Montreal residents, and Canadians across the country, continue to hold Sobeys accountable for its broken cage-free promise. Exactly ten years ago, Sobeys and its parent company, Empire Co., pledged to go 100 percent cage-free by 2025. Instead of meeting this deadline, the company has backtracked while continuing with multi-million dollar executive salaries and record-breaking profits.
On March 7, 2026, Animal Justice supporters gathered at Sobeys-owned IGA at Complexe Desjardins in Montreal for an eye-catching demonstration calling on Sobeys’ new CEO, Pierre St-Laurent.
A second investigation into the company’s egg supply chain was released in January. It revealed disturbing conditions at Burnbrae Farms, Canada’s largest egg producer and supplier to major grocery stores in Ontario, including Sobeys and Farm Boy.
Holding CEO Pierre St-Laurent Accountable
Sobeys CEO Pierre St-Laurent is a Montreal resident and is well-positioned to hear the growing local outcry against cage cruelty. Protesters at the event unfurled a “Giant Receipt of Cruelty,” a towering visual aid that itemized the company’s misplaced priorities. While the company claims “affordability” prevents them from going cage-free, the receipt told a different story.
The Math of Cruelty:
- CEO Compensation: $3.4 Million
- Annual Profit: $700 Million
- Broken Promises: 10 Years
- Total Price: A lifetime of suffering for millions of hens.
This action was echoed across the country as activists hand-delivered letters addressed to St-Laurent at stores in multiple provinces. Since the new CEO assumed his role in late 2025, he has yet to issue any statements that address the company’s significant animal welfare backtracking.
Montreal Activists Expose the Truth
The demonstration follows months of escalating action in Quebec. Recently, activists from We The Free screened clips from Animal Justice’s undercover exposé for commuters at a major metro station. This footage showed hens trapped in the very cages the Sobeys cage-free promise was supposed to eliminate. Despite these revelations, 80 percent of eggs sold at Sobeys-owned stores, including IGA, still come from birds confined in cramped wire cages.
Montrealers, and Canadians across the country, see through the corporate smokescreen. We will continue to demand that Sobeys and IGA honour their word. If a company can afford millions in executive bonuses, it can afford to stop profiting from animal abuse.
Take action! Sobeys must publish a clear, time-bound plan to get hens out of cages. Email their executives now.
