Did you know that cows produce milk because they are mothers? Or did you think they produced milk because they were machines?
If it were up to one sponsor at the Children’s Museum in Winnipeg, they would have you believe the latter. This isn’t education; it’s advertising. Corporate interest should never be put on display inside a childhood educational institution.
The museum’s latest exhibit, Moo Mission, opened to the public last week. Described as “a renewal of our Milk Machine gallery, undertaken in partnership with Dairy Farmers of Manitoba … your mission is to follow the paths and complete the challenges to discover as many people, animals, and places as you can in a modern dairy farming community.”
However, certain realities of the modern dairy farming industry are inevitably omitted from the landscaped display, such as: Cows are pregnant for nine months and their bodies produce milk in response to giving birth, just like human mothers.
However, unlike humans, their calves are removed within hours of birth so that milk can be collected for people to consume. Dairy milk uses up to 26 times more land and 22 times more fresh water than comparable plant-based milks and contributes up to 4.5 times more greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere.
Research has shown that dairy products may be harmful to human health, contributing to issues such as allergies, digestive problems, certain cancers, and Type 1 diabetes.
This is the reality of dairy farming in Manitoba, but not what you’ll find at Moo Mission.
Upon entering the museum, you’ll discover the first challenge: the donor display wall located in the front lobby. Dairy Farmers of Manitoba (DFM) have paid roughly $1 million for significant advertising space inside of a respected children’s educational institution. The museum has numerous donors, but only DFM have personal gallery space.
This partnership with dairy producers implies an endorsement of dairy consumption to young, impressionable visitors, contrary to scientific and health industry guidance.
The Canada Food Guide was updated in 2019, removing dairy as a primary food group. Dr. Hasan Hutchinson, general director of Health Canada’s office of nutrition policy and promotion, stated regarding the updated guide, “We were very clear that when we were looking at the evidence that we were not going to be using reports that have been funded by the animal industry as well.”
According to Statistics Canada, dairy milk consumption has steadily declined over the past 15 years, while the popularity of plant-based milks has grown.
From 2009 to 2022, the average annual consumption of dairy milk by Canadians decreased from 82 to 58 litres per person. This, combined with milk’s demoted status on the updated Canada Food Guide, created panic among Canadian dairy producers, causing Pierre Lampron, the president of Dairy Farmers of Canada to respond, “Not only will this harm the dairy sector and the hundreds of thousands who depend upon it for their livelihoods, it also risks harming Canadian consumers by creating confusion about the nutritional value of dairy.”
Museums, like all arts and educational institutions, require funding to operate. The Children’s Museum is a non-profit charitable organization, and less than 10 per cent of their operating budget comes from government funding. However, despite pressure to fill financial gaps, funding sources should be examined, particularly when given a platform within the museum.
Where funds come from matter.
What those funders are doing inside an institution matters even more.
Dairy Farmers of Manitoba has a mission — “inspiring, innovating, and collaborating to build a healthy Canadian dairy industry.” Their interest is not education or art or culture. Their interest is to promote their industry and products, which is what Moo Mission really is: a mission to entice and hook young children into consuming dairy products, despite detriments to their health, disastrous effects to our planet, and horrific treatment of cows.
Let’s hold the Children’s Museum accountable to their mission, sparking kid’s creative learning, and urge them to leave the advertising campaigns out of childhood education.
Danae Tonge is the organizer of Manitoba Animal Save.
