Sunday, March 19, 2023

Fossil fuel ad campaign misled Canadians, claims Competition Board complaint

Greenpeace has filed a complaint with Canada's Competition Bureau against Pathways Alliance — an industry group made up of the biggest oil sands producers — in what the environmental group hopes will set a precedent against 'greenwashing.'


oil-sands-emissions
The tar sands upgrader plant at the Syncrude mine north of Fort McMurray, Alta.Ashley Cooper / Corbis / Getty Images
Stefan Labbé

The environmental group Greenpeace has filed a complaint with Canada’s Competition Bureau against a coalition of the country’s six largest oil sands producers for running what they allege is a “misleading” and “anti-competitive” advertising campaign.

The complaint, submitted this week, targets the six companies forming the Pathways Alliance  — Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL), Cenovus Energy, ConocoPhillips Canada, Imperial, MEG Energy and Suncor Energy — and their “Let’s clear the air campaign.”

Greenpeace claims the Pathways Alliance misled Canadians in several advertisements representing its plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Those ads ran across television, major Canadian newspapers, their website, podcasts, social media and at least one billboard in Vancouver, B.C.

“They're claiming to tackle the climate crisis. But in reality, their plan doesn't work. And so they're misleading both the public and the politicians because of that,” said Salomé Sané, a climate campaigner with Greenpeace’s investigation team.

Fossil fuel companies misled Canadians through major advertisement spending, alleges complaint

The 46-page complaint to the Competition Bureau turns on four claims. In the first, Greenpeace says the advertising campaign fails to include Scope 3 emissions — those produced when you burn fossil fuel.

“Their plan doesn’t account for more than 80 per cent of their emissions. Even without a full emissions accounting, their own calculations do not result in them achieving net zero,” writes Greenpeace in its complaint.

Pathways Alliance has spent money widely to get its message out in recent months. According to the complaint to the Bureau, the six oil and gas companies ran television ads during the FIFA World Cup, the Australian Open and the 2023 Super Bowl.

“From November 2022 through January 2023, the 30-second Pathways Alliance ad aired 929 times on the TSN Network, totalling more than 7.5 hours of air time,” says the Greenpeace complaint.

The six companies forming the Pathways Alliance account for 95 per cent of Alberta’s oil sands production — Canada’s largest single human source of carbon emissions. But the companies' footprints don't stop there. 

Cenovus, ConocoPhillips Canada and CNRL all say they have significant existing natural gas operations or plans to develop drilling in the Montney Play, a geologic formation traversing the Alberta-B.C. border and ranked by one recent study as the world’s sixth largest “carbon bomb.”

On B.C.’s coast, Suncor owns the Burrard Products Terminal in Burnaby and Port Moody, a facility that has the capacity to export 40,000 barrels of fossil fuel per day. And Imperial Oil has several retail locations across B.C. and three distribution terminals in Burnaby, Nanaimo and Port Moody.

So perhaps it's not surprising, said Sané, that the ad campaign targeted Canadians from coast to coast. Over three months ending in January 2023, the alliance spent $325,025 on Facebook and Instagram advertisements, making the group Meta’s third-highest ad buy in Canada during that period after YouTube and the  Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

In at least one instance, the industry group placed an ad on an electronic billboard lit up outside of Vancouver’s BC Place in November 2022.

“Let’s clear the air,” suggested the Pathways Alliance ad.

A net-zero promise through new tech

The subtext of the ad often pointed to the companies' plans to become net-zero carbon producers by mid-century.

In one full front-page ad in the Feb. 18, 2023, edition of the Toronto Star, the industry alliance claims, “We’re making clear strides to net zero.” Three days later, a banner ad on the CBC News website states, “Oil sands are on a path to net-zero emissions.”

Such statements, the Greenpeace complaint alleges, suggest the companies have a “transparent and concrete plan” to achieve net zero emissions when they are expanding oil production.

“We know that to limit the worst effects of climate change, we actually need to reduce production of fossil fuels and not extend them,” said Sané.

The complaint to the Competition Bureau also cites “speculative future technologies” such as Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS), one of a handful go acronyms used to describe machines that scrub carbon from the smokestacks of coal power plants, steel makers, or other fossil fuel-heavy industries. 

“This technology, there's a lot of questions that hang around us. We're not really sure if it's going to be ready on time. We're not really sure how efficient they're going to be,” said Sané. “And yet they're an essential part of their net-zero plan.”

pathways-alliance-ads
A screenshot from Greenpeace's complaint to Canada's Competition Bureau shows examples of recent ads placed by the Pathways Alliance, an industry group made up of Canada’s six largest oil sands producers with the stated aim of reducing CO2 emissions to net-zero. Greenpeace

Companies positioned themselves as 'Climate leaders' while pushing for more fossil fuel production

On several occasions, Sané says the Pathways Alliance has positioned oilsands producers as “climate leaders.” But that doesn’t align with the group’s industry affiliations and the lobbying they have done more widely in Canada, she said.

“We recorded that at least four of the Pathways Alliance companies have been opposing emissions reduction, and they've been advocating for fossil fuel expansion,” said Sané.

“That kind of behind-closed-doors lobbying that they're doing doesn't match with the image that they're trying to present to the Canadian public.”

Mark Cameron, Pathways Alliance vice-president of external affairs, said the group is taking time to review the complaint and won’t directly comment on it until it is finished.

“What I can say is our campaign acknowledges the oil sands represent a significant share of our country’s emissions and that we must work collaboratively, including with governments, to achieve our goal of net zero from operations and deliver the world’s preferred barrel of responsibly produced oil,” Cameron said in a written statement.

“We will continue to speak on behalf of one of Canada’s most important industries and show how we’re addressing the climate challenge.” 

Latest complaint flurry of 'greenwashing' allegations

Sané says that in submitting the complaint of “greenwashing” to the Competition Bureau, Greenpeace is asking the industry watchdog to consider the general impression of the advertising.

It comes on the back of a number of complaints filed with the Competition Bureau alleging false and misleading statements in which several companies — including banks, oil and gas companies, and forest certification programs — have been called out for alleged greenwashing.

The Bureau itself has warned that companies falsely alleging green credentials have significantly increased in recent years. But few big complaints against large fossil fuel companies or their financiers have been decided on yet.

Sané said she hopes the latest case against the Pathways Alliance will set a precedent to deter other companies from evading meaningful action on climate change and engaging in tactics that might mislead Canadians about their green record. That’s especially important, she said, when it comes to complex climate pathways heavy on jargon and data that non-expert would struggle to decipher without significant effort.

“A lot of companies are actually presenting an image that doesn't reflect their action once the mic is turned off,” she said.

“It shouldn't fall on the public to question whatever companies are telling us. Normally, they should be telling them the truth.”

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Great white sharks slowly making recovery in Canadian oceans: researcher


Jayson Baxter
CTV News at 5 co-host and producer for CTV News Atlantic
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Published March 15, 2023 

After decades of decline, the ocean's apex predator appears to be making a recovery.

Great white sharks were one of the first species listed as threatened in both Canadian and international waters.

In 2003, marine conservation biologist Boris Worm and his research partners published their watershed research paper on the collapse of sharks in northwest Atlantic – setting off alarm bells in the scientific community.

In the United States, 400 great whites were getting caught each year due to longline fishery alone.

"We're not even trying to kill them. But they are so good at finding prey that they find hooks and longlines before other species do."

According to Worm, the current population of white sharks in the Atlantic region is estimated to be about 2,000.

"This is a really slow growing species that matures typically older than humans, at 25 or 30 years of age," he said.

"It has few pups in its lifetime and is very slow to reproduce."

Now, it's illegal to land white sharks or trade their body parts. If caught on a longline, they must be released alive.

"And it's really brought the number of mortalities down and the numbers we see in the wild up," said Worm.

According to Worm, tagging and public awareness campaigns have also helped.

As an experienced diver, Worm swims with sharks around the planet, drawing him further into the world.

"White sharks are one of the most fascinating fish on the planet. It's the largest predatory fish we have," he said.

"They are so ancient and you feel that when you're in their presence. And they've been here for 400-million years, longer than dinosaurs have and they're still here."

Worm says it is still possible to escape our destructive tendencies.

"We can bring these species back within my lifetime and the next generation's lifetime. The ocean could be a lot more abundant than what we are used to," he said. "We've made a big dent in it. But it can recover and it does recover if we give it a chance."


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A white shark found in Canadian waters is shown off the coast of Nova Scotia in this file photo. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Ocearch, Robert Snow)

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In 2003, marine conservation biologist Boris Worm and his research partners published their watershed research paper on the collapse of sharks in northwest Atlantic – setting off alarm bells in the scientific community.

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 New Brunswick

Endangered right whales can be found in Gulf of St. Lawrence all year, study finds

Recent study shows North Atlantic right whales travelling often, potentially raising risk from human activity

Vanessa Moreau · CBC News · 
There is a right whale and her calf just breaking the surface of the blue ocean.
Researchers from Dalhousie University have mapped the northern-most points of right whales' distribution in Canadian waters. This March 11, 2021, photo shows a mother and calf in waters much farther south, near Cumberland Island, Ga. (Georgia Department of Natural Resources/NOAA Permit #20556/The Associated Press)

North Atlantic right whales are spending more time in Canadian waters, according to a recent study, information that could help save the species from extinction.

A group at Dalhousie University looked at acoustic data from the distinctive whale calls, from 2015 to 2017, in the hope of mapping the northern-most points of the whales in Canadian waters. 

Scientists say the more they are able to learn about the movement and preferred habitats of the whales, the more they will be able to prevent right whale deaths from human activities, such as entanglements in fishing equipment or ship strikes.

Organizations in the United States and Canada have taken extensive measures over the past few years to try to protect the whales from further harm, but 2023 has already been a tough year for the endangered mammals, with four new entanglements and two deaths.

A woman in an orange jacket is standing outside with the ocean behind her.
Delphine Durette-Morin of the Canadian Whale Institute in Nova Scotia said the whale habitat extends from Florida to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and before 2015 there was a lack of monitoring efforts in those waters. (Gina Lonati)

One of the most surprising findings, said Delphine Durette-Morin, who completed the study as a master's student at Dalhousie, is how active the right whales are in the Gulf of St. Lawrence almost all year — from May until December, not just in the summer months.

"This continuous presence is really important because it suggests the whales are using ... the Cabot Strait as the migratory corridor in a more continuous fashion," said Durette-Morin, now an assistant scientist at the Canadian Whale Institute. That has implications "for their conservation because that area is an important bottleneck for basically the whales and large ships that are crossing that area."

The habitat, according to Durette-Morin, generally extends from Florida to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and before 2015 there was a lack of monitoring efforts in those northern waters. There have also been sightings as far north as Greenland.

An aerial photo showing a North Atlantic right whale calf in clear blue water.
A North Atlantic right whale calf was found dead under a pier in North Carolina in January. It was no more than a couple of weeks old. (Submitted by Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute)

Her study used a vast network of underwater microphones called hydrophones from four different Canadian organizations to gather sound recordings of right whales over the two-year period.

Durette-Morin told Information Morning Moncton those hydrophones were on a series of 67 moorings and 13 acoustic glider deployments that ranged from the Bay of Fundy to the coast of Labrador.

The passive recording of the right whale's calls, known as upcalls, was not meant to track how many whales were in the area, but instead find migratory corridors or patterns. 

The study involved analyzing audio recordings equivalent to over 20,000 days and was done with some digital assistance from an automated detector.

"When we hear an upcall in a recorder," said Durette-Morin. "We know that there was at least one right whale present at that time, in that location, and that can give us an idea of the distribution through time and space. That can be used as the minimum presence of right whale occurrence."

The top view of a whale, mostly submerged in a body of water
Jedi was named for his callosity pattern, which resembles a Star Wars spaceship battle. The breadth of habitat, and its constant changes, is a challenge for organizations trying to protect the whales. (New England Aquarium under NOAA research permit #19674)

The population of the North Atlantic right whale, according to the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, is estimated to be 340. They generally move south to the coasts of Georgia and Florida during the winter, and further north, along the east coast of the United States and Canada during the summer months. 

The breadth of their habitat, and its constant changes, is a challenge for organizations trying to protect the whales.

"It's important to have characterized distribution information about a population," said Durette-Morin. "Especially to know or to identify areas where there's potential overlap with human induced risk."

Various fisheries, shipping lanes and even tourism are all human activities that potentially pose a risk to the right whales. 

Managing Risks

Jean-Francois Gosselin, a biologist at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said that based on research showing an increased presence of the North Atlantic right whales in Canadian waters, particularly in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Fisheries and Oceans Canada has started a "systemic surveillance program" of Canada's east coast in an effort to track the whales.

He said of the approximately 340-350 North Atlantic right whales left, around 130-140 individual whales have been detected in the Gulf of St. Lawrence since 2018.

A woman in aball cap and sunglasses is outside and smiling.
Amy Knowlton,a senior scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium, hopes that broadening the use of technologies can keep the North Atlantic right whale from extinction. (Submitted by Amy Knowlton)

Fisheries and Oceans Canada sends aircraft to do aerial surveillance of right whales over the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence around 10 times a year, from April to November. They then extend the search across the rest of the east coast, doing one of two regions on alternating years in order to see whether they can find more aggregations of right whales.

Gosselin also said the aerial surveillance is done in combination with acoustic detection methods, and submitted sightings from research vessels or the coast guard, and the data is gathered to add to a database shared among other research and conservation groups.

The detection of right whales near shipping lanes or fishing areas can also trigger management strategies in real time.

"All of these right whales sightings are reported in there like in the central database that is used to identify the areas where sightings have been detected, and then management measures are put in the following day."

If a fishing area is temporarily closed because of the detection of right whales, DFO will do aerial surveillance for the following 15 days in order to ensure the whales have left the area. If they are detected between days nine and 15, Gosselin said, the area could be closed for the remainder of the season.

Amy Knowlton, a senior scientist at the New England Aquarium, said acoustic monitoring of right whales is only one of the tools used by scientists to try to gauge the presence of the whales, but still an important one, and this study highlights the importance of not relying entirely on visual detection, which are often only a snapshot of much larger scale right whale activity.

"Maybe we need to broaden our scope of management," said Knowlton. "So we're not just focused on these aggregation areas for putting in measures, but we're recognizing that the threats are broadly distributed and try to develop ways to sort of tackle that in a more comprehensive fashion."

She gave the example of the Canadian snow crab fishery in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which she said has started to use on-demand gear or rope-less fishing to avoid having a buoy line in the water all the time, lessening the risk of the whales becoming entangled.

Knowlton hopes that broadening the use of technologies like that can keep the North Atlantic right whale from extinction.

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Smelter pollution forcing relocation of 200 Rouyn-Noranda families

Quebec spending $88.3M to create new neighbourhood for impacted residents, while smelter owner Glencore will buy contaminated properties and lands
Stéphane Blais, The Canadian Press


20230317160332-df9ef0276a126f49d24529f5d0796618dc89c37c467d4229f58d5ae7892ffdee
Fonderie Horne, a foundry owned by Glencore, is seen in Rouyn-Noranda, Que., Oct. 29, 2022. An announcement this week that some 200 families would be relocated from a Rouyn-Noranda neighbourhood contaminated by smelter pollution was met with anxiety and concern for those who will be moved out. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Stephane Blais

ROUYN-NORANDA, Que. — An announcement this week that some 200 families would be relocated from a Rouyn-Noranda neighbourhood contaminated by smelter pollution was met with anxiety and concern for those who will be moved out.

While some residents of the Notre-Dame neighbourhood, in the city about 630 kilometres north of Montreal, see it as a chance to leave a sector where arsenic emissions from the Horne copper smelter are associated to a higher risk of cancer, others greet the impending move with sadness and anguish.

Ginette Bédard has felt the full range of emotions in recent days.

Since learning this week she will have to move from the neighbourhood she's called home for 30 years, she progressed from anxiety to tears to fear.

"This doesn't work for me at all, where am I going to go? At my age? Retired?" said Bédard, a former orderly.

The Quebec government announced Thursday it would provide $88.3 million to support the City of Rouyn-Noranda to create a neighbourhood, while Glencore, the company that owns the smelter, will buy the properties and land from willing sellers in the contaminated area. 

The company will also be required to reduce its emissions to meet a target of 15 nanograms per cubic metre by 2027, down from a level of 100 nanograms per cubic metre that was permitted under a 2017 agreement with the province.

During a visit to the neighbourhood, The Canadian Press noted the snow was sprinkled with black particles in several places. The regional health board in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue said an analysis is underway and Glencore said the particles are dust from copper concentrate.

Notwithstanding health risks related to arsenic, and despite the smell and noise from the factory, Bédard likes the neighbourhood where her grandchildren also reside.

"I was fine here. It's quiet. I'm happy, I have my routines," Bédard said. "Now (with the move), I'm totally in the dark. I'm discouraged. I'm very sad." 

Her monthly rent is $550 and Bédard says there's no way she'll be able to find another apartment at that price.

"There are people who are worse off than me in the neighbourhood, poor people who are in tough. What will they do?" she asked.

Residents such as Audrey-Anne Dostie, who lives next door to Bédard, see relocation as a chance to escape a place they feel is dangerous for their health.

"I've thought several times of leaving," Dostie said, noting she wants to have children one day — "but not here." 

One of the reasons she and her partner haven't left is high rent elsewhere and a shortage of apartments.

Meanwhile, property owners will have to negotiate with Glencore, which will purchase properties and demolish them. How the company will determine the value is being worked out, a company spokeswoman said.

Marie-Ève Duclos, owner of a four-unit building, is a bit fearful of the process of selling her property.

"To what point will I, as a citizen, be properly equipped once seated across from a multinational like Glencore to negotiate something?" Duclos asked. She is also concerned about the fate of her tenants.

"I have tenants who don't have a car, they can't be relocated outside the city," Duclos said. "Here they are near all the services, the hospital, the schools, the pharmacy — it's their neighbourhood, their ties are here. That worries me."

On Thursday, Quebec's Municipal Affairs Minister Andrée Laforest reassured the 200 families they would be able to stay in their homes until a new residence was ready. Of the money being allocated to the City of Rouyn-Noranda, $58 million is for new housing, but there's no timetable for completion. There will also be support for those who see their rents go up.

For her part, Bédard is skeptical of politicians' assurances and wonders if their actions will back up their words.

Rouyn-Noranda Mayor Diane Dallaire said she's aware there's a delicate task that awaits them and assured residents impacted will be kept in the loop throughout the process.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2023.

Stéphane Blais, The Canadian Press

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Improve health of Indigenous people and culture by decolonizing tobacco, says Cree doctor

First Nations people off reserve twice as likely to smoke as 

non-Indigenous people: Public Health Canada

Samantha Schwientek · CBC News · 
Dr. James Makokis sits on wooden stairs outside.
Dr. James Makokis uses western and Indigenous medicines to treat his patients. (Submitted by James Makokis)

High rates of smoking among Indigenous people not only pose serious risks to personal health, but also culture, according to a Cree (nehiyô) doctor in Alberta. 

"The number one way that we can ensure people are healthy is to stop smoking," according to Dr. James Makokis, who is from the Saddle Lake Cree Nation and works in Kehewin Cree Nation and south Edmonton. 

First Nations people off reserve are almost twice as likely to smoke as non-Indigenous people, according to Public Heath Canada. According to a 2016 report, half of First Nations men (50 per cent) and women (49 per cent) living on reserve in Ontario reported smoking daily or occasionally.

Makokis said he's seen many patients who have smoked since they were preteens and are now coping with a variety of health problems. He said communities must engage respectfully with elders about smoking. 

"The younger generation needs our elders to be living to healthy ages, to be able to transfer that knowledge around language, around culture, around spirituality, around medicines [and] around songs and ceremonies, so that when they get older they have all of the tools to ensure that continuity of knowledge into the future," he said.

Culturally appropriate services needed

Elder Doreen Spence from Saddle Lake Cree Nation said tobacco was traditionally used by Cree people in ceremony — in a sacred fire or as an offering to the earth.

"At the beginning of time we were gifted with tobacco. Tobacco is a sacred herb," Spence said. 

At age 86, she still sometimes grows the plants in small containers but she only uses the medicine for ceremonial purposes. 

Spence said tobacco has been misused and it's important to understand how and why that happened.   

Member of the Order of Canada Doreen Spence and Governor General Mary Simon pose for a photo at Rideau Hall Thursday after Spence was given one of Canada's highest honours.
Member of the Order of Canada Doreen Spence and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon at Rideau Hall after Spence was given one of Canada's highest honours last fall. (Master Cpl. Anis Assari/Rideau Hall)

Traditional use of tobacco usually involves minimal inhalation, according to research from the University of Saskatchewan. 

"When we look at the instrument that we use to smoke tobacco, people in our teachings are not generally to inhale the medicine, but kind of just smoke it," Makokis said. 

But as commercial tobacco entered communities, it became confused with traditional use of tobacco, he added. 

"Within our communities there is the misperception that if you are smoking you're engaging in some form of prayer because it's a medicine," he said.

Spence agrees and said a better understanding of ceremony and Indigenous people's place in the cycle of life is essential to lowering smoking rates. 

Programs to reduce smoking

Government programs have helped to reduce smoking rates since the '70s but with Indigenous smoking rates still higher than for non-Indigenous people, Makokis said there's a need for culturally-specific programs. 

CBC News reached out to Alberta Health Services to find out what resources are available to reduce smoking among Indigenous people, but did not hear back by the time of publication. 

Tobacco and other materials for a ceremony by a Wolastoqi elder.
Tobacco and other materials for a ceremony by a Wolastoqey elder. (Myfanwy Davies/CBC)

Such programs should address tobacco use in a culturally respectful and trauma-informed way, Makokis said. That should include understanding how addiction is often connected to trauma, and Makokis highlighted specific sources of trauma, like the '60s Scoop and residential schools. 

"When we look at the tremendous amount of trauma that Indigenous peoples have experienced through colonial violence, we know that they're more predisposed to regulating their emotions… by misusing substances, whether that is alcohol or drugs," Makokis said.

Vaping also a concern

Makokis said he's also worried about young people and vaping. Like with smoking, Indigenous youth are more likely to vape than non-Indigenous youth.

A 2022 report from Statistics Canada estimated that in 2019, 31 per cent of Indigenous youth aged 15-17 had vaped in the last 30 days compared with 20 per cent of non-Indigenous youth. 

Makokis said more must be done to help reduce the rates of smoking and vaping for young people, which includes better access to cultural services and activities. 

"One of the number one protective factors for Indigenous youth in terms of preventing engaging in harmful activities is being connected with their culture, identity, language, ceremonies and spirituality," Makokis said. 

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Yellowknife council, workers approve collective agreement ending strike

City council voted to approve the agreement at 9 p.m. 

Friday after five week labour disruption

Hilary Bird · CBC News · 
"I support my bargaining team sign," with people milling around.
Strikers on the picket line outside Yellowknife City Hall last week. (Walter Strong/CBC)

Yellowknife city council and unionized municipal workers have approved a new collective agreement, ending a five week strike and lockout.

At 9 p.m. Friday, council members gave third reading to a bylaw to approve the new agreement after council received word that union members had voted to ratify it earlier in the day.

In a press release posted on its website the Union of Northern Workers (UNW) and parent union The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) say the new agreement includes a compounded wage increase of 5.8 per cent. In emails obtained by CBC, the union says workers will receive a wage increase of three per cent retroactive to 2022 and 2.75 per cent for 2023. 

In its release, the UNW says workers will also receive a one-time signing bonus of $1,800 for full-time employees, $850 for part-time and seasonal employees and $300 for casual part-time employees.

"The last few weeks have been long, cold, and hard. I am amazed by the strength of the members and their ability to keep their humour throughout," UNW President Gayla Thunstrom says in the release.

"I am so proud of the members standing up for what they believe in and for each other." 

At Friday night's council meeting, mayor Rebecca Alty said city facilities will not immediately reopen and that it will be a "phased" reopening. What that reopening will look like is unclear.

Bundled up person with yellow sign.
A Yellowknife worker stands in -29 C temperatures. More than 200 workers went on strike Feb 8. (Hilary Bird/CBC)

The five-week labour dispute was marred with controversy as both sides repeatedly accused the other of negotiating in "bad faith". 

City administration also accused picketers of harassing contract workers crossing the picket lines at the solid waste facility and the area where the new aquatic facility is being built. 

Last month, the city won an injunction in N.W.T Supreme Court to restrict the amount of time picketers could hold up workers and vehicles trying to get past picket lines.

But PSAC North regional executive vice president, Lorraine Rousseau says picketers felt the support of the local community.

"Over the past weeks, city workers showed us what solidarity looks like … we were surrounded by solidarity from Yellowknife's residents, local businesses, and unions from coast to coast to coast."

 

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Farmed animals suffer amid exploding meat demand

Despite demands for improved farmed animal welfare, livestock is reared in confinement and isolation as intensive factory production also compounds pollution.



Stuart Braun
DW
03/16/2023
March 16, 2023

The global production of animal flesh for human consumption was 45% higher in 2020 than in 2000 as the global taste for meat skyrockets.

The carnal boom is being fed through increased farming intensity, with animals such as chicken and pigs kept in smaller, more restrictive spaces such as cages, pens and stalls.

Though in the European Union, 94% of citizens are concerned for the welfare of farmed animals — and near 60% are prepared to pay more animal welfare-friendly meat production — the caging of hens, pigs or rabbits remains widespread.

Welfare concerns extend to the environment. For one, animal meat production is bad for the climate, producing 14.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions — roughly equivalent to the entire global transport sector, according to Greenpeace.

Nitrogen-rich feed given to meat-producing animals also produces manure high in toxic ammonia, which in turn produces the potent greenhouse gas, nitrogen oxide. Ammonia impacts animal welfare by damaging the eyes and respiratory systems of battery hens, for example.

Animal rights activists argue that humane livestock farming — including free range egg laying hens — can reduce feed, fuel and water needs, cutting costs and pollution by also recycling nutrients and improving soil.

But campaigners ultimately agree that reducing meat consumption and production is the ultimate way to minimize the welfare and environmental impacts of meat.

As the opposite happens, how are farmed animals being treated around the world, and how might their welfare be improved?


In 2021, the European Parliament overwhelmingly committed to prohibiting the caging of farmed animals.

A subsequent law being drafted by the European Commission will release all hens, mother pigs, calves, rabbits, ducks, geese and other farmed animals from cages across Europe by 2027.

The law was inspired by a citizen's initiative in the EU to "End the Cage Age" that garnered 1.4 million signatures and aims to end the pain and trauma for over 300 million animals who spent all or part of their lives in cages, pens or stalls.

This goal has almost been reached by several EU countries: Luxembourg, Austria, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany are between 98% and 87% cage-free.

In Spain, by contrast, more than 86 million animals are farmed in cages, with only 13% of livestock unconfined.

With most EU countries having a cage-free rate under 40%, including France (34%) and Greece (22%), freeing factory farmed animals across the region in the next few years seems unlikely.

Some pigs spend their entire lives inside
Image: Marius Schwarz/IMAGO

Across the bloc, nearly all adult female pigs who experts say are highly intelligent and crave outdoor space, spend around half the year inside "gestation crates" in which they can barely move — let alone turn around.

According to the US-based animal rights group, The Humane League, these sows are exploited as breeding machines that continually produce piglets in cold, dark, dirty pens where they often succumb to sickness. They "are among the most abused animals on the planet," state the group.

In China, the construction of a 26-story pig farm skyscraper rearing 1.2 million animals annually in Hubei province is also raising both ethical concerns and fears that it will become a breeding ground for zoonotic diseases.

Meanwhile, draft legislation passed in October in Germany will allow consumers to choose products using more humane production methods. All pork products, for example, will be legally required to have a label that differentiates between five different methods of rearing: barn pen; barn pen and extra space; open-air barn pen; run and open land; and organic.

Yet animals raised on organic farms are not immune from suffering. One German study shows that more than half of dairy cows in organic farms have mastitis, a painful inflammation of the udder, yet are still milked daily. While mastitis is also common in conventional farms, organic production standards prohibit antibiotics and hence limit effective treatment in organic cows.

A report by German-based consumer watchdog Foodwatch shows that organically farmed pigs — where animals are given straw and more space, for example — suffer from pneumonia, open wounds and abscesses at almost the same rate as in conventional farms due to failure to monitor livestock health.

Feeding our chicken addiction

While the European Union is one region trying to encourage cage-free farming, around 33.1 billion chickens were farmed globally in 2020 — more than five for every human on the planet.

This represents a 130% rise in 20 years, illustrating the scale of the quest to feed the growing lust for animal flesh through ethical, low-intensity methods.

Chickens raised for both meat and egg production (pictured) are often kept in sprawling factory farms
China Foto Press/IMAGO

Back in the US, broiler chickens that are farmed for their meat constitute 95% percent of the animals slaughtered worldwide each year for food, note the California-based Factory Farming Awareness Coalition. The US is the world's number one chicken meat producer.

Broiler chickens are typically raised with 20,000 other birds in a 16,000 square foot (1,486 square meters) shed, which equals around three-quarters of a square-foot for each bird.

Amid this overcrowding, chickens are grown to full size and slaughtered within six weeks. Poultry in the 1950s reached the same weight in around triple the time, according to Compassion in World Farming.

Due to the rapid growth of birds bred for their oversized appetites, their legs cannot support their body weight, forcing them to lie on the floor while suffering pain and lameness. Organs like the heart and lungs are also put under strain, resulting in early death.

The confinement of cattle

While cows bred for beef globally are partly raised on pastures, they increasingly spend their final months in confined "landless" feedlots where they are typically fattened on a grain diet dominated by high-energy corn — as opposed to grass, their natural diet — before slaughter.

Cows are regularly kept in confined spaces without protection from the elements in the weeks before slaughter
Image: David R. Frazier/Danita Delimont/IMAGO

Feedlots have an average capacity of around 1,000 cows in the US, while in South Africa the largest lot holds 130,000 cattle, according to experts.

Cattle around the world — including calves who can spend their whole life in these lots — typically have little or no cover and endure cold, muddy conditions in the winter, or suffer heat stress during hot and dry summers in lots with no shade.

In Australia, one of the world's biggest beef exporters, there are some 500 of these feedlots that housed a record near 1.3 million cattle in 2022. According to the RSPCA animal welfare group in Australia, the lots' abrasive and muddy surfaces cause lameness, pain and lesions in the cattle due to an inflammatory disease affecting the hooves.

Nonetheless, the welfare of cattle in Australia confined to feedlots is making some progress, with over 90% of them now accredited under national animal welfare standards including the draining of muddy pens, hospital pens for sick cattle, and giving extra care to pregnant cows and new-born calves.

Proponents of the feedlot system argue it's a more sustainable way to produce meat as forests and other ecosystems are not converted to pasture. But experts also show how barley or corn diets in feedlots produce around 40% more emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker

An attempt to rethink the separation between animal liberationist and communist politics. This is a text which, we hope, faces in two directions.Mar 26, 2017
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