While being vegan is rewarding (how many other actions have the direct impact of saving lives?) and ultimately a win-win-win solution for the planet, the environment and ALL animals including ourselves, being immersed in the continual bombardment of animal pain can be stressful.

Read more from our awesome friend Christa at So I’m Thinking of Going Vegan in her post Animal rights work getting you down?

Your heart. A pretty important organ, you know. So it’s good that there is a whole month devoted to it. In case you didn’t know, February is National Heart Month.

Read the full article from the St. Catharines Standard here.

Protesting on the corner of Ontario St. and King St, next to Henry’s Furs, we held signs showing the graphic results of skining animals, and provided literature to urge the public to rethink their position towards the fur industry. The 2nd annual demonstration at this specific location, this demonstration saw numbers swell from 25 to well over 40 and the diversity of the crowd was heartening.

The hope of this idealist is that the population is slowly raising its consciousness in regards to how we treat other animals and the planet we share with them. For those keeping track there certainly is some cause for hope; recent fur farm bans in Austria, Croatia, Switzerland and the UK, debates to ban the fur farms and/or the trade entire in countries like Israel and Sweden and Truth in Fur Labelling Legislation recently passed in the United States, all point to this.

The Truth in Fur Labelling Legislation, just passed recently, is most intriguing for those fighting against the fur industry in Canada as it is a precedent that activists and polticians believe can be brought North. There are two private members bills currently in the works in Canada which resemble the U.S. Legislation, one sponsored by Anita Neville (Liberal) and one by Bill Saskay (NDP) and the Green Party released a statement last week in support of such legislation. The Legislation itself works to stem the tide of cheap cat and dog fur from China being sold as fake fur in our markets by requiring that all fur be labelled by species and by country of origin. This is a dirty little secret of our marriage of convience in animal trade with China (they import a lot of our fur and seal products) and most Canadians do not know that the fur they are wearing, even if labelled faux, could in fact be from the hide of a cat or a dog. Considering the close relationship our culture has with those species, Truth in Labelling could have massive consequences for our fur and seal industry, two industries that are regulated solely by supply and demand.

For those wishing to learn more about how to press the Canadian Government for Truth in Fur Labelling Legislation, please contact the Brock Animal Rights Club at brockanimalrights@gmail.com. For those who wish to have a peer into this industry, embedded below is a short documentary from Sweden, compiled of undercover footage from inside the fur industry. Unlike Canada, Sweden actually has laws in place for strict regulation of fur farms, however, enforcement and oversight always lacks for industries more interested in profit. I caution that the footage below is very graphic and disturbing.

Dylan Powell

The weekend started on Friday night with Niagara Action for Animals Potluck Series. Always an event to look forward to, the potluck brings out friendly familiar faces as well as new ones.

It was a low-key potluck, with no speaker or film, however the food was still delicious; with the award for best dish (imho) going to Elyse McCreadie for her Vegan Strawberry Oreo Ice Cream Pie. It was the stuff dreams are made of.

It was also nice to see our friends from Burlington come down for the potluck, Ken, Kelly, Erinn and Michael from Kindfood . Their donations to the vegan food serving program that Niagara Action for Animals and The Live Free Collective are starting up at the RAFT at risk youth shelter were much appreciated, especially the entire box of Almond Breeze!

We shut the church down early and I headed up to try and get a good sleep in before Saturday’s activities.

I woke up energized on Saturday morning for my adventure to Dain City to play some basketball as a part of a fundraiser for the Lincoln County Humane Society and the Niagara Falls Humane Society. Kevin Wronski, founder of Selfless Acts Animal Rights, put together a great event and raised a combined $610 for our local shelters. Aside from basketball there was also vegan pizza there from the Rex Hotel in Welland as well as a small bake sale featuring some delicious vegan chocolate chip cookies.

I played okay, showed some streaks of brilliance, and left with my ankles intact; so overall it was great day. (As I write this three days later I am still extremely sore!) I hit the road and caught a quick nap before getting ready for the festivities at Brooklyn’s later that night.

By any estimation, Brooklyn’s Restaurant is the most vegan friendly restaurant in the Niagara Region. It’s come to be something of a second home for me. I quickly scarfed down the classic “Smokin’ Soy Chicken Sandwich” before heading over to watch some karaoke for Niagara Action for Animals “Sing Your Heart Out For the Animals Fundraiser.”

The event was a great time, and I got to find out who in the community can really sing (Allison Arbour!) (Check her out at sylverdawncreations.com) and who can’t! (Not mentioning names). Paul Hamilton’s shout out to Hosni Mubarak before his cover of Cheap Trick’s “No Surrender” was my definitive highlight of the night, although Kyle Paton’s (Check him out at artisandoughnuts.blogspot.com) cover of the Gin Blossom’s “Hey Jealousy” was pretty nice, as well.

As food was put out later in the night I quickly headed over to the dessert table. I took a chance on a chocolate covered mound and was happy beyond words to find out that it was a vegan version of the crunchie bar! I confess I ate more than my share. In the end NAfA raised $765 from the event, a great total for a night of karaoke!

As we packed up and I drove friends home I reflected on these three events. Each event brought out different people, different crowds. For a lot of people, these events were their first introduction to the vegan philosophy and vegan food. I gave into the urge of optimism and reminded myself of the reach of the vegan community in Niagara and it’s continued growth. Thanks to everyone who organized the events, participated or supported them! I want to see more weekends like this in the future!

Lucky for you, I know the number one remedy for this … and no, it’s not picking up the phone and ordering your favourite takeout delivered.

Instead, it comes in the form of a cozy, one-dish (vegan and gluten-free) meal that’s easy to throw together, makes your home smell fantastic, and is sure to warm you up on the coolest of nights.

Read the full article from the St. Catharines Standard at scstandard.com.

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