May 2026

Animal-Free Research with Maneesha Dechka

From Resource Object to Legal Subject: A Law-led Transition to Animal-Free Research

Monday, July 20, 2026 - 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Join us for a talk by Maneesha Deckha, a leading animal law scholar, on animal-free methods in scientific research.

Maneesha Deckha will address the rising scientific and political momentum to finally replace the use of animals in laboratories with animal-free methods and underscore the importance of law to ensure a relatively swift rather than indefinite transition.

To join us in person or online: Register here (free).

About the speaker

Maneesha Deckha is Professor and Lansdowne Chair in Law at the University of Victoria in British Columbia where she directs the Animals & Society Research Initiative. Her research expertise includes critical animal law, vegan ecofeminist theory, and postcolonial theory. She is the author of Animals as Legal Beings: Contesting Anthropocentric Legal Orders and director of the open access documentary series, A Deeper Kindness: Youth Activism in Animal Law and on YouTube: @ASRI-UVic.

7e édition des Estivales de la question animale

Du 24 au 27 juillet 2026

La septième édition des Estivales de la question animale au Québec aura lieu au Domaine Tavibois à Hérouxville (région de la Mauricie).

Les Estivales sont une occasion de discuter de la cause animale et de rencontrer des gens inspirants dédiés à la défense des animaux.

Le site est magnifique pour des activités extérieures (kayak, randonnée, piscine d'eau naturelle, feu le soir, etc.).

Site web: https://www.question-animale.org/quebec

Animals at Large: Critical Animal Studies perspectives on wild, feral, and free-living animals

Canadian Society for Critical Animal Studies

Join us for a 3-day conference with 2 keynotes, 1 activist-artist plenary and more than 30 speakers.

Program on August 5:

2:30 - 3:45 p.m. - Welcome and Opening Keynote: Stephanie Rutherford (Trent University), “Canids and Canada: Wolves, Coyotes and Regimes of Violence and Belonging”

4:00 – 5:15 p.m. - Artist-Activist Plenary: Shannon Johnstone (Meredith College), “Photography, Animals, and Activism: Centering Animals Through an Ethics of Sight”; moderator Deborah Hardt (University of Wollongong in Dubai)

On August 6, the conference will start at 9 am until 5 pm.

On August 7, the conference will run from 9 am to 6 pm.

There will be a second keynote on August 7 with Catia Faria (Complutense University of Madrid), "Compassion by Design: Aligning AI with the Welfare of Wild Animals."

Check out the program with more than 30 speakers.

The conference will take place at the Cinéma De Sève at Concordia University in Montreal and the reception and breaks will be in the SHIFT Centre for social transformation.

Register here for in-person and online. All food will be free and vegan.

So an AI Data Centre is coming to your community?

Don't panic! A roundtable on strategies for building community power

On June 12, 2026, we hosted a community conversation that was recorded and is now available as a podcast thanks to Mél Hogan.

Check out the podcast episode.

We heard from speakers who are waging citizen-led campaigns against data centres in their backyard.

We discussed the promise and hype of AI, the social and environmental impacts of AI data centres, the unsavory connection between the tech oligopoly and captured governments attempting to impose AI and AI data centres on the population and across the landscape. Lastly, we discussed concrete strategies for how communities have been organizing and how to scale up the struggle.

Speakers:

Adam Wilkins and Lauren Stephens Smith (Save Lorneville)

Rania Masri (NC Environmental Justice Center)

Mél Hogan (The Data Fix with Dr. Mél Hogan)

Simon Enoch (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)

Sophie Toupin (Université Laval)

Organized by Vijay Kolinjivadi (Concordia University)