I am not going to sugar-coat this. 2023 was a tough year.
Climate change is undeniably more evident, wars are destroying the lives of humans and animals, and authoritarianism is a growing political force. We must look at all of this with clear eyes. We cannot afford to comfort ourselves with denialism but we need not, indeed should not, surrender to fear and complacency. Every one of us is a force for positive change, and together we are a powerful one.
We are moving ahead! We look back to learn. We review the past to gain knowledge and to benefit from experience. But we don’t look back to become discouraged as we stiffen our resolve, our determination, and even our optimism.
Last week I sent you a Holiday letter with the theme of ‘Loyalty’. This week, as I think ahead to the coming year, the themes that come to my mind are ‘Resilience’ and ‘Optimism’.
I want to share with you part of the New Year’s message that I shared in 2016:
“Exciting News:
The #BeCrueltyFree Canada campaign has surged forward.
The ‘Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act, Senate bill S-214’ which would ban cosmetics testing on animals in Canada has been re-introduced by Senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen since the new government has been elected. Work continues to make the coming year the last one where animals are subjected to painful cosmetics testing in Canada.”
As we know, Bill S-214, a bill that would have banned the use of animals for cosmetics testing, and the trade of animal-tested products did not pass in 2016, in spite of extensive work by our organization and our allies.
Wins for animals often take many years to achieve:
Canada finally adopted Cruelty-Free Cosmetics legislation in June of 2023 that comes into effect on December 31st. Starting in 2024, no newly animal-tested products will be imported or offered for sale in Canada and no animals will be used for cosmetics testing within our nation. The fight to make Canada Cruelty-Free regarding cosmetics testing began long before the introduction of Bill S-214 in 2016, yet it took until 2023 for this hard-fought battle to be won. Seven years! The timeline is actually closer to more than a decade of work to get the support of the senators who proposed and supported Bill S-214 – more than ten years to achieve this win.
Canada’s passing of Cruelty-Free Cosmetics legislation in 2023 brings home to me the importance of ‘Resilience’. If we and our many allies had given up, we would not have this win today. It can be difficult to maintain determination for long fights like this, but when we see more animals protected through legislation, we know that these fights are worth every moment of work, and every dollar spent. Around the world as the markets dry up more and more for animal-tested personal-care products, there will be fewer animals like rabbits, mice and guinea pigs tormented and tortured in research and testing. And as commercial laboratories adopt more non-animal methods, a greater acceptance of those methods can spill over to other forms of testing and research as well.
And this leads me to the second concept on my mind as I look back and also ahead, ‘Optimism’.
Animal Alliance of Canada has also been fighting to protect wild animals from the outdated concept of lethal ‘management’ that is so prevalent in conservation agencies like provincial natural resources ministries and Parks Canada. A culture of killing seems to be embedded in those agencies. But we have been successful in banning the use of strychnine to kill Richardson’s Ground Squirrels. The elimination of this one poison saves the lives of thousands, if not millions, of wild animals. That win too was worth every moment of effort and every dollar spent. And we’ve successfully worked with various municipalities across the nation to adopt non-lethal methods to promote peaceful co-existence with wild animals in their communities. Animals who we will never see have benefitted, and some municipal councils have become more respectful of wild animals and their inherent right to exist.
I do indeed feel optimistic as I look ahead. I urge you to be optimistic too.
With Resilience and Optimism, we press on together:
We will achieve more wins for animals – some this coming year, and some in the decades ahead. I know that more wins are definitely ahead for the animals as more and more people are joining our remarkable movement. Respect for all animals and the understanding that animals are sentient individuals who exist for their own purposes and are not resources for human use are concepts becoming more widely accepted. Our movement is picking up speed, and I am encouraged and uplifted.
My hope for you is that you feel encouraged as well. Let’s never lose hope, never lose our resolve as we do this work for animals. Each of us contributes in our own way, and together we are a mighty force.
I can’t say what wins we will achieve for animals in 2024. But I do know, and pledge to you, that we will fight hard and keep pressing forward to make the coming year count.
Happy New Year to you, from our entire staff, board and volunteer team – and from me.
With gratitude,
Liz White
PS: Regarding Canada’s Cruelty-Free Cosmetics legislation, any products that are already on shelves or in warehouses can still be offered for sale until those inventories as used up. We will need to continue to research which products have been animal-tested so that we can avoid purchasing them. We have the comfort of knowing that no new animal-tested cosmetics and personal care products will be imported or manufactured in Canada. Keep reading labels, and look forward to better days ahead.