access the
online petition directly by clicking here. Check out Vegan Option Canada’s website to learn more about this issue and to find a paper petition near you. Alternatively, you can order sheets
of the paper petition so that you can collect signatures yourself!
I feel quite confident that this initiative can
succeed. Let’s work together and make it happen!
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| Photo Courtesy of Suzette.nu. |
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| Whole Wheat Banana Muffins by Carolyn Harris. |
