IMG_4961

 

A fad is haunting Canada; the fad of Canada Goose jackets. Many of these jackets feature coyote fur-trimmed hoods. But a movement is haunting Canada Goose, Inc.; the anti-fur, pro-animal rights movement. Fads come and go. The animal rights movement is unrelenting and unstoppable.

However, the fur debate has become muddy, foggy, and difficult to navigate, made so by the psychological sophistication of branding and official-sounding organizations like the Fur Council of Canada. It takes a person with powerful discernment to catch all of the misdirection and logical fallacies of the fur industry. The trappers, manufacturers, brand-pushers and lobbyists have done an impressive job of building a case that not only seems to prove that fur production is ethical, but that the real ethical violation is to not buy fur. How could this possibly be true?

Sifting through the fur industry’s reasons to buy its products, we see that what they are really doing is subtly (even subliminally) playing on consumers’ guilt and sense of obligation, because according to the furriers, not buying fur will result in disasters on several fronts. It will result in the economic hardship of Indigenous people living in the far North who depend on the fur trade for survival, forcing them to sell their land to natural gas development. It will result in exploding wildlife populations, which will throw off the “balance” the fur industry maintains and cause animals to die of starvation, predation and disease. It will result in the diversion of thousands of tonnes of wasted food to landfills that would otherwise go to fur farms to feed the animals. Based on these claims, the choice to end fur production is disastrous and cruel, far crueler than continuing the practice.

What is wrong with this picture?  It would appear that our only two options are to have products that do not involve violence but are unsustainable, or to have products that did involve violence and are sustainable. What is wrong is that this is a false dichotomy.

This all seems like a trap, and indeed, the fur industry is in the business of trapping; trapping animals, trapping our minds. It traps us into a corner where there seems to be no room for having legitimate critiques of the fur industry’s systematic exploitation of and violence towards Canada’s beautiful wildlife. It traps us by claiming that managing animal populations is more humane than not managing them. It traps us by co-opting words like “humane”, “ethical”, “sustainable”, “green” and using them as marketing buzzwords. It traps us by calling us job killers, accusing us of insensitivity towards Native peoples struggling for survival.

***

On Wednesday, March 7, from 4:30-7:30pm, approximately 60 protesters stood outside First Canadian Place at 100 King Street West to oppose and expose the cruel practices of Canada Goose, Inc. This demonstration was prompted by Reiss’ recent appearance on CBC’s The Lang and O’Leary Exchange during which he grossly misrepresented the truth about the fur industry.

Inside First Canadian Place, Dani Reiss, Canada Goose CEO, was a “distinguished speaker” at an event called “Fireside Chat: Shared Values: The Marketing Opportunity in the Sustainability Era.  A rare opportunity to hear directly from two distinguished leaders who have seized upon a special mix of culture and entrepreneurship to propel their companies forward in the green economy.” This event, so deceptively titled, was not about being a green company. It was about marketing to the green-conscious consumer. It was about branding. In essence, it was a congratulatory PR-ploy to celebrate two men who found the right ingredients to profit via greenwashing. Being green and branding green are distinctly different. This event was about the latter, by its own admission.

The protest outside was a great success, but the event inside was a disappointment. As we stood outside in solidarity on behalf of innocent coyotes and fought for real transparency, Fireside Chat made up its own rules. The event was originally to be shared via LIVE WEBCAST, but it was announced at the top of the event that it would be recorded and edited before it was released. No cameras or recording devices were allowed inside. We, however, sent three activists to the event and during the question period, Reiss said explicitly that he does not know how the coyotes used to make the fur trim on Canada Goose jackets are killed.

His statement was a transparent lie so as to avoid admitting to cruelty. We, however, do know how they are killed. They are first trapped using agonizingly painful leg-hold, Conibear and snare traps. They are then left to suffer and starve for hours and days, sometimes chewing their limbs off to escape and breaking teeth. When they are found, they are shot, clubbed, or strangled to death. Our position is simple: we do not want these coyotes to suffer and we do not want their beautiful furs taken from them.

During our protest, a petition circulated which urges Canada Goose to live up to their claims of corporate transparency and open their fur process (“from trap to trim”) to third party documentation. We acquired almost 100 signatures in three hours, and the petition will now be launched online. We are making this particular demand because it is important to us that Canadian consumers be informed about where their products come from and the cruelty involved in acquiring the materials used to make them. It is important to us that corporations do not hijack words like “humane”, “green”, “sustainable” and “ethical”, especially a corporation that is in the business of killing Canada’s beautiful wildlife and using false claims of “wildlife management” and “supporting Native Canadian communities” as justifications.

Once people see the suffering, they must choose. Will they believe Canada Goose’s claims that the trapping is humane and suffering is minimal? Or will they err on the side of caution and opt out of products that have killing built into them?

—

 

Chris Michael Burns is an up and coming Toronto playwright and animal ally. He believes in the possibilities of theatre as dissent and tackles cultural, social and political issues in his work. His play Weight Loss World premiered at the 2010 Toronto Fringe Festival. His next project, The Rope, explores the interpersonal and spiritual hazards of Ayn Rand’s Objectivism. Chris is also working on Vivisexion, a play about Victorian patriarchy’s oppression of women and animals for scientific “progress”. In his spare time, Chris is an avid supporter of Toronto Pig Save and various other animal rights causes locally and abroad.

[email protected]