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Celebrity actor and animal-rights activist Pamela Anderson has urged Justin Trudeau to serve vegan meals in Canadian prisons.
The Baywatch star wrote a letter to the Prime Minister with a ‘suggestion that would save Canadian taxpayers money and improve the health of tens of thousands of people’.
‘Nutritious vegan meals’
“Please switch to serving nutritious vegan meals in correctional facilities,” Anderson wrote. “Other prison systems have seen the benefits of serving inmates meat-free meals.
“The Maricopa County Jail in Arizona, for example, reported that it reduced costs by $273,000 when it switched to all-vegetarian food for its 8,000 inmates. I traveled to Phoenix to make lunch for inmates to promote that policy.
“Canada has the potential to cut costs even more if we switch to vegan meals for the roughly 40,000 people currently held in correctional facilities.”
The celebrity, who is an Honorary Director at vegan charity PETA, also pointed out that ‘beans, rice, lentils, pasta, and potatoes and other vegetables as well as fruits supply all the nutrients that anyone needs but at a fraction of the cost of meats and cheeses’.
Anderson also cited Health Canada’s food guide that focuses on fruit, vegetables, and plant-based sources of protein – while de-emphasizing the consumption of animal products such as dairy.
‘Help the planet’
“A vegan meal plan can help the planet, too, since raising animals for food damages the environment more than just about anything else that we do,” Anderson added.
“According to the United Nations, we must all shift toward a vegan diet to combat the worst effects of climate change. Canada could be a true leader in saving our planet for future generations.”
You can read the full letter here
