Image: Animal Justice / Pigs are shown inside a chute at Johnston's, a Chilliwack meat processing plant, on Promontory Road. 

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Chilliwack meat processor

Animal rights group claims Chilliwack meat processor failed to suppress undercover video of alleged cruelty

Jan 7, 2025 | 11:08 AM

CHILLIWACK — A Toronto-based animal welfare organization claims that a video exposing alleged acts of animal cruelty inside a Chilliwack meat processing plant is back online after the company allegedly tried to suppress footage.

According to a news release Tuesday morning (Jan. 7), Animal Justice suggests that a video exposing acts of alleged animal cruelty and a disregard for animal protection laws inside the Johnston’s Meats meat plant on Promontory Road in Chilliwack is back online.

Animal Justice claims the company could not deny the veracity of the legally obtained whistleblower video, and suggests Johnston’s responded to the video by flagging the limited use of the company’s marketing material, which Animal Justice included in its exposé, well within the “fair dealing” boundaries of Canadian copyright law.

“At the same time, the company has refused to publicly acknowledge the video’s existence and its representatives have been nowhere to be found when reporters have reached out for comment,” Animal Justice said, referring to a published story in a Chilliwack news outlet. “That’s despite the fact the video has prompted parallel investigations by the BC SPCA and the province’s Ministry of Agriculture.”

Animal Justice claims the undercover footage of pigs being processed at Johnston’s was temporarily removed while its counterclaim was reviewed by Vimeo, where the video is hosted, and is now back online. The streaming platform found no issue with the Animal Justice exposé, the group claims.

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“Rather than acknowledge the horrors revealed by this disturbing whistleblower video, Johnston’s Meats has instead tried to slide the door shut on public discussion and criticism of its unethical and unlawful activity,” said Camille Labchuk, lawyer and executive director at Animal Justice. “To avoid accountability, Johnston’s is employing an increasingly standard industry playbook of gaslighting the public while stifling journalists seeking to report on these abuses.”

The video recorded at Johnston’s Meats, a provincially-licensed facility that processes around 500 pigs from the Fraser Valley daily, reveals what Animal Justice calls improper use of stunning equipment, leaving pigs in agony during the slaughter process, and cut open while still alert and conscious.

Image: Animal Justice / A screenshot from a video belonging to Animal Justice, showing a pig inside Johnston’s, a meat processing facility on Promontory Road in Chilliwack.

The many hours of whistleblower footage was verified and reviewed by Animal Justice and subsequently submitted to authorities. It also shows workers abusing pigs, including kicking and prodding them.

Animal Justice says officials with the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the British Columbia provincial Ministry of Agriculture have both opened investigations into the alleged unlawfulness shown in the slaughterhouse footage.

Fraser Valley Today has previously reached out to Johnston’s in December 2024 when Animal Justice first released its undercover footage, but did not hear back. Fraser Valley Today has emailed the company Tuesday seeking comment on Animal Justice’s latest claims.