Your Justice, I would like to use this time for you to hear from me personally, as to why I did what I did. While I may not be able to apologize for my actions, I would like to apologize to the animals.

I acknowledge that you deemed the evidence of animals irrelevant in this case. But the animals are what brought us here. I also acknowledge that you didn’t want this case becoming political, but I’m here because I am a political activist.

Throughout this trial, we have talked about evidence, witnesses and criminal codes. What we haven’t talked about until today, is who I am and what brought me here. Activists in general can often be disregarded as radical and painted with a similar brush, but I implore you to consider me as an individual. An individual who is informed, who attempted many avenues of resolution prior to April 28, 2019… and an individual who cares deeply, with my whole heart.

I was always a bit of an activist, even when I was a child. But, as a shy young girl, the last thing I ever wanted to be when I grew up was someone who was an annoyance or a troublemaker… and yet here I am, in the BC Supreme Court.

Some wonder why I care so much. But I wonder how anyone couldn’t care.

Even my own family, when shown horrific footage of animals, some of them simply shrugged and went on with their lives–despite being caring and kind-hearted people. I just don’t get it.

My previous understanding of the world—you could say my mental model—was also that this is just the way things are, period, no question. But when I learned about all the ways in which we exploit and kill animals, and the cruelties that take place in order for animals to become food, fabric, test subjects and objects for our entertainment… I was shocked, and humbled. It flipped a switch in my mind that completely altered my view of this world, and I couldn’t understand why that wasn’t happening to everyone else.

The urgency I felt was like seeing puppies drowning in a pool and as I’m desperately trying to pull them out, those around me are just throwing them back in. This sense of urgency never left me.

So, I did a deep drive into the animal agriculture industry, and discovered the mass scale and secrecy that ensures the atrocities to animals are hidden…

Like how chickens have their beaks cut off and are crammed in cages and stacked from floor to ceiling.

How cows on dairy farms are inseminated, over and over again, just to have their calves dragged from their crying mother.

Or turkeys who live in such distressing environments that it causes them to uncharacteristically attack each other. The industry's solution to this is to cut off their toes. Not just their nails, the entire ends of their toes.

Or what about those fluffy, yellow baby chicks. The boys are sent down a conveyer belt that drops them in churning blades that blends their bodies to death… Simply because they can’t lay eggs.

And then there’s the pigs… do you know how most of them die? They are crammed in metal chambers and lowered into gas chambers that burn their internal organs, causing them to frantically thrash against each other, sometimes even breaking their own limbs.

What are we doing?

I had no idea this is what happens to farmed animals, and it was clear I wasn’t alone in that.

So, I knew I had to do something to expose these atrocities in an effort to help end it; and that’s exactly the reason I’m here today.

Tragically, what I’ve now seen in person seems almost worse.

I would like to share with you what we discovered at Excelsior Hog Farm.

Walking into Excelsior felt like walking into a dungeon.

[Amy was stopped around here.]

It was pitch black, damp and disgusting. The air was filled with visible particles that made us cough and cobwebs hung from every corner. As our eyes were adjusting to the darkness, the sounds of distressed pigs and smells of ammonia was an assault to the system. Then suddenly, we saw the countless glossy eyes of pigs, peering at us with desperation and curiosity.

What it’s like to be there, in-person, is not something that can be sufficiently translated through video footage or even adequately articulated.

As humans, we can pick up on the emotions that others are feeling. You may be sensing what I’m feeling right now. And I feel that is the same with animals–I can certainly sense when my dogs are upset. When entering Excelsior Hog Farm, the immediate feeling of desperation and pain coming from those pigs was palpable and heartbreaking.

As we saw in my livestream during trial, pregnant or soon-to-be pregnant female pigs at Excelsior Hog Farm are crammed inside metal crates where they can’t take more than one step forward or backwards. These pigs can’t even turn around or move. They can’t so much as turn their heads to look around, all they can do is stare at whatever happens to be in front of them—and for some, that means a cement wall.

I can’t possibly imagine the physical and psychological torment of living that life. It’s not a life at all, there is nothing in there that makes life worth living, but they have no choice.

I would like to add that we saw many pigs exhibiting severe signs of mental distress, like repeatedly bashing their heads back and forth, over and over again.

The offspring of these mothers are kept in crowded pens, full of thousands of adolescent pigs. We saw many who were suffering from volleyball-sized hernias, bloody lacerations, and golf-ball sized growths. Some couldn’t even walk, so they languished and slowly died. Dead pigs were found rotting in pens with other live pigs eating their dead bodies. We saw piglets convulsing on the ground, with their eyes glazed over. Other piglets, who had already died, were stacked in piles.

I would like to apologize to a specific female pig at Excelsior Hog Farm, who we have come to call “Her” rather than the abstract number tagged to her ear. She was found crammed in a metal cage, like the countless others next to her. But what stood out as different, was the dark blue and purple complexion of her skin. Upon closer examination, we realized she was covered in bruises, cuts and blood. In fact, she was laying in a pool of her own blood. Not a few splatters of blood, a pool.

She desperately and longingly made eye contact, with her bright golden-brown eyes, but she didn’t move. Something I find hauntingly compelling about pigs, are their human-like eyes and profound eye contact. Aside from the visible blood and bruises, she was clearly communicating desperation as she laid there, shivering, for hours. She needed help.

I felt like, and still feel like, a monster—for seeing her, recognizing her unbelievable suffering, and leaving her behind.

I wish more than anything that we could have rushed her to the vet and helped her, but we had no choice. Leaving the barn with her was simply not possible.

Imagine seeing a dog laying in a pool of their blood, beaten and bruised… Then imagine walking away.

To me, walking away is what felt criminal.

A photo of this pig has been blown up onto a large banner with the words “Justice for Her.” This banner has been held outside of the courthouse throughout this trial, as a reminder of why we are here and who the real victims of this circumstance are—it’s not the Binnendyk’s, it’s not us, it’s Her and the other animals who were hit, kicked, electrocuted, mutilated and confined in cages within the concrete walls of Excelsior, and other animal farms.

How many, just like Her, go unseen and unheard in farms every single day?

I can say with absolute certainty that spending any amount of time inside a commercial animal farm is not something I would ever want to do unless I absolutely had to. But apparently exposé after exposé of violence and abuse towards farmed animals in this province isn’t enough. Unfortunately, it was necessary to take more bold actions to get society to stop, and listen, and watch—and to prompt change for these animals.

I accept and take responsibility for my actions, while also recognizing that without actions like these, the animals remain hidden, with practically zero protections. 

As we saw in this case, farmed animals are abused with impunity. Even when they do break the few existing animal cruelty laws, the enforcement is practically non-existent.

I would hope, in this room especially, that having an entire industry systemically breaking their own laws, and having no oversight or adequate enforcement, would be of extreme concern. The laws for farmed animals in BC are minuscule; but, those archaic and insufficient laws, at the very least, should be upheld.

I care about the animals and their unnecessary suffering. I also care about people and the planet we all live on. So, besides the animals themselves, here are 5 other considerations:

-          Firstly, animal agriculture as we know it is unsustainable and the leading cause of pollution, topsoil erosion, water consumption, and is a primary driver of virtually every other environmental issue.

-          Secondly, the consumption of animals is directly linked to the leading causes of death in humans, such as heart disease and cancers. In fact, the World Health Organization has classified processed meat—like bacon, sausage and ham—as a Class 1 carcinogen.

-          Next is the issue of public health concerns. Commercial farms and slaughterhouses are breeding grounds for infectious disease outbreaks, like the new variants of swine flu emerging on farms in Canada, and the avian flu that continues to evolve and spread across our country, ripping through chicken, turkey and duck farms, and now impacting wild birds. The Centre for Disease Control says 3 out of every 4 new infectious diseases in humans come from animals.

-          Which leads to my next point, that we pump farm animals full of antibiotics to try and keep infectious diseases at bay, but now we’re experiencing an even scarier issue of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

-          Lastly, it's worth acknowledging that farm and slaughterhouse workers are exposed to a level of violence that most humans never experience. As a result, they frequently suffer high rates of PTSD, substance abuse and suicide. Given this, it is no surprise that Criminologists have found that local crime rates go up significantly, especially violent crimes, wherever and whenever slaughterhouses open. In a twist of irony, many prisons have factory farms and slaughterhouses on-site where inmates work, further perpetuating violent acts. 

I mention these points to demonstrate that there are so many issues at play here—human rights, animal rights, environmental concerns and significant public health risks—and what is at the center of all of this? Animal farming.

Our food system, and its involvement of animals, is no longer working. It is broken. It’s beyond broken. I don’t want to come across as overexaggerating, but there’s truly no more accurate summary than to state that modern, industrial animal farming is killing us all.

Will humanity continue to edge towards a dangerous precipice, or will we take a crucial step towards what is right, what is sustainable, what protects animals and us as citizens, and what is imperative for our collective survival before this planet becomes unlivable?

Last year, this very city flooded. Wiping out entire businesses, homes, and yes, thousands of animals who drowned to death inside farms. We will get to a point one day where we won’t mend from the next catastrophe, to get on with business as usual. But until then, will ignorance continue to be bliss? Will activists continue to be criminalized, instead of having the powers that be stop, and listen… and do something different to match the times we are in? Perhaps, now can be that time.

We need to do better. And in the grand scheme of these big issues, our ask for transparency by installing cameras in farms and adequate enforcement to uphold the existing animal cruelty laws, seems so small.

Animal farms across BC are not monitored or regulated, there are no government inspections and during the time of the 2019 protest there wasn’t even an agency who had the authority to do unannounced check-ins on farms without a warrant. But to obtain a warrant, there must be documented evidence of animal abuse. So how could one possibly obtain that footage other than through covert means—by planting hidden cameras. However, when covert footage is recorded, it is considered inadmissible in court, due to how the footage was obtained. At least, that is what the BC SPCA claims. And as we heard from Detective Mitchel on the stand, Shawn Eccles from the BCSPCA never even looked at the animal cruelty footage that was provided to them, and never attempted to recommend charges against Excelsior Hog Farm to Crown Counsel.

But on the contrary, illegally obtained evidence to criminalize activists—such as the police violating the scopes of their search warrants on my phone—IS admissible. 

The systems are set up to fail farmed animals in the worst possible ways, and people are desperate for change.

We defendants have been calling for the provincial government to implement a more accountable agency to enforce against animal cruelty, instead of the private charity we have now, the BCSPCA. We are also requesting that the Ministry of Agriculture mandates the installation of CCTV cameras inside all farms and slaughterhouses–like the cameras the Binnendyk’s have on the exterior of their barns.

This would create transparency and increase monitoring protections for animals, which would mitigate efforts like ours to obtain that footage through other means. It would also allow documented evidence of criminal animal cruelty to be admissible as evidence in court.

So, there is a solution beyond just criminalizing people who press record on a camera. After all, no one wants to go in and film this horrific footage. It is traumatic and clearly puts us at risk. 

I am saddened that those who inflicted criminal animal cruelty were not held responsible for their actions, not even slightly, and they are free to continue abusing animals. Whereas those who exposed this abuse were prosecuted and criminalized, despite all the health and safety precautions in place and measures taken to safeguard against violence. We didn’t hurt anyone, no one was threatened, nothing was stolen, broken, or vandalized. The only “crime” was simply our presence being there, recording video footage.

I understand that the law tends to be very black and white, but I feel there must be recognition of nuance in these unique circumstances, especially as our world changes and new information becomes available to us.

How else does one protect these animals?

Is the solution to stop caring? Or to go back to writing emails into the abyss, signing petitions that take us nowhere, and holding signs on public roads that go ignored year, after year, after year. Education of the public is a slow process, and the animals don’t have time. So, Your Justice, I come to you today to express my plea for leniency and help.

The potential of a slight interruption to Calvin Binnendyk’s Sunday chore schedule, of inseminating pigs the morning of April 28, 2019, was not a violent act. It was not harmful. I also recognize that if a slight interruption is what is needed to help shift the needle towards positive change, then it is worth it.

Given the words on the back of our protest t-shirts, clearly, we like Martin Luther King quotes around here. So, I will share another one. He once said that “we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.” Our actions on April 28, 2019, were not the creators of this tension, and sentencing Nick and I will not erase that tension, it already existed long before us and will continue to after us–so long as our society and systems remain complicit and complacent in the suffering of others. Our case has only put a magnifying glass on these issues and shown more people how serious and important they are.

Excelsior Hog Farm is just one farm, in one city, in one province, in one country. The scope and scale, and the ways in which we abuse animals—which fuels the abuse of humans and this planet—is seemingly endless and overwhelming.

Nevertheless, I won’t be indifferent to the suffering of others and become paralyzed by despair. I will continue to care, and to me, love is an action word.

I can spend time doing what you want me to do for a sentence, but I can assure you that it won’t impact my spirit and my passion for ending this for animals. Perhaps me saying this comes from a place of being naive, as I’ve never been sentenced to anything before; however, I do recognize that these punishments are meant to break you down and prevent you from doing it again. This process already has tried to do that. But in my heart, I could never be punished for doing the right thing.

When I witness these animals first-hand, like the pigs inside Excelsior Hog Farm, it reinforces that even if we face the worst possible sentence, it will pale in comparison to what farmed animals endure.

This brings me to the point where I address the Binnendyk’s…

I truly want you all to be happy, and I know you’re not. True happiness does not involve hurting other beings. I hope one day you will realize that you don’t need to do this, there is another way.

I’ll admit, I have felt anger towards you, for your chosen career and what we caught you doing to animals. But even anger can be beautiful.

I heard a story of a lady who was working through trauma and had a dead tree in her yard. During her process of anger, she took an axe and chopped down the tree and cut it up into logs, using it that winter in the fireplace of her family’s home. If you just set fire to a building because you’re enraged, that destroys, but if you channel your anger and use it to warm, to cook, and to light, then even anger can be productive.

I have felt anger not because my heart has hardened, but because it has remained soft. And even in the hardest moments, I will continue to try to act and speak from a place of love—as that is what this world is so lacking, and is the world we are striving for.

I will be the first person to give my support to the Binnendyk’s if they choose to fully transition their animal farm to a plant farm. I will offer resources and guidance if they so wish.

They wouldn’t be the first farm to do this, nor the last. Many animal farms are switching to a more ethical, sustainable and profitable plant-based sector. Such as Michael Reber, who was a classic pig farmer just a few years ago. But, due to the increase in virus outbreaks on farms, his pig population collapsed. This pushed Michael to switch up his business model and consider modern alternatives. He is now an organic plant farmer. Or the Barrett family, that turned their chicken barns into a mushroom farm.

Another way is possible and is lucrative.

To my family, thank you for taking the time to listen, learn and understand why I needed to do what I did. And with that understanding, then supporting me in my continued efforts. Going against corporate interests and societal norms is isolating and difficult. Not to mention the anguish of having a family member convicted of a so-called crime. This has been hard on all of us but thank you for standing by me.

To my co-defendants… what a journey this has been. This all started with random people coming together because of a shared concern for the animals. I am so grateful to have ended up with co-defendants that are humble, empathetic, and would never sway from putting the animals at the forefront. You have inspired me with your dedication and professionalism and I am grateful for everything I have learned from you. I also appreciate the understanding and respectful tone that was infused into our meetings. As we know, this has been years of extensive collaboration, while navigating an intensely difficult situation. We have experienced fear, trauma and extreme disappointment, while consistently negotiating new terrain. The experience is unique and will bond us forever. Much of that may be a ‘trauma’ bond, but if I’m to go through this with anyone, I’m so grateful it was you. 

I talked at the beginning about how my mental model, of what I ate and how I viewed animals, changed from the default in our society. That’s how we make the world a better place. Mental models change as our society progresses.

At one point in time, the holocaust was legal. Slavery was legal. Segregation was legal.

And then they weren’t. Because activists told the truth, shone a light, and changed our mental models.

Animal agriculture is our current mental model, and it is legal. But, as we’ve seen in the past, our laws are not always a guide for morality.

I don’t know what the appropriate way to respond to exploitation, abuse and slaughter is. But when all else fails, I feel it’s important to do what we can to bring us closer to a world of less suffering. At the very least, these animals deserve visibility and basic protections. 

So, what do we do?

What we are fighting to end seems so obviously immoral that it’s shocking to me that Nick and I are now viewed as criminals in society, and that we even needed to go to such great lengths to convince people that what we’re doing to animals is wrong.

So, I cannot allow the words from those who oppose animals to crumble me, I cannot allow my physical illnesses to crumble me, and I cannot allow this case to crumble me. If anything will crumble me, it will be the haunting sounds of pigs that echo through my ears, it will be the images of mother pigs who desperately bash against the bars, trying to protect their screaming baby piglets as they are picked up, one by one, and have their tails and testicles chopped off. It will be the animals who are trucked from farm to slaughterhouse in the sweltering heat for hours on end, with no water, where many cook to death.

What would it say about me as a person, to see this suffering, and do nothing about it and to allow animal cruelty enforcement to fail farmed animals, over and over again? 

When you witness someone suffering, it asks something of you—will you react with empathy or apathy? We chose empathy.

Your Justice, sentencing us won’t be to right a wrong. It is designed to harden our hearts, to snap us into apathy, so we don’t care enough to act on it again. But I can promise you it won’t have that effect on me.

With the lessons I have learned these past few years, I will adapt my work in ways where I can continue to sustain my activism and try to be effective without interruptions like these—that have impacted every aspect of my life.

But as scholar Angela Davis once said, “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” Whatever that means for me moving forward, I will continue to advocate for animals, particularly at a time that demands the most out of us.

This is not the beginning, nor is it the end. I am so grateful for the activists who have come before us and paved the way, and I am grateful for those who will come after us.

Your Justice, I acknowledge again that the law tends to be black and white. And I also want to acknowledge the intricacies of why we did what we did, and that our goals have only ever been to decrease suffering in this world… and isn’t that what this world is so desperately lacking?

If the fundamental purpose of sentencing is to protect and maintain a just, peaceful and safe society… wouldn’t criminalizing those who agree with that purpose, and who also strive for the same just, peaceful and safe society, only create a world where that doesn’t exist?

When we strip away the politics, our goals are the same.

I am speaking from a place of humility and with my whole being—my mind, my heart, with everything I have. I can only hope that your response to all of this can come from a place of your whole being as well.