TORONTO—Animal Justice, Canada’s leading animal law organization, has been awarded a Lush Prize in recognition of its public awareness work exposing animal experimentation and helping to advance legal change to end the use of dogs and cats in invasive medical research.
The Lush Prize, a collaboration between Lush and Ethical Consumer, is the largest award in the non-animal testing sector and is dedicated to advancing the complete replacement of animal testing. Animal Justice was recognized in the Public Awareness category for its efforts to expose brutal heart experiments on dogs at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, Ontario.
Animal Justice’s work with a pair of courageous whistleblowers led to a bombshell Investigative Journalism Bureau story about the lab. Soon, Ontario Premier Doug Ford pledged legislative changes to end invasive medical experiments on dogs and cats—a promise delivered on late last week. In addition to spurring the Premier into action, the revelations led to the shuttering of the cruel dog research program.
“First and foremost, I really need to thank the two whistleblowers who risked everything to come to us and speak out; they’re the ones who made sure these dogs’ stories were told,” Animal Justice executive director Camille Labchuk said when accepting the award at a ceremony in London, UK.
“We have deep gratitude for the Investigative Journalism Bureau out of the University of Toronto, which worked with us to tell the stories of these animals,” Ms. Labchuk said.
“And finally, I’d love to dedicate this award to one special dog named Salt. Her cage mate, Sugar, was killed in one of the experiments, and Salt really suffered from being alone after that. She was part of the inspiration for the whistleblowers to come forward and tell their stories. So this award goes to Salt, who unfortunately didn’t make it, and the dogs who perished; it was too late for them, but hopefully not too late for some future lives.
Animal Justice shares the Public Awareness Prize with Australia-based Animal-Free Science Advocacy, with each organization receiving £25,000 to help further their advocacy for animals subjected to cruel experiments.
According to the most recently available data, 3.7 million animals were used in experiments in 2024 alone—the same year Canada’s first and only national science centre devoted to replacing animal testing methods was forced to close due to lack of federal funding.
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Josh Lynn
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