Choose Cage-Free campaign gathers steam at Humber College
530 students have signed petitions demanding cage-free eggs
A Choose Cage-Free campaign recently began at Humber College in Toronto, led by students and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).
WSPA’s Choose Cage-Free campaign encourages schools to buy eggs from cage-free hens as opposed to conventional eggs, which are produced in battery cages. Sixteen colleges and universities in Canada have reduced or completely eliminated their use of eggs from caged hens by switching to cage-free eggs. WSPA and Humber students hope that Humber College will soon join the expanding list of progressive and sustainable schools.
More than 530 students, staff and faculty at Humber College have already expressed unequivocal support for cage-free eggs by signing petitions. Two tabling events were organized at Humber’s North campus and one at Lakeshore campus to solicit support for the humane option.
Some individuals who signed petitions buy cage-free eggs at home and were thrilled that Humber’s egg purchasing decisions may begin to reflect their own values. Others were surprised and outraged when they viewed the battery cage display that WSPA brought to Humber’s Lakeshore campus.
Many Humber students were concerned about animal welfare, such as Sara-Lee Rowe, who said, “Even though they are not humans, they should be treated with respect.” She also noted the link between animal and human health. “If the chicken's health is at risk, my health could be at risk.” Daniela Rivera agreed. “The treatment of animals affects the food that we eat.”
Autumn Ladouceur, a Media Studies and Journalism student and Humber Students' Federation employee, is leading the Choose Cage-Free campaign at Humber. Autumn, who described this humane purchasing campaign as “astronomically important” to her, has been passionately encouraging students to support cage-free eggs.
Melissa Mendes, Vice President of Campus Life North for the Humber Students’ Federation, stated, “It's inspiring to see people advocating for cage-free eggs and making our student population more aware of this important matter.”
Humber College is served by Chartwells/Compass Group Canada, a food service provider that expresses support for cage-free eggs in its comprehensive sustainability program, known as 360. Compass Group Canada claims, “Certified cage free shell eggs represent an alternative to eggs from battery cages, where intensively confined birds are unable to engage in many of their most important natural behaviours such as wing stretching or walking. Compass keenly supports cage free eggs at a number of our operations.”
WSPA and Humber students hope that Humber College will soon join the list of schools served by Chartwells/Compass Group Canada that have switched to cage-free eggs. As student Brittany Martin expressed, cage-free eggs are “an important issue and I think our school should help. It's not that hard to make a simple change.”
