Canadians have a long history of opening our hearts and minds to outside cultures and advocating for peace in the international community. The spirit of compassion and friendliness that pervades Canadian culture is sufficiently palpable that visitors are known to remark on our politeness and propensity for saying “sorry.”

And yet, surprisingly, the conditions experienced by animals in Canadian factory farms are some of the worst in the developed world. Canada lags far behind Australia, New Zealand and the European Union in terms of animal welfare standards.

Case in point: Canada still uses gestation crates. Gestation crates are tiny metal cages in which breeding sows spend nearly their entire lives unable even to turn around, lie down comfortably, or engage in any natural behaviours. International animal welfare expert Dr. Temple Grandin has likened them to “asking a sow to live in an airline seat.” These crates are truly one of the cruelest forms of animal abuse, and are a major cause of the profound anguish depicted in the undercover footage recently released by Mercy For Animals Canada and covered by CTV’s W5. The use of gestation crates has been banned in nine U.S. states, Australia, New Zealand and the EU because the practice is recognized as inherently cruel to pigs. And yet their use is the norm in Canada, with no end in sight.

Pigs are sentient beings. This means they are capable of experiencing pain. Pigs, in fact, are widely considered to be highly social and one of the most intelligent animals on the planet. The footage released by Mercy For Animals Canada portrays the immense suffering of a great number of pigs who later wind up on our dinner plates. Many standard industry practices are shocking, such as castrating and cutting the tails off of piglets without administering painkillers, and killing piglets by “thumping” them against cold, hard concrete. Every veterinary expert who reviewed the undercover footage agreed that it reveals tremendous suffering that is completely unnecessary.

How could such a peaceful country condone such cruel practices? At Mercy For Animals Canada, we believe the answer is that most Canadians simply don’t know the truth about what happens to the animals behind closed doors. Canadians tend to believe that suffering on factory farms occurs mostly in the United States, but that things simply could not be so bad here at home. This is not surprising, as the animal agriculture industry goes to great lengths to hide its cruel and inhumane practices from the public. No member of the public can simply walk into a pig barn to see for themselves the conditions in which the animals are confined. That’s why undercover investigations of farms are the only way to expose the truth.

Canadians are entitled to know where our food comes from, and we deserve to have our values reflected in the manner by which food reaches our plates. With knowledge in hand, Canadian consumers can decide for ourselves what farmed animal practices we feel are appropriate in a compassionate and civilized society.

The first step in improving life for farmed animals is to inform the public of their plight. The footage that appalled Canadians this week was from a randomly selected factory pig farm in Manitoba. Rest assured that this investigation is just the beginning — light will be shone into the dark barns where countless cows, pigs, chickens and other animals are raised for food.

Anna Pippus is director of legal advocacy for Mercy For Animals Canada.