2011 Toronto Veggie Pride Parade

On Saturday, June 5, Toronto held its second annual Toronto Veggie Pride Parade (TVPP). Hundreds of animal rights activists waited until the rain and thunderstorm subsided before merrily marching and dancing down Yonge Street at Bloor, west on Queen, and to the Church of the Holy Trinity by the Eaton Centre, where there was a post parade lunch and other events. 

When - at the end of the parade - lettuce lady, animal mascots, and parade participants danced to "Celebration," Kimberly Carroll, the MC of the 2011 Toronto Veggie Pride Parade exclaimed, "We almost had a rained out parade, but we salvaged it at the last minute. This is a reason to celebrate."

Compared to last year's inaugural parade, this year's event introduced a couple of new directions. Whereas last year's event consisted of only a parade segment, this year's event included a post-parade production and party at the Church of the Holy Trinity, beginning with a vegan lunch, followed by two inspirational talks from Nimisha Raja (Toronto Vegetarian Association http://www.veg.ca/ ) and Dr. David Sztybel, as well as performances from the Salsa Dancers, the Sugar Shakers and the vegan punk band, Muriqui and an Art Show to help save 'farm' animals by Toronto Pig Save http://www.torontopigsave.wordpress.com

Helen Prancic, TVPP's director of marketing said, "After last year's event, we felt that participants would enjoy not only a parade, but an after-party so that they could continue to celebrate with the veg community whether they were vegetarian/vegan or not. The enthusiasm that builds up during the parade not only results in hunger but a joy for meeting new vegetarians and a desire to network and make new friendships.


"Also, new this year," says Cassandra Prince - TVPP's project manager, "we made a point of reaching out to Toronto's diverse communities. We made available on our website the TVPP poster in different languages (Cantonese, Polish, Italian, etc.)." Prince said the TVPP also reached out to non-English language media to promote the parade. "One week before the parade we had two minute segments about the parade delivered in the Hindi language on a local South Asian Radio station."

The goals of the parade, besides setting a positive example and showing love for animals, are to "celebrate our diet, which is healthier, more eco-friendly, apt to feed the poor, and fosters non-violence including between nations" and "to educate about the issues surrounding today's cruel, unsustainable, and exploitative meat-, egg-, and dairy-production systems."

For more information on the TVPP, visit: http://www.veggieprideparade.ca

Video production: Anita Krajnc for rabble.ca with thanks to Sharon DiGenova

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Toronto
• Veggie
• Pride
• Parade
• vegan
• vegetarian
• animal
• rights

[Day0fDarkness]

@ndyt They would be rescued animals since so many animals are dying in shelters. An animal rights activist wouldn't buy an animal from a breeder or pet store when shelter animals are dying.

[stephkittell]

What a great day! It was fun to watch this, and re-live the memories! :)

[TheBahaiGirl]

I wish I could be there! So much fun!

[random777hero]

Man.... I can really go for some pork chops.

[maruf4ever]

@stabbings

What about killing vegetables? They have life like animals too. Vegetables can’t make noise like animal doesn’t mean that they are dead. Who is gonna fight for them????? 

[Sedoreable]

Happy Pride Toronto!

[TorontoDevelopment]

Great idea!

[antocesarina]

I believe the image of women presented within this event is quite offensive, because it seems to suggest that it's possible to replace the pleasure derived from possession of the body of animals with the sexual possession of the body of women.

About this I recommend the reading of "Sexual politics of meat", by Carol Adams. Furthermore this event has nothing to do with the real Veggie Pride, which takes place in France and Italy.

[stabbings]

@JogBird Many vegetarians are vegetarian for different reasons, such as health. Some are also selfish hyprocrites who say killing animals is wrong, yet still hang on to their leather products from before they went vegetarian, or even continue to buy it. Other, more serious (or truly ethical) vegetarians, or vegans, use synthetic materials for their belts, shoes, bags. You can't assume that everything you saw was real leather. Lots of faux out there :).

[JogBird]

all these veggies with leather belts, leather shoes, leather bags.. apparently leather grows on trees

[kitabwalli]

We don't own pets, they own us and keep us in touch with the dao.

[ianenc]

@ndyt Really? You're pretty much saying you eat animals from a shelter.  Do you consume dogs and cats?