During a 10-day period in July 2017, Adam Knauff was one of 1,000 Canadian firefighters who helped fight a raging wildfire in British Columbia. Now, he says that a lack of vegan meal options offered to him during the conflagration was a human rights violation.
Knauff filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario against the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry over his treatment during and suspension following a wildfire near Williams’ Lake almost two years ago, the National Post reported.
“The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry discriminated against me and failed to accommodate my sincerely held ethical beliefs (creed) when it failed to provide me with food that accommodated my personal commitment to ethical veganism,” Knauff claimed in his complaint to the tribunal, “and then disciplined me and suspended me because I attempted to assert my right to accommodation of that sincerely held ethical belief.”
Knauff’s case hinges on his assertion that veganism is more than a simple dietary choice for him, explaining that it is also a conscientious one and thereby deserving of government protection as a “creed.”
“I am an ethical vegan in that I not only follow a vegan diet, but I extend the philosophy of non-consumption of animal products to all other areas of my life,” he said. – READ MORE