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This show is dedicated to Father’s Day (coming up on June 16th), and all the vegan dads who are raising their children to live a vegan and compassionate lifestyle.
David Isbister, on the new federal law Bill S-203 that passed this week, set to ban keeping dolphins and whales in captivity in Canada
Image courtesy of Animal Justice.
History was made for the animals in Canada this week. After 3+ years stuck in the bureaucratic system of the Canadian government, Bill S-203, introduced by past Senator Wilfred Moore in 2015, was finally brought back to life and consideration within Parliament. This Monday, the Bill went through its third reading in the House of Commons and is now finally coming into law.
Wilfred Moore, who was present at the press conference on Monday, said that pressure from the thousands of emails and petition signatures from Canadian citizens helped push the Bill through. It had faced heavy opposition by Conservative senators these past years, stalling its progress while it went through repeated procedural tactics.
The Bill isn’t perfect, but it’s a start to what all animal advocates want to see for wild animals: that they not be bred or captured in the wild to be used as play things and big entertainment money makers for facilities like the Vancouver Aquarium, Marineland in Ontario, and all the SeaWorlds and other many seaquariums in the world.
Local animal advocate David Isbister, who was instrumental in the campaign to ban cetaceans in captivity at the Vancouver Aquarium (a ban which has now been in place for 2 years), joins us on the show once again to discuss the larger picture of what this ban means for the animals in Canada, and what it could mean for fostering a global society that will now look upon Canada’s new regulation as hopefully something to be supported and initiated in other countries of the world.
Celebrating Father’s Day with 2 Vegan Dads Who Are Raising Vegan Children!
And not only are these dads vegan and raising vegan children, but they are also dedicated activists for the animals.
Kyle Schlief and 12-year old son Dalamar.
Welcome to our Father’s Day show for fathers and their families who will be celebrating on June 16th. We, here at Animal Voices, love vegan parents who are raising their children as kind, aware and compassionate vegans. To those who are raising their children to be armed with knowledge and conviction to make a better next generation of humans, where hopefully they can help reverse the great damage that present and past humans have already put on the Earth, we applaud you. Thank you for stepping out of society’s box by doing the right thing by not just living a compassionate and ethical lifestyle yourselves, but in moulding your children to follow your footsteps in this way.
We have interviews with 2 vegan dads for this year’s Father’s Day show. First, an interview with Kelowna-based dad Kyle Schlief, who came into his vegan journey only two years ago, when his son was 10 years old. Now, at age 12, his son Dalamar has chosen, from his father’s example, to live as an ethical vegan himself. They also go out to local animal activist events, and Dalamar is finding his voice to speak up for animals!
Special thanks to Kyle for playing an important role (as one of the bus drivers) in the recent Meat The Victims Canada action that took place on April 28th in Abbotsford at a pig factory farm. We so appreciate the big responsibility that he took on that day!
Hugo Slabbert with wife Sarien, and children Luca and Keira.
Our second vegan dad interview is with Hugo Slabbert, who is based in Pitt Meadows with his wife and children, 3-year old daughter Keira and 6-year-old son Luka. Hugo began his vegan journey as a young adult and now has been vegan for the last 13 years. He and his vegan wife Sarien did their research first when it came time to having kids and deciding if they would raise them vegan as well from birth. Any nutritional doubts were unfounded, and they are raising two healthy and happy kids who have never known anything but compassion for all living beings.
Recently, Luka asked his mother: “Mom, other people eat animals, right?” Imagine being born and raised to love animals and of course not eat them, only to discover years later that there are many people in this world who take on the opposite of this compassionate lifestyle – living a life in which eating animals is “natural, normal and necessary”. Not to Luka and his sister!
Hugo and his wife Sarien have been involved with recent farmed animal rescues in the Lower Mainland, finding permanent homes for a pig named Big Mamma (who now lives at the Goats on the Rock Farm Animal Sanctuary on the Sunshine Coast in BC), and taking part in the rescue of 9 newborn Christmas miracle calves, whose story we featured earlier this year on the show here. (Have a listen to the podcast!)
Hugo and Sarien recognized the need for emergency rescue funds for local sanctuaries and thus have recently started the non-profit organization called PEACE (People Ensuring Animal Care Exists). The mission of PEACE is to help animals and farm animal sanctuaries through Resources, Rescues and Education. If you would like to donate much needed funds to PEACE to go towards animal rescue, please visit their donation webpage here.
In this interview, Hugo also speaks on the issue (or dilemma) of fostering a persona of masculinity, as a vegan male who promotes compassion and ethical awareness and advocacy to both his children and his community. In both of these stories, we hear what it’s like to be a vegan dad in a world where a persona of this type makes up a very miniscule (although inspiring) portion of our society.
We hope that hearing these stories of dads, who have chosen compassionate and ethical lifestyles to set a baseline of the how they raise their children, to be both inspirational and motivational to you, our listeners, on how you wish to lead your lives. And especially if you have children, who will see you as a role model to live by.