Ask grocery retailers to require real progress for farmed animals!

Every year, hundreds of millions of farmed animals are bred and killed for food in Canada. Like dogs and cats, these animals have the capacity to suffer and feel joy. Yet farmed animal welfare is largely unregulated, falling through the gaps of weak and voluntary guidelines, legal loopholes and industry self-regulation. The result is that animals on farms are left highly vulnerable to neglect, abuse and systemic cruelty.

Canada’s biggest grocery retailers have the power to change that.

In the absence of legal oversight, an industry-dominated body known as the National Farm Animal Care Council establishes “Codes of Practice” for on-farm animal care. These Codes are voluntary, unenforceable, and often prioritize economics and convenience for producers, instead of animal welfare. They allow horrific practices that would shock most Canadians to continue, unchecked.

Years ago, recognizing the lack of strong welfare laws, retailers stepped in to demand changes in how animals are treated. Sadly, those changes have failed to materialize, with the animal agriculture industry backtracking on its own stated commitments to reduce animal suffering. We’re now urging the largest food companies in Canada to once again use their considerable influence to drive meaningful animal welfare reforms, starting by requiring that producers phase out the use of cruel confinement systems without delay—finally achieving a cage-free future for farmed animals.

Please urge the Retail Council of Canada and retailer members to phase out the use of cruel confinement systems for farmed animals in Canada!

Your message

Subject*

Loblaw

Companies Ltd.

Loblaw Companies Ltd.

Metro

Inc.

Metro Inc.

Walmart

Canada

Walmart Canada

Retail

Council of Canada

Retail Council of Canada

Sobeys

Manager

Gino

Dorico

Costco

Federated Coop

Pattison Food Group

Giant Tiger

Dear Retail Council of Canada and retailer members, 

I am writing to you as a concerned consumer who believes that farmed animals should be adequately protected in Canada. Unfortunately, animal suffering consistently occurs within our food system due to the lack of robust, enforceable laws to ensure even minimal standards of animal welfare.  

At present, the federal government’s animal welfare regulations are limited to the transport and slaughter of animals, both of which occur after animals have already left the factory farm where they are kept. Several provinces have their own animal welfare legislation, but these laws often exclude common agricultural practices, leaving significant gaps in animal protection. 

The National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC) is presently the only entity overseeing animal welfare standards on farms, and as a recent report explains (https://www.humaneworld.org/en/news/new-report-exposes-failures-farm-animal-protection-canada), its processes are deeply flawed. To establish “Codes of Practice” for animal care, NFACC appoints committees that are primarily comprised of industry representatives. The resulting Codes are voluntary, unenforceable and often prioritize economics over animal welfare. There is little transparency and no public accountability embedded in NFACC’s processes, and even NFACC’s own research has shown that most producers are unaware of the Codes and their contents. 

The result is that scientifically condemned practices are permissible in Canada. Hundreds of millions of animals are confined in cruel cages for months or forced to spend weeks crammed in barren barns. Animals are routinely mutilated, having their tails cut off, beaks cut short, or are castrated, without adequate pain relief. Undercover investigations have repeatedly shown animals being hit, kicked, dropped, pulled and twisted, causing immense suffering. 

The retail industry, backed by millions of concerned consumers, has the influence and power to effect change. Years ago, in the absence of legal protections for animals, the retail sector stepped in and required long-overdue improvements from producers. You listened to consumers and to animal welfare scientists and adopted landmark animal welfare policies intended to spare millions of animals from unnecessary suffering.  

Today, the animal agriculture industry has failed to deliver on even modest welfare commitments, falling short of the meaningful improvements that retailers and consumers alike have demanded. The grocery retail sector has both the power and the opportunity to do the right thing. As Canada’s largest purchasers of animal products, you can put the industry back on track and help to finally end the cruel confinement of farmed animals in Canada. As a concerned customer, I am asking you to commit to phasing out intensive confinement systems without delay, requiring that producers transition to cage-free housing systems once and for all. 

You can be the heroes farmed animals need and deserve. We’re all counting on you—please don’t let us down.

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Ask grocery retailers to require real progress for farmed animals!

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