BARC Coin Drive! This Saturday and Sunday!

Join us this Saturday and Sunday from 10am – 4pm at the Niagara Animal Defense League Office (281 St. Paul St. Suite 201 in St. Catharines) for a full weekend Coin Drive. We are joining with all of the ADL working groups for this fundraiser and we will have (vegan) baked goods, books for sale, as well as tons of information for people to take with them.

Help us make this a successful fundraiser – please share this event with your friends!

Help us fill the famous Marineland Animal Defense Bucket!

If you can’t make it out – please cash in your coins and send us over what you have! Our paypal is marinelandanimaldefense@gmail.com and we can also set up email money transfers if needed. Contact the same email.

Join the Brock Flock in the Walk for Farm Animals!

The Niagara Walk for Farm Animals is just a month away! The Brock Flock and Niagara Animal Defense League will be walking.

The Walks raise vital funds for Farm Sanctuary’s life-saving work and bring together thousands of people to promote kindness towards animals.

There is still plenty of time to meet your fundraising goal and earn a fabulous Walk t-shirt. Please note that donations must be received by Farm Sanctuary at least 2 weeks before your event to ensure you receive your shirt on time. Start fundraising now!

http://events.walkforfarmanimals.org/event/niagara

If you can, consider matching your donations by donating to a small farm sanctuary that can also use the support!

BARC Supports Feral Cat Initiative

The BARC bakesale made $55.28 for Port Colborne Feline Initiative. Thanks to our bakers Bethanee Brown, Gavin, and Cydney Nutbeem and thanks to everyone who bought and donated!

 

PCFI is a non-profit, all volunteer charity dedicated to humanely reducing our community’s homeless cat population and improving their quality of life through our community spay/neuter programs.

Proceeds will support their programs which have enrolled close to 500 cats to date. Learn more including how you can support their efforts here: http://www.pcferalcats.org/

(Pictured above: Jack is one of the kittens currently waiting to be adopted through the PCFI.)

Vegan Bake Sale Fundraiser for M.A.D.

The Niagara Vegan Baking Militia (NVBM) will be holding a bake sale on Thursday August 30th at 98 Chaplin Ave in St. Catharines. The sale goes from 11:00 – 5:00. Come get some delicious treats, and stick around for pogs and BBQ corn. M.A.D organizer, Hannah, will also have jewelry (including whale designs) on sale! All proceeds go to Marineland Animal Defense.

If you interested in social justice and love vegan baking, consider joining the NVBM  in using ”vegan baketivism” to raise funds for multiple causes. So far they have raised thousands of dollars and introduced hundreds of people to vegan goodies. For More info on NVBM see their facebook page or tumblr site.

Summer Update from BARC: Marineland Protests and More!

It has been an eventful summer for animal rights in the Niagara region. By now many of you will have seen the ongoing investigation of Marineland by the Toronto Star that began with this article. It’s heartening to see many people paying attention and speaking out on behalf of the animals held captive in horrifying, unnatural conditions of this “amusement park.” Several BARC members have been involved with protesting this powerful corporation with the Marineland Animal Defense (M.A.D.).

Re: OPIRG Brock

We appreciate steps taken by the unelected OPIRG Brock board to acknowledge the lack of accountability and transparency that surrounds staff and the board. However, we feel their public statement was a hollow non statement largely intended to illicit a response. Our thoughts are as follows below.

Behavior that is intentional and repetitive is not a “mistake.” Framing these intentional decisions as “mistakes” is manipulative and dismissive. At the time that this is written Students Against Animal Cruelty (SAAC) a “mistake” group created by a staff member is still publicly listed on the site. As with the refusal to remove BARC as a working group, these moves are intentional. They are the result of childish behavior of which the board is only willing to half acknowledge – even in the face of a mass exodus and permanent community division.

BARC Statement on Association with OPIRG-Brock

Brock Animal Rights Collective (BARC)
RE: OPIRG behaviour

This statement is intended to express our concerns and call for the accountability of OPIRG staff and board concerning staff conduct.

A few months ago staff behaviour concerning transparency, gate-keeping, deceit and unsafe space led five working groups and at least one board member to leave the organization, as they believed that OPIRG was no longer able to viably represent them as a resource for social and environmental justice. After a discussion with members, BARC reached a consensus that we too would leave the group in solidarity with the other frustrated working groups.