Vegan Rights Litigation in Workplaces & Public Institutions

​Vegan rights litigation often starts with something very concrete: a person who cannot access food they can eat in a public institution, or who is treated differently at work because they refuse to participate in animal exploitation. But these disputes quickly become movement questions.

Vegan rights claims respond to a simple pattern: when vegans are met with discrimination, exclusion, or retaliation, and denied reasonable accommodation in ordinary settings like work, childcare, hospitals, or universities, veganism becomes harder to practise, going vegan becomes harder to imagine, and animal advocacy (formal or informal) loses capacity.

​In this seminar, we will examine how vegan rights arguments are handled in court and draw lessons for advocates and lawyers from the Danish and Canadian cases about litigation strategy.

In Denmark, Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl (Vegetarian Society of Denmark) will discuss two court cases on the right to vegan food in public institutions: a daycare case won in February 2024, and a hospital case that was lost and is now on appeal, with a High Court hearing scheduled for September 2026. In Canada, Camille Labchuk (Animal Justice) will reflect on Ontario human rights litigation: how ethical veganism was argued as a protected belief, and how procedure can shape whether claims are heard at all.

These cases open up the practical issues animal advocates keep running into, often without a clear playbook. How do you present veganism as a legally protected ethical belief, rather than a 'preference'? What does a persuasive accommodation request look like in a workplace or a public institution? What evidence helps a court understand the lived impact of exclusion or non-accommodation, especially where people depend on an institution for food? And how can advocates use these cases to strengthen animal advocacy?

The seminar will take the form of a 60-minute moderated conversation by Dr Anna Caramuru P. Aubert, followed by a 30-minute audience Q&A on Zoom. The conversation will be recorded and later shared on ICARE’s YouTube channel, and key takeaways will be published on ICARE's blog.

​Speakers

• ​Camille Labchuk is an animal rights lawyer and Executive Director of Animal Justice—Canada’s only animal law advocacy organisation. Under her leadership, Animal Justice works to transform the way Canada treats animals by winning precedent-setting legal cases in courtrooms across the country, advancing new laws and policies, and holding industries accountable for illegal animal cruelty.
  
  Camille is a frequent lecturer on animal law and a regular contributor to national publications, including The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star. She previously served as press secretary to the leader of a federal Canadian political party and was a two-time candidate for Parliament. She lives in Toronto with her cat, Cecily.
  

• ​Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl is Executive Director of the Vegetarian Society of Denmark and President of the International Vegetarian Union (IVU). He holds a Master’s degree in Anthropology. He was in charge when the Vegetarian Society of Denmark brought two cases on the right to vegan food in public institutions to Danish courts: a daycare case won in February 2024, and a hospital case that was lost and appealed to the High Court (scheduled for September 2026).

​Learn more about the seminar series and ICARE.
Watch past seminars here.
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