Help Prevent Potential Animal Testing at St. Paul’s Hospital, and Canada’s Shame: Live Horse Exports

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Local Activist Patricia Kendall Uses Her Legal Background to Prevent Harm to Animals

Retired municipal lawyer and vegan activist, Patricia Kendall, is putting her legal expertise to use for the animals in her 6 month campaign, Rezoning For The Animals.

St. Paul’s Hospital, which has served Vancouverites for 125 years, is moving from its location in the West End to an industrial land site just South of Chinatown, and is expected to open in 2026. The new 1.9 billion dollar facility includes plans for a massive research facility to be built, which activists fear will include animal testing labs.

St. Paul’s Hospital requires rezoning from Vancouver City Council for its new site, and this is where you can help. The hospital has advised that it has “not yet been decided whether experimentation with animals will occur in the hospital laboratories”, but activists plan to do all they can to prevent this cruelty regardless.

Animal experimentation is not only horrifically cruel, but ineffective for human medical advances. Whether you live in Vancouver or not, please help persuade Vancouver City Council to prohibit animal experimentation at the new Hospital to prevent the City of Vancouver to approve a rezoning application by St. Paul’s Hospital for their new location.  Many scientists, doctors and researchers oppose animal testing to find cures for human diseases. To learn more about this, listen to this podcast with Dr. Ray Greek.

Click here to voice your concern to the city. We only have 6 months to take action!

Cruel Live Horse Exports From Canada to Japan

Horses standing in wooden crates at the Calgary airport awaiting planes taking them to be slaughtered in Japan.

Many Canadians are surprised to learn that we export live horses to Japan to be slaughtered for meat, and that they are exported alive, sometimes 4 of them crammed into a crate with no food or water for up to 27 hours. It’s possible that some of these horses were someone’s companion animal, sold at an auction. Canada is one of the only countries in the world still shipping live horses for slaughter. The practice also takes place in Mexico and parts of Europe, whereas horse slaughterhouses and live export are illegal in the US.

For years, advocacy group Canadian Horse Defence Coalition (CHDC) has exposed and fought to ban this cruel industry. You can take action by signing their petition here.

Vancouver-based animal rights lawyer Rebeka Breder is suing the federal government for violating animal transportation laws. This is a groundbreaking case, as it is the first time an animal protection organization has sued the government over the way it transports animals.

Rebeka is the founder and adjunct professor of the University of BC’s animal law course, as well as the founder of the first animal law section of the Canadian Bar Association. In this show, she discusses her lawsuit against the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.