Speciesism' touted as topic for Grade 12 social justice course
Janet Steffenhagen, CanWest News Service
Published: Monday, September 25, 2006

VANCOUVER -- Arguing that "speciesism" is a prejudice
akin to racism and sexism, an animal activist is urging the
province to include the topic in the curriculum for a new
Grade 12 course on social justice.

"If we are going to discuss social justice concepts such as
oppression and exploitation, animals should be included,"
Lesley Fox of the Vancouver Humane Society said yesterday.

Fox was a surprise guest last week at a three-day meeting
of educators and social-justice experts organized by the
B.C. Education Ministry to brainstorm about the new course,
which is being developed as part of a deal the government
signed last spring with gay activists Murray and Peter Corren
to settle a human-rights complaint.

Speciesism is a relatively new term and involves assigning
values or rights to beings on the basis of their species. An
example, according to Fox, is the special status given to
dogs and cats in North America but not to cows, pigs and
chickens.

Fox, who was in the news last year after persuading the
Vancouver school board to become the first major Canadian
district to develop a policy allowing students to opt out of
animal dissections in science class, said she was thrilled to
be invited to the meeting.

She was also anxious that her point not be perceived as an
attempt to dilute the experiences of people who have suffered
discrimination.

"It isn't that humans are better than animals, or animals are
better than humans," she said in an interview. "When we talk
about oppression, we need to look at it as a whole and how
it is interlinked.

"How we treat animals says a lot about how we treat one another."

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2006
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=00372cbc-1ba5-4b25-9e02-54c9a62c864e&k=50989