From the farm to the grocery store, the fight to free hens from cages just hit a new level. With the support of compassionate Canadians from coast to coast, our message to Sobeys is loud and clear: their broken promise to go cage-free will not be ignored.
Just one month into our public campaign, we’ve received media coverage in three provinces, held demonstrations in eight cities attended by 170 advocates, sent over 15,000 emails to company leadership, and saw over 40,000 visits to our campaign websites.
And we’re just getting started. On August 2, our storefront demonstrations kicked off in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, and Calgary. Shoppers were invited to step inside human-sized cages to experience just five minutes of what life is like for caged hens in Sobeys’ supply chain. We received overwhelming support from people eager to take the campaign to their own city.
On August 30, advocates doubled down. They led demonstrations in eight cities, including Calgary, Charlottetown, Halifax, Montreal, Mount Pearl, Ottawa, Toronto, and Winnipeg. The message is simple: Canadians reject cage cruelty, and they will keep showing up.
Why Sobeys’ Cage-Free Promise Matters
Cage cruelty is the most widely addressed farmed animal welfare issue in the world. As countries and states make the practice illegal and companies in other countries successfully go cage-free, this issue is not going away in Canada. In fact, it’s growing.
Globally, 90 percent of grocery retailers with policy deadlines past have already gone cage-free. But Sobeys continues to lag behind. McDonald’s Canada met its goal a year early, and A&W Canada followed this year. Grocery stores sell far more eggs than restaurants, so Sobeys has even more responsibility to keep its promise.
But it’s clear that they aren’t going to do it on their own. That’s why we brought our message to the final match of the National Bank Open at Sobeys Stadium. This is the biggest professional tennis event in Canada. An airplane banner flew over the court while activists on the ground held a massive display. As a result, celebrities, media, and fans all saw the truth: Sobeys is serving cruelty.
Shocking Undercover Investigation at Sobeys Egg Supplier
These high-profile actions helped draw attention to the recent release of a new undercover investigation exposing the cruel cage conditions at one of Sobeys’ egg suppliers. The footage showed Sobeys’ caged hens sick and injured, trapped among their dead cagemates, forced to endure intensive confinement in both conventional and “enriched” battery cages.
With every new release and public action, we are drawing attention to Sobeys’ empty animal welfare claims and sending a clear message that cage cruelty has no place in Canadian grocery stores.
This momentum is a testament to what we can achieve together. Every protest, every email, every phone call, every like and share helps hold Sobeys accountable. Together, this is a fight we will win.
